School Managed Chromebooks

Chromebook Insurance Program

Northview Public Schools issues Chromebooks to all of its students. These devices are traditionally kept at school for grades DK -2, whereas students in grades 3 through 12 often transport their Chromebooks to and from school. As we have rolled out these devices, we have of course encountered issues with breakage, loss, theft, damage, etc. Because we do not want to pass excessive costs back to parents, Northview has decided to partner with an insurance company to provide parents with peace of mind for devices that are under their responsibility. We are happy to announce that we are working with School Device Coverage, who has been in the Chromebook insurance business for 8 years and as a company for 33 years. It insures some of the largest districts in the nation as well as individual small schools. We have negotiated an annual cost of $25 and want you to be aware of this optional insurance package.

 

To learn more about the details of this, please read our FAQ’s document to get started.

School Email & Logging In

Your student has a school email account that is used to login to school managed Chromebooks. All Chromebooks managed by our system can only be logged into with a school-issued email address. Personal Gmail accounts will not work when trying to log into the device.

Access to Other Email Accounts

Once logged into the device using their school email, they can choose to login to personal Gmail accounts in the browser. Students are able to access other domain email accounts from the Chromebooks.

Student email accounts are unable to send or receive emails outside of the nvps.net domain unless the email is part of a whitelisted and approved domain like gvsu.edu, ferris.edu, etc. That means a student won’t be able to send a file from their school email to a non-nvps email address (unless it’s a whitelisted and approved domain like the examples given above). This is a standard security practice in the industry that safeguards students who may be a minor as well as the integrity of our system and network.

Monitoring and Filtering

Beyond the filtering while on our campus networks, our school’s Chromebooks are monitored and filtered using Securly. Securly sets filters for student access no matter where the student is located- school, home, a friend’s house, or a restaurant.

Apps & Extensions

The applications and extensions available on your student’s Chromebook are pushed out through our management system. Downloaded apps will appear at the bottom of our student’s home screen. Any chrome extensions that have been enabled will show at the end of the Chrome toolbar inside of the Chrome browser. Students are not able to download apps and extensions unless we have them whitelisted. This maintains that the  Chromebook can remain a tool for educational purposes.

Printing From a Chromebook

Our school managed Chromebooks have been set up to print on campus. The current expectation for our higher grade level students is that they have the option to turn assignments in to their teachers digitally. Printing at home is possible through most, not all, USB/Wifi printers. We have found that USB is the fastest, easiest way. Directions for setting up the Chromebook to print at home can be found here.

Chromebook Troubleshooting

Below are some of the most common scenarios we see day to day and the quick tips and fixes that go along with them.

Installing Pending Updates

Sometimes a Chromebook will have important updates awaiting to be installed. Most of the time, this will happen in the background automatically. But occasionally something might get stuck because a power cycle is needed, and a manual button press is needed. To check for updates:

  1. While signed into the Chromebook, click in the bottom right-hand corner.
  2. Click on the settings cog that appears at the top of the popup box. This should open a new window.
  3. In this new window, in the left column, look for “About Chrome OS” and click on it. You should now see a “Check for updates” button. Clicking this will have the Chromebook check for any new or pending updates. After updates are complete, it is possible you will need to restart the Chromebook.

Increasing Your Mic Sensitivity

If you are on an audio/video call and everyone is saying they can barely hear you, a simple solution would be to increase your microphones sensitivity. To do this;

  1. Click in the lower right corner of your screen where the clock is.
  2. The popup contains all useful information such as wifi, bluetooth, volume and keyboard settings. To the right of the volume adjuster, you should see (>). Clicking this arrow brings the popup to Audio Settings.
  3. Increase your Input 25% and see if that helps.

NOTE: We have been given feedback that setting the input to 100% causes “robot sounding” audio and should be avoided unless necessary. Each service like Google Meet, Zoom and Facebook Chat handle audio and video compression differently.

Battery Performance

Batteries on a computer are like tires on a vehicle. They wear out and eventually need to be replaced. Most of the Chromebooks in our district are newer and have healthy batteries. So if you are experiencing shorter charge times here are some things to keep in mind;

  1. Shutting down the chromebook instead of just closing the lid allows for a slower discharge while not being used.
  2. Media causes faster battery drain. That means audio and video chat, watching videos, listening to music or scrolling websites with lots of media such as photos and videos can cause a higher than normal battery drain speed.
  3. Colder temperatures are bad for batteries. Try to keep the Chromebook in a room above 55 degrees. Leaving it in the car over night during the coldest parts of winter can permanently damage the device and/or battery. Dead battery cells result in sudden drops in battery percentage (going from 85% to 45% in a matter of minutes).
  4. Using the device on a pillow or blanket which blocks the vents can cause the machine to warm up. The warmer the device gets, the harder the machine runs the fan to stay cool. The harder it has to stay cool, the more battery it will use. It’s best to use the device on a flat hard service.

Shutdown

This isn’t the same thing as logging out, or closing the lid of the Chromebook, and then reopening it. To shut down the Chromebook, hold the power button down until the screen goes black. This usually takes 2-3 seconds. Count to 5, and then power the device back on. Sometimes, a simple power cycle is all the machine needs to run optimally.

Tech Support

Trouble signing in? Chromebook issue? Questions about deployment? Our Tech Team is here to help.
Note: Due to the amount of emails and phone calls coming in, the response time may be 1-2 days.

Email: techsupport@nvps.net