Susquehannock handed out Chromebooks to all students on September 9 and 10.  Since then, students have been experimenting with their new Chromebooks and acquiring help from the Tech Shed for minor problems.  For many students, a pro to having their own Chromebook is designing it to match their own style.

Tech S.H.E.D. members seniors Lance Woody and Caitlyn Rassa have found that students enjoy personalizing their Chromebooks for several different reasons.

“Students have this sense of ownership when it comes to personalizing their Chromebooks,” said Woody.  “They have this sense of wanting to use it instead of having to use it.”

On September 9 and 10, there were only a few students who had problems with setting up the wallpaper and themes of their Chromebooks.

“Personalizing the Chromebooks has pretty much been established since they were handed out,” said Rassa.  “Though, there are some students who do have some trouble with it, still.”

Below are some common questions and answers to help you personalize your Chromebook.

How do I set up the wallpaper?

Scroll over to the bottom right corner of the Chromebook, and select Settings.  Scroll over to the Appearance section, and select Set Wallpaper.  Look around at the variety of choices, and select the image to set as the wallpaper.

How do I set up a specific wallpaper?

Most students don’t prefer the demo wallpaper choices on the Chromebook and would rather set up an image of a certain cartoon, character or even their favorite animal.

Senior Caitlyn Rassa of the Tech S.H.E.D. enjoys helping others with their Chromebook problems and knows a lot about how to personalize the Chromebook.

“Find an image on Google, and download it,” said Rassa. “Then set the wallpaper through the custom tab, and select your downloaded file.”

How do I personalize the profile icon?

Setting the profile icon is a common question among students.  The icon appears at the starting screen after turning on the Chromebook.  Go to the right-hand corner, and scroll to the bottom of the settings page.  Click your profile icon, and then change it to another one of the many examples shown.

How do I set up a specific profile icon?

Download the desired image from Google.  After opening up the profile icon page in the settings section, select the folder, and open up the downloaded image.

How do I set up a picture profile icon?

Select the camera icon that is next to the other demo selections in the icon section.  Station the camera correctly, and take the photo.  The photo then will become the new profile icon.

How to personalize the theme?

There are two ways to get the different types of themes.  One way is to select the bottom right corner, and go into Settings.  In the appearance section, select Get Themes.  Choose the theme of choice, and set as the Chromebook’s Google theme.  Another way to acquire a  theme is by going directly to the Google Webstore.

“You can go to the Google Webstore and search through different types of themes,” said Rassa.

Senior Lance Woody who works for the Tech Shed also knows how the many types of themes work.

“There’s a theme for everything,” said Woody.  “Companies and other Google users tend to make lots of them.”

Along with personalizing the Chromebooks, games are available to get from the Google Webstore.

“A student can try to get any game, but war games are banned,” said Woody.  “Just download the game, and try to use it.  If it is blocked by the Smoothwall, then you won’t be able to play it.”

Rassa also has a key input for downloading games.

“Educational games, like Solitaire, are normally available,” said Rassa.

Librarian Sandy May believes the Chromebooks are a great addition to Susquehannock High School and is very excited for the improvement in students’ education.

“I believe that students having the option to personalize their device makes it more enjoyable for them,” said May.  “I think the Chromebooks are a wonderful new choice for a good device to use.  They will definitely help with the students’ education.  I’ve also seen some very interesting class assignments that involve the Chromebooks.”

So far, Chromebooks have aided students and teachers with interesting assignments.  Blackboard and Google Classroom have become more active among teachers, and now with students able to personalize their own devices, Chromebooks have become the new favorite classroom tool to use.