Will Chromebooks work for the assessments?

KevinOD's picture
Submitted by KevinOD(9)
Member
Fri, 04/13/2012 - 2:48pm

Does anyone know if Chromebooks will be acceptable?  I did read soemthing about the test needing JAVA and if that is the case a Chromebook will not work.  We have been discussing Netbooks vs iPads vs Chromebooks the past few months and a leaning toward the Chromebooks for the ease of management. 

I read about a "tool" but have not been sent the link to one.  How am I supposed to report our readiness (Monmouth County NJ if that helps at all)

I am pretty new to this so any resources / links would be appreciated.

Thanks

Kevin

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dseabold
dseabold1 year 9 weeks ago

Link to tool

https://www.techreadiness.net/

but you must get a log-in from your state coordinator to get in.

eiovino
eiovino1 year 9 weeks ago

Chromebooks.

Kevin, I am also from Monmouth County and we have not received any information on logging in to use the tool. We are also buying Chromebooks for ease of management.

 

eiovino
eiovino1 year 9 weeks ago

Concerned about the testing environment.

When we report our district's technology readiness, do we only report computers that are in a lab environment? Without knowing more specifics about the test itself and the time frame that will be used, how can we know if we are properly preparing? 

quicksilva1
quicksilva11 year 9 weeks ago

Chromebooks?

Great question... Can someone please provide definitive answers to minimum specs for the new assessment tool? As well as what the new SBAC assessment will and will not run on....How are districts expected to improve their readiness now, if they don't know what "readiness" means in terms of operating systems and devices?

cbarber
cbarber1 year 9 weeks ago

tool for readiness

In New York we are waiting to hear more. This is all we have been given so far.

There are names of districts that have volunteered to pilot the assessment tool. During the beginning of April we are supposed to be given log on

for the tool.  The tool is described at www.techreadiness.net.  They are supposed to give us user names, information, guidance and web links to the structure and web links for piloting this tool. We haven't heard anything futher. 

jltigrett
jltigrett1 year 9 weeks ago

Hello,I have forwarded your

Hello,

I have forwarded your question to your SRC (State Representative Coordinator for New York.)  He should be in contact with you soon; his name is Jim Harrison.

lpaska
lpaska1 year 8 weeks ago

Status of NY's pilot

New York will launch its survey pilot later this month, and we will send an introductory e-mail to all who volunteered to pilot with the information needed to get started.

Thank you for recommending volunteers!

KevinOD
KevinOD1 year 9 weeks ago

Chromebooks

Thanks for all of the replies - I am glad I am not alone in knowing what is allowed / not allowed.  We would however like to make a decision soon on purchasing devices since the Chromebooks are going to be a hot item this summer.

Thanks

Kevin

Cgyr
Cgyr1 year 9 weeks ago

devices: chromebooks, etc.

Proceed with extreme caution if you are planning using Chromebooks. Read the following and scroll to page 22 where hardware and browser specs are listed. Although this document is 10 months old it gives one an idea on what to expect.

http://www.setda.org/c/document_library/get_file?folderId=344&name=DLFE-1336.pdf

Pearson is heavily invested in online assessments and if they become the provider for your state you may not have compatability with Chrome OS.  Other vendors might be the same . Districts that are rolling out Chromebooks are also using VM enviroments in some cases.  You need to figure out where this will fit in as well.   All Flash plug ins are not created equal either, and the online vendor will have to test with Chrome OS, and Java is not supported.   For our district I am planning on proceeding with iPad deployment with the full awareness that for the online tests we will need to have other more traditional computing resources available. For this I am preserving older traditional computers ( that normally would be retired) for specific use for online assessment that meet or exceed the minimum hardware requirements in the ratio of 2:1. Hopefully we will be covered and can make different decisions as more information becomes available and the process evolves.

eiovino
eiovino1 year 9 weeks ago

Chromebooks for testing

I just heard back from my Google Rep, after forwarding him the 10 month old info we have about devices that will/will not work for testing. His response;

"Thanks for the update. I read through the blurb and it seems like b/c the document is 10 months old it does not take into account the fact that Chromebooks now support Java, Flash, Silverlight, etc. We are working with Pearson to make their products as compatible with Chromebooks as possible." 

astedfast
astedfast24 weeks 6 hours ago

Yes, folks should be aware

Yes, folks should be aware that Chromebooks advance just as quickly as other mobile devices.  Something that would have saved everyone some time is to note that the test runs successfully in the Chrome browser on a Windows-based machine.  Generally speaking: if the Chrome browser can do it, the Chromebook can do it.

I also noticed a comment about knowing what we should be testing--just lab computers or other--which is a question I had asked before.  This is something that needs to be clarified.  It should have been in the beginning.  Not only do we, as a tech dept, not really know much about the testing itself that is already done in our schools, but this tool is to gather information on a test that the teachers and admins are completely clueless about.  What we did is test every lab, every mobile lab (classroom on wheels), and any student-use classroom computers (generally 2 per room).  We recently added 2 iPads to each elementary classroom and included them in the test.  However, I don't see us having mixed-device testing (i.e. some kids on an iPad and some on a laptop, with others on desktops in the same room).  That gets too complicated for the teachers.

Cgyr
Cgyr1 year 9 weeks ago

That is good news. Two giants

That is good news. Two giants working together for the the common good....

It looks like Google needs to update their Chrome support site - the info below was pulled from their site today.

http://support.google.com/chromeos/a/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1290513

" Will Chromebooks support Flash, Java, Silverlight, and other plug-ins we need for some of our internal applications?

Chromebooks have Flash support built-in, but they do not support Java or Silverlight."

I poked around some more and found Rndr  from the chromestore;

Rndr is supported on Chromebook and on any OS that supports the full version of Chrome, including Windows, Mac and Linux.

To use Rndr, simply navigate to the web application you'd like to access, then click the Rndr button on the extension toolbar. You can also just type "rndr://" and your URL in the Chrome Omnibox. Additional usage scenarios are explained on our website.

Rndr currently supports the following plugins:
* Java
* Silverlight
* Flash
* Shockwave
* Aleks
* GoToMeeting
* RDP

 

lcocco
lcocco1 year 8 weeks ago

Chromebooks

Hi Kevin,

I'm the State Readiness Coordinator (SRC) for NJ, and according to PARCC the final specifications for devices for testing will not be available until Fall 2012.  I can't really tell you at this time whether or not Chromebooks will be acceptable for PARCC testing purposes. I'm sorry about the lack of information, but as soon as we get more information from PARCC we will pass it along.

There will be a training Webinar on April 27 regarding the NJ Broadband/PARCC Technology Survey that NJDOE will release on May 18 for all NJ LEAs and testing sites.  Your Superintendent was sent a memo about the training on April 16. 

Thanks,

Laurence Cocco

eiovino
eiovino1 year 8 weeks ago

Tech readiness count of devices.

Laurence,

Can you tell us if we should count every computer for the "readiness" count or just computers that would be in a

testing environment? We have teacher computers and 2 PCs in every classroom but these are not in an area that we

would test from.

Thanks

Ellen

lcocco
lcocco1 year 8 weeks ago

tech readiness count of devices

Only devices that will be used for testing should be included in the readiness count. 

KevinOD
KevinOD1 year 8 weeks ago

Thanks for the reply

It is good to know who the Coordinator is!  I will check with my Superintendent for the info on the training.

Someone else was telling me that hte computers need to be wired - not wireless - is that correct?

We will have two wired labs and 7 wireless mobile labs (2 Dell Latitude Laptop Labs, 2 Dell Mini Netbook Labs - new with screens that are large enough - and 3 of which will be Chromebook labs).

We do not really want to wait until the requirements come out before we order.

Feel free to contact me or provide any additional info at odonnell AT belmar.k12.nj.us

Thanks

Kevin

Cgyr
Cgyr1 year 8 weeks ago

The June 2011 report (

The June 2011 report ( http://www.setda.org/c/document_library/get_file?folderId=344&name=DLFE-1336.pdf) recommends that devices be wired, but does not require it. Again, it is overall bandwidth going into the building and the amount of bandwidth available to each device within the building that should be the concern, not the type of connectivity.  A school with with a 1GBPS WAN connection and a robust 802.11n wireless network working on 1GBPS internal LAN with excellent coverage would be better served with  100 wireless devices simultaneously taking an assessment than would be a school with a T1 WAN and 25 wired devices operating with old 10/100 ethernet switches.  Arbitrarily specifying wired or wireless would be a disservice to those schools that have made significant upgrades to their wireless network infrastracture.  I know that in my own building there are low quality wired drops that operate at only 10 MBPS where a roomful of laptops can connect at 100 plus MBPS to a single wireless AP to access a bandwidth intensive math simulation (Carnegie Cognitive Tutor).

 

 

kmedlin
kmedlin1 year 8 weeks ago

Wide Variations in Tech Specs by State

Thanks for sharing the document above.  It definitely has some handy benchmark estimates for planning purposes.  It appears, however, from reading the bandwidth requirements set forth in each state's description of the technical components that they vary widely.

North Carolina says a 28.8 Modem connection is sufficient while other states go into much more explicit detail. 

Any ideas on the methodology used by each state to determine what is required?  

pzingg
pzingg1 year 7 weeks ago

Develop with HTML 5 instead of Java Flash etc

Please see a comment I wrote about encouraging the use of HTML 5 and Javascript in lieu of outdated and platform-limiting technologies such as Java, Flash, Silverlight and their ilk.

IMO, Chromebooks and iPads should be considered as viable platforms for online assessments, if the assessments can be created on the right, modern platform.

mmacias
mmacias38 weeks 6 days ago

From our vendor of Chromebooks re: SBAC tech requirements

 

 SBC's criteria - http://www.setda.org/c/document_library/get_file?folderId=354&name=DLFE-1558.pdf

  Chromebooks meet all the criteria posted! :) 

 Hardware—1 GHz processor, 1 GB RAM, 9.5 inch screen size (10 inch class), screen res of 1024 x 768 Operating Systems—Windows 7, Mac 10.7, Linux (Ubuntu 11.10, Fedora 16), Chrome, iOS 67, Android 4.0; Network—Must be able to connect to the Internet Form Factors—Desktops, laptops, netbook, virtual desktops and thin client, tablets (iPad, 
Windows, and Android) and hybrid laptop/tablets that meet the above specifications; and

 Additional Accessories—

o Headphones may be required for audio support, and

o Physical keyboards (as opposed to virtual) and/or mice may be required for use with 

tablets.