All information courtesy of Chromebooks: A Resource Guide for BPS Educators

Google created its online marketplace, the Chrome Web Store, so that educators can easily search for new web apps and extensions by category. Education categories include academic resources, family, foreign languages, and teacher and administrator tools. However it's important to note that educators, and their students, may also benefit from exploring the Business Tools, Productivity, and Social & Communication categories. Many of the apps in the Web Store are designed to promote student and teacher creativity, enhance communication and collaboration, and increase productivity, and the beauty of the Web Store is that everything is free! No credit cards or personal information is required and no IT support is needed for installation. Educators can also read ratings and reviews of each app and/or extension to determine if its applicable for their content area or grade level. 

Once you find an app you want to use, and you install it, a shortcut is added to your browser's new tab page. Extensions are added to the right of the Omnibox. The videos below explain the difference between a web app and extension and I've also curated an extensive list of apps and extensions for you to explore. Some of my personal favorites include Snagit, Awesome Screenshot, Diigo, PowToon, Remind, Padlet and Google's URL Shortener. Check out the Chrome Web Store today and take your Chromebook and your classroom to the next level!  

Apps for Educators to Explore

Audiotool free online music production studio

BioDigital Human- 3D platform that simplifies the understanding of anatomy, disease and treatments

BrainPop Featured Movie

Ck-12 -helps students, teachers and parents improve K-12 learning globally. Self-paced & personalized

Class DoJo-  Improve classroom behavior quickly and easily. Capture and generate behavior data that can be shared with parents and administrators

DocuSign- easily sign PDF & Word documents, fill out forms, and collect signatures from others

EasyBib- Online bibliography management and information literacy platform

eduCanon- Embed rich, dynamic questions into online video and track student understanding

EdPuzzle- Crop a video, explain it with your own voice and embed quizzes at any time

Gliffy Diagrams- Diagrams Made Easy. Draw a flowchart, org chart, UML, ERD, network diagram, wireframe, BPMN, and other diagrams

Google Docs- create and edit Google Docs

Graphing Calculator by Desmosendar-  Plot functions, create tables, add sliders, animate your graphs, and more

Instagrok- makes searching interactive. Creates a visual graph of the search terms & connects concepts

Kaizena (Voice Comments) - Give high quality, verbal feedback on student work - simply highlight and 
speak or attach reusable resources for common problems

Loupe Collage-turn hundreds of photos into beautiful collages in seconds!

Lucidchart for Educaiton- Web-based diagramming tool that makes drawing diagrams fast and easy. Students work individually or collaboratively to create and edit a wide variety of diagrams in real time

Lucidpress Layout and Design- Perfect for print or digital! Collaborate with others in real time to create beautiful flyers, brochures, newsletters, posters, presentations and more with this free desktop publishing design tool. 

myHomework Student Planner- Lets students track their classes, homework, tests and projects. Perfect for organization! iPad compatible!

Offline Google Mail-Gmail Offline beta is a Gmail app built to support offline access. Read, respond to, search and archive without network access. Over 3 million users!

PDF Zen - Free online PDF editing. Simple sharing & faxing. No strings attached.

Picasa- easy access to Picasa pictures

PicMonkey - excellent photo editing app

Pilxr-o-matic-  Turn your photos into cool looking retro snaps

Pocket- save videos, articles, and more for later!

PowToon- Create awesome animated, multi-media presentations and slideshows 

QR Code Generator- Generate QR codes

Remind- safe and private one-way text messaging service to use with students and parents

Socrative Student- Students answer formative assessment questions in a variety of formats: quizzes, quick question polls, exit tickets and space races. iPad compatible!

SoundCloud- Create, record and share the sounds you create with anyone using SoundCloud

SoundTrap- Make music online. Record instruments, vocals and use loops. Collaborate and create music with friends from anywhere

TechSmith Snagit-Screen capture, screen recording, image editing, and sharing. Collaborate and show what you know. Use in conjunction with the Snagit extension 

Timer- Timer Countdown, Alarm Clock, and Stopwatch

Tweetdeck- Schedule Tweets with images. Create, organize and share a timeline of the Tweets you want 

Webcam toy- Take photos with your webcam using over 80 free fun effects

We Video- Video editing tool suitable for novice to advanced users. Google Drive integration.

Extensions for Educators to Explore 

AdBlock- Block all advertisements on all web pages, even Facebook, Youtube, and Hulu

AppJump App Launcher- Put Apps and Extensions into Groups for easy management

Awesome Screenshot- Capture the whole page or any portion, annotate screenshot, blur sensitive info, one-click upload to share, save to Google Drive

Boomerang for Gmail- Allows you to schedule messages to be sent or returned at a later date

Buffer- easily add articles, pictures and videos to your Buffer and they'll be automatically shared throughout the day!

Chrome Tips Beta- Beginner to advanced tips to help you get the most out of Chrome

Chrome to phone- Send links and other information from Chrome to your Android device


Chrome Vox - Brings the speed, versatility, and security of Chrome to visually impaired users. (still in development)

CiteLighter - academic research tool that provides an organizational framework for writing your papers

Clearly- Makes blog posts, articles & webpages clean and easy to read. Save to Evernote to read anywhere

Explain and Send Screenshots- Capture a webpage, write text, arrows and circles and share it with a direct link to the screenshot without a frame!

Goo.gl URL Shortner-  shorten the current website URL. Generates a QR code you can copy & paste

Incredible Start Page- customized start page for Chrome. Easily find your favorite bookmarks and closed tabs. Take notes as you browse.

Kaizena Plug-In- Kaizena Plugin works with Kaizena Mini (on Google Docs) to make recording and playing voice comments work

MoveNote for Gmail- use Movenote and create video presentations directly through your Gmail

Office Editing for Docs, Sheets, and Slides- View and edit Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files with Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides. 

One Tab- Save 95% memory life, reduce tab clutter by converting all tabs into a list which you can reopen individually or all at once. Tabs lists can also be named and shared 

OpenDyslexic-  an open sourced font created to increase readability for readers with dyslexia

PanicButton- Hide all your tabs at once with one single button and restore them later

Popchrom- creating your own shortcuts for text phrases

Post To Padlet- formerly Wall Wisher. Collect and share anything (text, documents, videos, etc.) from the web in the form of a custom "wall"


Read&Write for Google- Boost reading and writing confidence. Offer support for Google Docs/web to students with learning difficulties, dyslexia or ELL/ESL

Select and Speak- uses iSpeech's human-quality text-to-speech (TTS) and reads selected text. Includes 43 iSpeech text to speech customizable voices

Session Buddy- A session manager for your browser where you can see all open tabs in one place, save open tabs and restore them later, recover open tabs after a browser or system crash and more!

Shareaholic- share & bookmark great content from anywhere on the web with Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest & 200+ other services

Speak It- Converts text into speech so you no longer need to read

TechSmith Snagit-Take a screenshot, screen capture, or screen video recording. Use in conjunction with the TechSmith Snagit app

TLDR- (Too Long Didn't Read) creates a summary of any web article without leaving the original page

TweetDeck Launcher- adds a handy TweetDeck button right next to your Omnibox

WOT- ebsite reputation and review service that helps you make informed decisions about whether to trust a website or not when you are searching, shopping or surfing online