Chromebook Best Practices

Audience: Teachers and Administrators

Below are some best practices, tips, and tricks for using Chromebooks with Seesaw in the classroom!

💡 Check out our one-pager on Seesaw for Chromebook!

For Teachers

• Bookmark Seesaw on the home screen. Launch Chrome and navigate to app.seesaw.me. Tap the menu button > More tools > Save page as. You’ll be able to enter a name for the shortcut and then Chrome will add it to your home screen.
  
• Or, pin to the Chromebook Shelf so students don’t need to swipe through their apps to find Seesaw (depending on your login method). Select the Launcher in the corner of your screen > Find the Seesaw app > Right-click the app icon and Select Pin to Shelf. 
  
• Screen Recording: record button to capture your screen. This can be used to demonstrate how to complete Seesaw activities or provide visual feedback.
• Dictate comments on student work, reply to messages, or even write notes or add text to drawings on the Creative Canvas.
• Ask students to use the Reflect in Seesaw extension to bring work from any website into Seesaw for added layers of creative thinking and reflection. Students can use the Seesaw Chrome Extension to capture work from their browser window and drop it directly into Seesaw's creative canvas for further annotation and reflection.

For Students

• If the Chromebooks are not touch screen, teachers should show students how to click with the mouse (just like they would for any program students are using on a Chromebook).
• If using keyboard navigation, turn on Chromebook accessibility features, including the supplemental focus indicator. In Settings > Advanced > Accessibility, turn “Show a quick highlight on the focused object” to ON.

For Teachers and Students: taking photos and recording videos

• The first time students use the Seesaw photo/video tool on a Chromebook, they must "allow" Seesaw to use the camera. A pop-up will appear and students must click "Allow". 
  
• Take Photos: Tap + Add → Photo to take a picture of your work. Make sure the photo is clear and shows your work well.
• Record Videos: Tap + Add → Video to record yourself explaining or showing your work. Make sure you are in a quiet place with good lighting.
• When students begin recording, there is a timer on the screen (small stopwatch in the upper right corner) that guides students when they are getting ready to record. Practice holding up student work to take pictures, or angle the Chromebook screen/camera to capture pictures/videos of anything you can't hold up.
• Switch easily between a front-facing camera or a back-facing camera.