Top 10 free Google Chrome extensions for K-12 teaching and learning

Listen to an audio version of this post:

Google Chrome is more than just a web browser; it can be a powerful instructional tool for teachers and students. With a host of helpful extensions, Google Chrome can increase productivity, encourage creativity, and make online learning more intuitive. Here are 10 of the best Google Chrome extensions for teachers and students K-12.

1. Grammarly

Grammarly can help teachers and students develop into better writers. This extension checks your grammar instantly as you type such as in a Google Doc or on your favorite social media app. Grammarly alerts you to your writing mistakes, such as when you’ve misspelled a word or forgotten a punctuation mark, and makes suggestions to correct them.  The real benefit though is the way it explains the mistake. This is especially helpful for students who need to know why they shouldn’t type “their was” instead of “there was” for example. The free version catches the majority of errors, but there’s also a paid premium version that picks up even more, makes stylistic suggestions, checks for plagiarism, and helps with vocabulary.

2. Google Keep

Google Keep works like a digital set of sticky notes, which you can use to store information from a variety of sources and organize in a way that is most helpful for you. With this extension, you can save important websites, images, and quotes and add notes that you can reference later. For example, if you found a lesson on integrating quotes in writing that you really like but you have a modification that makes it better tailored to your students, you could add your idea as a note so you don’t forget about it.

With Keep, you can also create color-coded checklists with check boxes and set location reminders so the next time you are at the store it will remind you to buy the  items you need for a project coming up in your class. You can also organize your notes by adding labels to them and as Keep syncs across all of your devices, you’ll have access to your notes no matter where you are.

Students can benefit from using the Keep extension by saving websites that they research and adding notes to describe how they plan to use the information.

3. Smallpdf 

As teachers and students continue to navigate online learning, the ability to find instructional resources that translate well to online instruction is a challenge many teachers face. If you’ve ever come across a worksheet or assignment that you think would be great for your students, but the file was in a PDF format, you probably know the frustration of wishing you had the file in an editable format to assign to your students online. 

The Smallpdf extension facilitates this process by giving you the ability to convert PDFs into an editable format. So now when you find a math worksheet in a PDF file you can  convert it to a Word document that students can type their answers on. The extension also gives you the ability to merge, split, and compress PDF files.

4. Screencastify

This extension lets you record your screen for up to five minutes –a digestible amount of time for students to engage with a mini lesson from their teacher. If you need to walk students through the requirements of MLA format in Google Docs, for example, you could use Screencastify to record your screen as you demonstrate how to correctly format an essay in MLA format. Or you might need to show students how to navigate Google Classroom for your class. Students can use Screencastify to create presentations or show their work on an assignment. Videos automatically save to your Google Drive for easy sharing.

Once you create a video with Screencastify, you can add it to a Hāpara Workspace to easily share it with all learners, a small group or an individual learner.

5. mote

Formative feedback is vital to the learning process, but typing out individual comments in student assignments can be time consuming. Mote gives you the ability to leave audio comments on student assignments and it works with Google Docs, Slides, and Sheets. So, if you need to explain how a student could be more specific in an essay, you can highlight the relevant part and use mote to leave a voice comment outlining your thoughts. Mote also gives you the option to have your voice comments translated into more than 20 world languages.

Mote pairs well with Hāpara Teacher Dashboard, which allows teachers to view student Google files on one dashboard. With Teacher Dashboard, educators can quickly pull up learners’ work and consistently leave formative feedback.

6. Pocket

The internet is replete with great resources for teachers, but the sheer number of resources can be overwhelming. How do you keep track of it all? And how do you remember that great activity you found on teaching fractions when you’ve found twenty other helpful articles online since then and the fraction activity is now the furthest thing from your mind? Pocket is a helpful extension that allows you to save articles you want to come back to later. You can add tags to categorize them so if you know you need something on the writing process, you could just check the articles you’ve tagged with the words “writing process.” 

7. Dualless 

Dualless mimics a dual screen setup for your computer which is especially helpful for those who are teaching virtually through Google Meet. Using Dualless, you can split your screen so that one window has the material you’re presenting to your class while the other window is open to your Google Meet so you can monitor your students as you’re presenting. 

For students, Dualless removes the frustration of having to switch between tabs if they have to watch a video while working through an assignment, for example. They can simply open the video in one window while having their assignment open on the other half of their screen, allowing them to watch and work at the same time.

8. Edpuzzle

With Edpuzzle, teachers can create interactive lessons by adding questions at certain points in a video or even adding comments through voice narration. You can trim videos to only the sections you want to use, or you can use an entire video. As an added benefit, teachers can track student progress through a lesson by seeing if they are watching the videos, where they’re stopping, and assessing their understanding through student responses. While teachers love the ability to use any video already created online, they can also create their own videos for instructional use through Edpuzzle. Plus, educators can add these to Workspace to easily share with learners and differentiate and personalize instruction.

9. Jamboard 

Jamboard allows you to create a virtual whiteboard to demonstrate concepts when you’re teaching virtually. If there’s a math problem you need to show the steps for, or a scientific process you need to walk students through, you can use Jamboard to visually communicate the information. You can write or draw on your Jamboard, as well as add images or virtual sticky notes of information. Jamboards are also great for collaboration. Teachers can create a Jamboard for shared lesson planning, and students can collaboratively use a Jamboard to create a presentation by adding text and images. 

10. Reactions for Google Meet

When you’re teaching virtually through Google Meet, it can be a challenge to measure student engagement. Reactions helps to relieve this problem by giving students a user-friendly and non-intimidating way of interacting within the virtual classroom. Using emoji reactions, students can indicate their understanding, their desire to ask a question, or just to demonstrate their engagement without disrupting the instructional environment.