Using the Chrome Web Store

With the Middle School students receiving Chromebooks, here is a quick overview of using Chrome and the Chrome Web Store on your MacBooks to match most of the functionality of their Chromebooks.

A Chromebook is basically a simplified laptop that just runs the Chrome web browser, with everything linked to a Google Apps account. This means you can do everything the students will be able to do on your MacBooks, you just need to make sure you are using the Chrome browser (which you can download here).

Both the student Chromebooks and the Chrome browser on the MacBook can use all kinds of apps from the Chrome Web store, as well as existing web tools and web sites like Google Drive, Google Docs, NoodleTools, and Blogger – for these sites you just go to the web address as usual.

All the different apps available can be found in the Chrome Web Store, which will look like this when loaded in Chrome:

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There is also a dedicated education section which you can access directly here. Apps are free from this store but some might require an additional purchase within the app to access additional functionality (e.g. the Quizlet teacher account).

You can search for an app using the search box in the top left hand corner and once you have found an app you would like to install, click on app’s picture and then click Add to Chrome:

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A pop-up box will appear asking for confirmation. Just click Add app:

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The app has now been installed to your Chrome browser (and your Google Apps account). You can see all the apps you have installed by clicking this button Screen Shot 2016-02-12 at 09.57.44on your home page or typing chrome://apps into the Chrome address bar (this mirrors what the apps tab on the student Chromebooks will look like):

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Just click on an icon to load the app. You can also make new projects for the apps you have installed from the New button in Google Drive:

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And FYI, some apps might create new folder in your Google Drive to store files, etc. Do not delete this folder!

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