While at the SUNY Conference for Instruction and Technology, I had the opportunity to catch up with a friend who I had not seen in 22 years. Unfortunately, it caused me to be late for Dave Ghidiu’s presentation on Chromebooks. As an owner of a Chromebook ( I love mine), I was interested in hearing about his experiences. I entered the presentation as he was talking about Chromebook myths.As I noted, I moved to a Chromebook in August 2014, and I personally love it. Many people believe a Chromebook restricts them from “real” work, I personally have not had an issue. Ghidiu addressed some of the concerns in his presentation.
Myth – Chromebooks are useless offline
Ghidiu noted that it is possible to work offline with many of the native functions, and they simply sync once you reconnect.
Myth – Cloud isn’t safe
Ghidiu pointed out we do a lot of work already in the cloud such as banking, paying bills, registration. If you are concerned about hacking, he had this advice: hackers don’t want your content and if you are still concerned, don’t put sensitive content online. Google security is probably better than yours. If you are still concerned, you should probably not be using the Internet.
Chrome Operating System
The Chrome Operating System sits on Linux and is quite powerful. You can extend your Chromebook by sending your screen to a TV using a $35 device called Chromecast. I personally have three of these devices.
Chromebook Apps
A number of people do not believe they can replicate applications on a Chromebook. Ghidiu is a systems administrator and is required to manipulate a variety of different types of media, and he reports that he does it all with his Chromebook:
- One drive – Microsoft Office online
- Edit images – Pixlr, Photoshop
- Edit video – WeVideo, YouTube
- Edit Audio – Soundtrap and TwistedWave
- FTP, RDP, Multiple Login
Google also has a list of applications you can use with the Chromebook. There are also hundreds of business tools in the Google App Store.
If you lose your Chromebook or it breaks, you can go to another Chromebook with no loss of data. Using a Chromebook promotes cloud literacy. Ghidiu also noted that all of his Mac software is cloud-based.
Additional resources
I love my Chromebook. I just finished attending two conferences with nothing but my Chromebook. I was able to do everything I needed to do with it.
Stan is Director of Technology-Enhanced Instruction. He has over 20 years experience working as an instructional technologist and trainer. He has a master’s degree in computing technology in education and a doctorate in education specializing in instructional technology.
[…] Demystifying the Number One Selling Classroom Technology […]