A Quick Guide to Google Chrome Extensions!

Chrome Extensions - WHAT!?!

Google Chrome extensions can be a game-changer for helping with your teaching, engaging students, and saving time. In this blog, we will show you how to find and add Chrome extensions and suggest some useful extensions for English teachers. Yes, this is the ultimate quick Guide to Google Chrome Extensions!

What are Chrome Extensions?

Chrome extensions are programs that you can add to your Google Chrome internet browser. These add extra features or functions, such as improving engagement and accessibility for students.

Finding Chrome Extensions:

 ➔   Click on the link to go to the Chrome Web Store in your Chrome browser. (Browser? That's the searchy thing you normally use to find things on the internet...assuming you use Google's search engine, of course. See below.)

➔    Use the search bar in the middle at the top of your screen to type in the name of an extension or keywords (e.g., ‘education’, ‘English teaching’, or ‘writing tools’), or on the left-hand side, you can browse by category such as ‘Tools’, ‘Education’, etc. Alternatively, just type in the name of the extension you want - I've suggested a few of my favourites below.

➔    Click on the extension you’re interested in.

➔    Click the blue ‘Add to Chrome’ button to install it.

View or manage your extensions

To view or manage your extensions, click the puzzle piece icon in the top-right corner of your browser. From there, you can pin your favourite extensions, so they appear in the extensions bar.

Useful Chrome Extensions

Mote - Voice & Audio for Learning

Mote is a Chrome extension that allows users to leave voice comments on Google Docs, Slides, and Sheets, with a transcript. It is ideal for adding a personal touch to feedback and makes marking much quicker. No more over-thinking your wording to avoid misinterpretation!

Read Aloud - A Text to Speech Voice Reader

Read Aloud does exactly what it says, it reads aloud text from websites, which is great for students with reading difficulties. It even has a selection of voices, reading speeds, and highlighting choices, as well as multiple languages.

InsertLearning

InsertLearning allows you to add to online articles with questions, videos, and discussions. I’ve used it for checking comprehension as it works well with Google Classroom.

 Edpuzzle

An oldie, but a goodie! Edpuzzle allows you to embed questions, quizzes, and notes into videos. It shows you how your students are progressing and can be integrated with learning management systems (Google Classroom, Canvas, etc.).

Brisk Teaching - AI Assistant for Teachers

Brisk Teaching is an AI assistant that integrates with Google Docs, Google Classroom, and Canvas. It’s great for creating resources, presentations and quizzes, as well as providing feedback on student work.

Screencastify

Screencastify is a screen recorder for Chrome for recording, editing, and sharing videos. It’s great for creating videos explaining teaching points that can be shared via Google Drive or Classroom. I have also used the ‘Submit’ feature so students can record and submit speeches without any of the usual technical issues.

Grammarly

‍Grammarly is a great Chrome extension for improving writing skills. It finds errors with grammar, spelling, and punctuation and offers suggestions on correction. It integrates with web browsers, Microsoft Office, Google Docs, and more.

Revision History

Revision History allows you to see the edit history of work created in Google Docs. It shows the time spent writing/editing, any edits made, and copy/paste sections. Showing students how it works should help reduce issues of plagiarism.

PrintFriendly - Print, PDF, and Screenshot Web Pages

PrintFriendly and PDF is one of my most used extensions!  It allows you to edit web pages for printing and saving as PDFs. You can remove ads, and other unnecessary sections, leaving you with a student-friendly readable document.

Have a play-around!

As you can see, there are lots of useful Chrome Extensions that you can use, however, you do need to be aware that too many extensions may cause your browser to slow down. (I haven’t noticed mine slowing down, though, and I have 15 extensions!)