GoGuardian is a great tool for monitoring student Chromebook use, but it has other features that are much more useful. The best is the ability to send a website to student devices instantaneously. Also, you can close random student tabs, lock devices, check in with them, and even control what sites are available. Check out how to do all of these below!
Set Up a Class:
You have to do this to use GoGuardian.
Head over to goguardian.com and sign in with Google.
If you are using an AdBlocker, you will need to allow this site.
Click on “Import Google Classroom”. You will have to click to connect your Google Account with GoGuardian by clicking on “click here to reconnect your Google Account”.
Choose the classroom you want to add to GoGuardian and click “Import Classroom”.
Start & End a Session:
Starting a session allows you to use the tools!
Click the “Classrooms” tab on the left and choose which classroom you want to launch.
Choose how long until you want GoGuardian to close that day’s session and click “Start Session”.
You will see all your students’ screens. If they do not load it means their Chromebook is off or the lid is closed. On this page you can see their screen, Lock/Unlock Devices, Send a tab to them, close tabes, message them directly, and much more.
When you are done you click “End Session” and you are brought back to the Classrooms page.
Push a Link to Students:
This is the most useful tool. You can push sites to active devices!
Once you start the Classroom and see all their screens, you just need to click the little box above the first student’s screen to select all online students.
Click the “Open Tab” button.
Type the site you want them to go to in the text box and click “Send Tab”. This site will pop up on all student devices.
Check-In:
Need an SEL or other “Chech-In”? GoGuardian has you covered!
Click the “Check-Ins” tab and click “Start Check-Ins”.
Students will click on the emoji that represents their day. Teachers will see their responses.
Lock Devices:
If some (or all) students need to focus on the teacher or something else, you can lock their screen. Doing this makes their screen display a message that it is locked and no tabs, sites, or keyboard typing work until it is unlocked.
Select all students or just the ones you need to be locked.
Click the “Lock/Unlock Device” button.
You can send a message to the students if you wish. Click “Lock devices”.
This is what students see on their computers.
Do the same steps but click “Unlock” to return access to students.
Close Student Tabs:
We all know that students are terrible about closing old tabs in Chrome. Each tab uses resources and can confuse students. They should always close all tabs that are no longer needed but may need some help. You can do this from the comfort of your desk!
In the Classroom screen, click on the student’s screen you wish to close tabs. YOu can see all the tabs they have open on the bottom of their image.
Click on “Close” to end any tabs not needed.
Continue to the next student if needed!
Apply a Scene:
Scenes are an outline of what students can and can not get to. They are broken into 2 categories:
Allow: Sites that are allowed (students can go NOWHERE else but these sites)
Block: Sites that are blocked (students can go anywhere BUT these sites).
Click on “Scenes” on the left.
Choose whether you want to use Allow or Block and click “Create List”.
Name the list and click “Next”.
Type in the link you want to be blocked or added in the top box, then click “Search” and it will show up below. Click the “Add” button to the right and it will be added to your list on the right side. When you are done with your list of sites, click “Save”.
When you are ready to use this saved Scene go back to your Classroom page.
You can apply Scene to select students:
Choose the students that you want this Scene applied to. Then click “Apply Scene” for those students.
Choose the Scene and click “Apply Scene”.
To apply a Scene to ALL students:
Click “No scene applied” and choose the Scene to apply.
You can also set a Default Scene for any class to ALWAYS start:
Click “Settings” on the right then choose the default scene and then “Update Classroom”.
Schedule Sessions:
Schedule Sessions if you want your Classroom to auto-start and end every day.
Open up the classroom choose “Settings” on the left and choose “Scheduling” on the top.
Select start and end dates, time, and how you want it to repeat (daily, weekly, Monday-Friday, or Custom). Click “Save”.
There is more you can do, but these are my “Go-To” tools.
For more tutorials, check out GoGuardians Tutorial Links:
https://support.goguardian.com/s/goguardian-teacher
If you want these directions in a Document, Click HERE!
