Submitting Pen and Paper Work Digitally With a Chromebook

It's totally possible to still have your students complete pen-and-paper assignments while simultaneously using technology. If you use Chromebooks at your school, then this is a tutorial I've created for you to have your students turn in their written assignments to Google Classroom using a Chromebook. It's not as challenging as you might think, although it seems tricky at first!

I’ve been back at school for over a month now, and we have officially gone 1:1. Each one of my students has her own Chromebook. No more fighting over technology carts on my hall. No more changing plans at the last second because the technology cart must be used for a “higher” purpose.

It is bliss–well, not quite bliss, but it is nice not to have to worry about having the necessary technology to implement my lessons.

But even though I started blending early (mixing digital with traditional instruction), many kinks still arise, and I still have a lot to learn. That’s what this latest series is about. Hopefully, we can all learn from my mistakes with The Blended Classroom Tips and Tricks.

For the next few weeks, I’ll be blogging about helpful things I am (often painfully) learning along the way in my school’s 1:1 journey. So here it is:

The Blended Classroom Tips and Tricks #1: Submit Pen and Paper Work With a Chromebook

I’ve written in the past about how I intend to create a digital and paper “hybrid” (or blended) class. I think pulling a digital all or nothing is a mistake because certain things work best on paper and certain things work best digitally. And forcing a really great pen and paper assignment into the digital realm makes no sense to me. I’ve already written about it HERE. So I love it that Google Classroom offers an option to turn in pen and paper work digitally simply by snapping a picture of the completed assignment.

What I didn’t anticipate when I wrote about submitting pen and paper work digitally in Google Classroom as we merrily used our IPAD cart was doing it on Chromebooks, my county’s 1:1 device of choice.

On an IPAD, it is super simple–you click “ADD” in Google Classroom, and the IPAD gives you the option to take a picture.

The Chromebooks are not so simple. The first time I asked my students to do it, they were all hopelessly confused, and so I made a tutorial that I’m about to share with you now. Once students get used to it, it’s simple, but don’t approach it without clear guidelines for them. Hands will shoot up. Chaos will break out. Chromebooks will go flying. Trust me–I write from experience.

So here are the 11 Steps (that’s right–11) to submitting pen and paper work digitally on a Chromebook.

Step 1:

Step 2:

Step 3:

Step 4:

Step 5:

Step 6:

Step 7:

Step 8:

Step 9:

Step 10:

Step 11:

Download the free printable cheat sheet to share with your students, and feel free to share the film tutorial below, as well.

Print it HERE!

I’ll be back next week to discuss more blended classroom tips and tricks that a month of trial and error has taught me!

Are you 1:1 yet? What tips and tricks do you have to share? Be sure to leave a comment below to let me know!

And be sure to stick around to check out my other Blended Classroom Tips and Tricks.

Look no further for a new way to poll your students using technology! Google Classroom provides an excellent polling tool that you can use quickly and efficiently. Plus, it sets up the opportunity for you to encourage a discussion reflecting the results--were they what students expected? Why or why not?

Blended learning is made easier with a new categorization feature in Google Classroom! Now when you create assignments in Google Classroom, you can categorize them by topic. Then, when students are searching for a topic, they'll be able to see all of the assignments--and only those assignments--for that topic! Making your life easier one feature at a time!

Classroom management is a challenge in and of itself, and adding technology to the classroom just opens a whole new can of worms. I've compiled three tips that I've found useful, in terms of classroom management, when you have a blended classroom. These tips are simple and easy to implement, but they'll save you headaches and frustration when classroom management issues arise.

Have you run into the issue of not being able to access a website due to Adobe Flash not being enabled? This happened to me during a recent lesson, and after a quick in-class Google, I figured out how to enable Adobe Flash on a Chromebook. This short blog post explains exactly how to fix this problem so that you don't run into the same mid-class problem that I did!

Do you struggle with cell phones in the classroom? They can be excellent tools for learning, but more often than not, they are a huge distraction. Check out this post about some of the ways students can use their portable devices for nefarious purposes and how the 1:1 classroom can offer a solution.

Read more about: Classroom Technology

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Submitting Pen and Paper Work Digitally With a Chromebook