Android Apps for Education - work on Chromebooks and Chrome OS Tablets too!

Android Apps for Education 

Android is the most popular mobile operating system in the world, running on smartphones and tablets. But, you can also use Android Apps on Chromebooks, including the new Chromebook Tab 10 Chrome OS tablet. Chrome and Android all in one! And don't forget about all of the Chrome Apps, Extensions and full websites Chromebooks and the Chromebook Tab can access.

• Managing Android Apps on Chromebooks https://support.google.com/chrome/a/answer/7131624

Finding good apps can be hard, so here is a list of Android apps for Education to use on Chromebooks, Chromebook Tab and other Android devices.

• Google for Education Resources 
• Android for Education Resources 

• Android Apps "Education" Category 
• Google Classroom - the Android app does more than the web app
• Ability to digitally handwrite on top of PDF's and Google Docs
• Ability to take pictures and record videos to insert into assignments, posts, and more
• Google Jamboard - collaborative whiteboard supporting text, images, links, notes and assets from the web. 
• https://gsuite.google.com/products/jamboard/ 
• Google Science Journal - take notes, collect data using sensors in phone, and more 
• Squid - take notes and markup PDFs
• Take handwritten notes naturally on your Android tablet, phone, or Chromebook supporting Android apps! With Squid you can write just like you would on paper using an active pen, passive stylus, or your finger.
• Easily markup PDFs to fill out forms, edit/grade papers, or sign documents. Import images, draw shapes, and add typed text to your notes. Quickly select, copy/paste, and move content between pages and notes. Organize your notes within notebooks and increase your productivity!
• Toontasic 3D  
• 3D storytelling app
• create 3D animated stories, reports, and more
• MyScript Calculator
• Turns handwritten equations into typed and solves them
• Evernote 
• take notes (typed, handwritten, audio)
• checklists
• clip web pages
• attach files to notes
• sync offline
• annotate images and PDFs
• Evernote for Education Resources 
• Google Keep 
• take notes
• checklists
• annotate images
• handwriting
• speech to text
• Google Keep in Education 
• Microsoft Office apps on Android
• great features and functionality
• Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Teams, Sharepoint, Skype and more. 
• ArtCanvas
• drawing, painting, sketching
• Autodesk Sketchbook 
• draw, paint 
• lots of features
• iPad app equivalents on Android
• Android alternatives/equivalents for iPad apps
• GeoGebra has multiple apps
• Math Apps 
• Graphing Calculator 
• 3D Grapher 
• CK-12
• Practice Math and Science 
• Flexbooks Digital Resources (all kinds of subjects and topics)
• Physics Simulations 
• Chrome Apps for Touchscreen Chromebooks 
• PhET Simulations (Science, Math and more) 
• Accessibility resources and apps 
• Adobe has released a suite of Android apps optimized for Chromebooks. The Adobe Creative Cloud apps, including Photoshop Mix, Lightroom Mobile, Illustrator Draw, Photoshop Sketch, Adobe Comp CC, and Creative Cloud Mobile will be available for free download, expanding creative options for students and the capability of stylus and world-facing camera.
• Explain Everything - allows students to animate their thinking on an infinitely interactive and collaborative whiteboard
• Texthelp EquatIO enables students to type, handwrite, or dictate any math expression, then add the math to a document in one click
• Book Creator enables students to create and publish multimedia books
• WeVideo is a video editing platform that supports multimedia, screencasting, green screen, voice recording, and collaboration

Explore these apps and try them out in your schools. 

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Android on Chromebooks! Here are some resources and apps to check out

Android has come to Chromebooks and is available on EDU Domains!

This opens up a whole new world of possibilities with Chromebooks, adding thousands of great apps, features and capabilities.

Here are the resources for Admins to get Android apps enabled for their domain:

• Android Apps and Chromebooks
• As of right now, these Chromebooks support Android apps: Asus Chromebook Flip, Acer Chromebook R11 / C738T / CB5-132T, Google Chromebook Pixel (2015)
• All Chromebooks launching in 2017 and after will support Android apps (very soon)
• Chromebooks listed below will work with Android apps at a time to be announced in the future*:
• https://sites.google.com/a/chromium.org/dev/chromium-os/chrome-os-systems-supporting-android-apps

• Manage Android Apps on Chrome https://support.google.com/chrome/a/answer/7131624

Here are some great suggestions for Android apps (and some web apps):

Android App Suggestions for Chromebooks (all are free)

• MyScript Calculator: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.visionobjects.calculator&rdid=com.visionobjects.calculator
• Turns handwritten equations into typed and solves them
• Evernote https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.evernote
• take notes (typed, handwritten, audio)
• checklists
• clip web pages
• attach files to notes
• sync offline
• annotate images and PDFs
• Google Keep https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.keep&hl=en
• take notes
• checklists
• annotate images
• handwriting
• speech to text
• ArtCanvas https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.samsung.smartcalli&hl=en 
• drawing, painting, sketching
• Autodesk Sketchbook https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.adsk.sketchbook&hl=en 
• draw, paint 
• lots of features
• iPad app equivalents on Android: http://educationaltechnologyguy.blogspot.com/2015/08/some-app-substitutions-for-ipad-apps-to.html
• Android alternatives/equivalents for iPad apps https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1qBmhx4jm4eJ7A8It9gz8PtOm164CO9tlvv46Mhv6uCs/edit#gid=640510231
• GeoGebra has multiple apps
• Math Apps https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.geogebra&rdid=org.geogebra
• Graphing Calculator https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.geogebra.android
• 3D Grapher https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.geogebra.android.g3d 
• CK-12
• Practice Math and Science https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.ck12.app.practice
• Flexbooks https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.ck12.reader  (all kinds of subjects and topics)
• Physics Simulations https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.ck12.simulations 
• Chrome Apps for Touchscreen Chromebooks  https://goo.gl/3UX0He
• Android Apps "Education" Category https://play.google.com/store/apps/category/EDUCATION?hl=en 
• PhET Simulations (Science, Math and more) https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.kiwix.kiwixcustomphet
• Accessibility resources and apps http://goo.gl/LskLPm
• Toontastic 3D https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.toontastic 
• Science Journal https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.forscience.whistlepunk&hl=en 

• Android for Education Resources  http://educationaltechnologyguy.blogspot.com/p/android-for-education.html 

• Adobe has released a suite of Android apps optimized for Chromebooks. The Adobe Creative Cloud apps, including Photoshop Mix, Lightroom Mobile, Illustrator Draw, Photoshop Sketch, Adobe Comp CC, and Creative Cloud Mobile will be available for free download, expanding creative options for students and the capability of stylus and world-facing camera.

I've been using Android apps on my Acer C738T with my personal account for quite a while now and they work great. Handwriting input, offline sync and much more. 

Related:

Webinar on Android Apps on Chromebooks - great resource with some panelists and how-to set this up. (slide deck: https://goo.gl/rl4HkD)

Benefits of Google Apps and Chromebooks for Schools

Android for Education resources

Google for Education Resources

A new generation of Chromebooks, designed for millions of students and educators https://blog.google/topics/education/new-generation-chromebooks-designed-millions-students-and-educators/ (Acer and Asus convertible’s with stylus)

A new generation of Chromebooks, designed to work with millions of apps https://blog.google/products/chromebooks/new-generation-chromebooks-designed-work-millions-apps/ (Samsung Plus and Pro)

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Lots of great new things coming to Google Apps and Chromebooks!!!

Google Apps for Education and Chromebooks have become truly awesome resources for schools and Google just keeps improving them.

Here are some of the recent announcements:


Android apps are coming to Chromebooks! - some Android apps have already been available for use on a Chromebook. I've been using the Evernote app for a while and love it. But in order to get them to work, developers had to do some work themselves. With this new announcement, the Google Play Store and most of it's app will work with Chromebooks. Three models are getting access in June with more getting access later. See this link for full details on which Chromebooks will get this and when. This is huge for schools as they will be able to benefit from the low cost and ease of use and management of Chromebooks, and use all of the great Android apps that are out there.

With this announcement, touchscreen Chromebooks are even more functional for schools. For specs, 4GB RAM is always my suggestion and 16GB drives should be fine unless you are installing a ton of apps and syncing lots of data. I have over 100 apps on my smartphone, sync Evernote offline (9,000 notes) and sync Google drive offline and I am only using 9GB (18GB if you count the hundreds of photos and videos of my daughter).

I also think that this would be a good time for Google and OEMs to work on a 7" Chrome OS tablet! Think about it - all the Android apps in a small form factor for younger students or mobility, with the management features and ease of use of a Chromebook!

Google Classroom updates:

1. Interact with other apps and systems - more software and systems will be able to interact with more data in Classroom. One example that teachers will love is the ability for Gradebooks and reporting systems to sync grades with Classroom, eliminating the need for teachers to manually transfer grades.
2. Teachers can schedule assignments, questions, or announcements to post at a later date. The post is then automatically published to the class stream at the scheduled date and time.
3. Teachers can poll their students using multiple-choice questions and allow students to see a summary of their classmates answers.

Science Journal - a new app that is a digital science notebook that allows students to record data from sensors on an Android phone or connected device, take notes, observer, interpret, predict, create graphs and much more.

Google also announced that they are making their own 3D/Virtual reality hardware that will be prefect for schools - this will fit well with Expeditions and allow students to explore the world, and beyond, right from their classroom.


Some exciting news for schools!!

More Resources:

Benefits of Google Apps and Chromebooks for Schools

Android for Education resources

Google for Education Resources

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Technology I use on a Daily Basis - 2016 Version

In the past, I've written about the technology I use on a daily basis (see bottom of page for links).

Here's my updated version for Spring, 2016.

I am a K-12 Education Strategist for CDW-G. In this role, I work with schools on selecting and implementing technology solutions to improve teaching and learning. I do a lot of research on best practices in education and technology and do a decent amount of traveling.

I'm a huge user of Google Apps and Evernote. They are my main work, and personal tools, and all of my devices work with them. Without these, I'm stuck. I also back them both up.

My day typically consists of email conversations and support with our account managers and customers, Google Hangouts with customers providing support, advice, strategy planning, training and professional development, and doing online research, as well as creating tools and resources, like presentations and reference materials. If I am traveling, I only bring my smartphone and my Acer Flip Chromebook and am able to do everything I need to with them. I have Citrix for my Chromebook so I can remote in to our system and access everything I need, including a Windows desktop.

My personal smartphone is an LG G4 running Android. I love it. I can do anything on it - email, web browsing, Google Apps, Evernote, messaging, photos, musics, etc. I is my go-to device. I have an spare battery and external battery for traveling, but the battery life is pretty good. It's also durable, as I've dropped it a few times and it's still here. My work smartphone is a Samsung Galaxy 7 which I use when traveling. I like it, but I like LG's software and screen size better. I use it as a mobile hotspot for my Chromebook while traveling too.

I have the same work and personal laptop - an HP Elitebook Folio 9470m with Core i5 processors and SSD drives. It's lightweight, powerful and works great. I use it at work with a docking station and two monitors. At home, I use my personal one for remoting into work via Citrix, and some other tasks, but mainly just for work tasks when working from home.

My travel device, home use and work use, is my Acer C738T Touch/Flip Chromebook. I have the 4GB Ram version. It's light, has a great battery life, and does everything I need it to do, including work offline. I use it for travel, conferences and off-site meetings. I use it at home sometimes when I need to type. I have both my personal and work profiles on here, with offline Drive access for both setup. I also have the Evernote Android app for Chromebooks on it, with offline sync enabled. I have also added the Google Play Movie/TV app so that I can download movies for offline viewing while traveling. This thing is amazing and has been replacing my need for any other devices.

I also have an LG GPad 8.3" LTE tablet that I got for free when I got my LG G4 smartphone. I use this at home for media consumption - Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Movies, Music. Great device.

Google Apps - for both work and home. Email, Chrome, Calendar, Drive/Docs/Sheets/Slides, Keep, Blogger, Sites - these are my main tools for work and personal use. All of my files are in Drive, and backed up on my personal laptop. I also use a Google account at work with my files in Drive. I have two work accounts - one for work itself (K12 team uses it), and a GAFE account for working with customers. I use a Google Sheet as my project management tool, with hyper links to Docs and other files. Each project gets a separate row, with notes, contacts, follow up tasks and more.

Evernote - this is my other main tool - web clippings, receipts, manuals, project management, important info, contacts, reference material and more. I have the Evernote clipper installed on Chrome and in Outlook. I also have the Evernote Scanner which I use to digitize everything that is paper based. It automatically scans both sides, very quickly, and then sorts things into the proper notebooks in Evernote based on what they are (document, business card, receipt, photo, etc). Great tool for going paperless.

Outlook and Lync at work for email and instant messaging. I have my work email and Lync setup on my smartphones also.

Sites and services I use include Feedly feed reader, Pocket, LinkedIn, TweetDeck, Google+ and Facebook. I spend most of my time on Feedly and Google+, researching and connecting with others.

That's really it. I rarely use anything else and I have different tools for different things - work, home, travel, fun.

Take a look back at earlier versions of this post to see what has changed over the years based on my job and the tech available. I've definitely changed with the apps I use and have less hardware. In fact, my Acer C738T Chromebook is slowly becoming the only device I really need, besides a smartphone.



Related:

Technology I use on a Daily Basis - 2015 Version

Technology I'm using daily as a School District CIO (2012)

Technology I use on a Daily Basis - updated for this year (Oct 2011)

Technology I use on a Daily Basis - revisited and updated (June 2011)

What technology I use on a daily basis (2009)




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Soundtrap - make music online from any device!

Soundtrap is a new site that lets you make music online, from any device, with your own instruments or the virtual ones on the site. The free version offers 5 projects, 750 loops, 151 instruments and sounds and lots of other features. There are premium levels with more features and less limits.



Soundtrap works on Mac, Windows, iPad, Android tablets and phones, Linux and Chromebooks. It allows you to start, edit and collaborate on your recordings wherever you are. 

You can collaborate with others and even share your music on Facebook, Twitter and SoundCloud, as well as iTunes.

You can sign in with Office 365, Google, Facebook or an email account. 

This is a great tool that schools can use to help students learn and explore music. 

The Education version is in a walled garden and COPPA compliant and has different pricing than the consumer version. With this version, students and teachers are in their own private area and can more easily collaborate. Pricing is based on number of users - Starter Pack is $249/year for up to 50 users. You can use the online calculator to find pricing for more users. 

A great resource for schools, especially with all of the cuts to music an arts. 

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