By Jane Vestil
At AppsEvents, our browser of choice will always be Chrome not just because we advocate the use of Google Apps and other Google products for education, but largely due to the fact that Chrome offers a wide selection of extensions that you can use so your browser will perform the way you want it to. This, in effect, helps you work smarter and much more productive. On top of that, if you sign in to Chrome, all your preferences will be saved in the cloud allowing you to bring up your bookmarks, history, settings, and extensions on any device.
For today’s blog post, we will feature 10 awesome Chrome extensions to help educators cut back on their time.
If you are already using Google Drive, this is a powerful extension to help you save time by allowing you to download content from the web to a specific folder in your Google Drive directly via Chrome. For those who don’t want to install the Google Drive software on their PC or laptop, this extension is a good alternative to eliminate manual downloading/uploading of documents or images.
This extension adds a browser action to save the current page with preferences you can configure and a right-click context menu to save hyperlinks and media.
2. Clearly
With just a single click or a keyboard action, Clearly makes reading updates from your favorite EdTech blogs and other websites clutter free. If you are easily distracted by sidebar ads or you just want to stay focused on what you are reading, this Chrome extension will be your best friend. And if you are an Evernote kind of teacher, you can easily save the “cleaned” article to any of your Evernote notebook and share them to your students.
3. StayFocusd
If you often find yourself endlessly checking updates on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and other time-consuming websites that prevents you from getting any work done, this Chrome extension is a must install! StayFocusd is a productivity tool that helps you stay focused (as the name implies) by completely blocking websites such as online gaming and social media sites or by limiting the time you spend on certain websites.
How many times did you find yourself accidentally closing a tab? It is very frustrating, especially when you are doing important research.
While the name of this extension might sound funny, it does the job in helping you reopen an accidentally closed tab without having to browse through the black hole that is your browser history and that’s sexy!
5. Tab Scissors
This extension lets you split a Chrome window into two at the selected tab. If you have at least two tabs open, Tab Scissors will divide the window into two smaller, side-by-side windows. You can have an article open on the left and Google Docs on the right for a seamless research experience. Works great for multitasking.
6. Tab Glue
If there is an extension that splits a browser window, there should be a way to put them back together. Tab Glue is the perfect partner for Tab Scissors so you can easily put those tabs back. And if you have too many windows open, you can quickly organize them into a single window with just one click.
7. Checker Plus for Google Calendar™
One of our favorite products from the Google Apps EDU suite is the Calendar and if you use it all the time, you will love this Chrome extension. You can check or edit your events, set an appointment, and get desktop notifications without having to leave your current tab or launching Google Calendar.
From the same developer of Checker Plus for Google Calendar™, this is another great extension that lets you check your emails in one click without leaving your current tab or going to GMail. You can get desktop notifications, read, listen, archive or delete emails from a pop-up window.
9. Google Dictionary (by Google)
When you install and enable this extension, you can easily view the definition of a word through a small pop-up bubble via a mouse double click. There is also a history feature of the words you have looked up for later use. This is a great tool for both students and teachers who are non-native English speakers.
10. Auto Copy
This extension eliminates the need for Ctrl + C command by automatically sending the selected text to your clipboard. Some people may need time to get used to using this, but it can definitely save you a few seconds of your time, especially when you need to copy-and-paste a lot. Also, your carpals would thank you for using this extension. The drawback is, this only works when copying content from websites.
Google Chrome is more than just an internet browser. If you want to learn more on the basics of Google Chrome and its applications in education, check out this course from +Nathan Kellogg http://goo.gl/IKA5jL
There goes our list. There are a lot more time-saving Chrome extensions available in the Chrome Web Store and we are pretty sure you also have your own list of extension “must haves” so make sure to share your favorites in the comments section below.
