{"id":12105,"date":"2022-05-16T13:23:32","date_gmt":"2022-05-16T20:23:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/us\/?p=12105"},"modified":"2026-06-05T13:41:45","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T20:41:45","slug":"5-peripherals-thatll-make-your-life-easier-when-teaching-with-a-chromebook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/5-peripherals-thatll-make-your-life-easier-when-teaching-with-a-chromebook\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Peripherals That’ll Make Life Easier When Teaching with a Chromebook"},"content":{"rendered":"In 2019, there were forty million Chromebooks in use in school systems worldwide, a number that\u2019s only swelled with the remote-learning surge of the pandemic.\u00a0 And it\u2019s easy to see why: Chromebooks are simple and affordable to distribute to students and teachers.\u00a0 And while they do have their shortcomings, outside hardware can make up for a lot of them.\n\nIf you\u2019re a veteran Chromebook user, or at least taught remotely on them through the pandemic, you might have these things already\u2014but if your school\u2019s distributing them for the first time, or you\u2019re looking to buy your own, here are some peripherals that\u2019ll make your life way easier:\n

1. A powered USB hub<\/h2>\n\u2026To plug all of the following into, since most Chromebooks come with just 1-3 USB ports and running peripherals off them will guzzle the battery.\u00a0 So make sure you get one with its own power source is also a necessity.\u00a0 Really, any of them will do, but make sure all of the ports are powered instead of just one or two special ones.\u00a0 (Manufacturers will try to pull a fast one on you.)\u00a0 The\u00a0Sabrent 4-Port USB Hub<\/a>\u00a0fits that bill for under $20.\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Or if you're feeling extra, there's the 16-port version<\/a>.\u00a0 Look at this absolute unit.<\/em><\/p>\n\n

2. A ChromeOS Keyboard<\/h2>\nSeveral of the Chromebook\u2019s problems are endemic to laptops in general\u2014like the plain old annoyance of using truncated keyboards that force your hands into an improper typing position, especially on a 13-inch like the Chromebook.\u00a0 Getting a standalone one will make writing anything way faster and more comfortable.\n\nYou can use any old USB or Bluetooth keeb you have lying around, but if it\u2019s a Windows one, the Function keys, Caps Lock, and Fn shortcuts won\u2019t work, leaving you with a lot of dead space.\u00a0 So if you\u2019re going to buy a new one for the purpose, a\u00a0full-featured ChromeOS keyboard<\/a>\u00a0will give you the hotkeys meant for your system.\n\n\"\"\n

The Brydge C-Type Wireless<\/a>.\u00a0 Not the most affordable, but it looks cool, so it's the image.<\/em><\/p>\nAlso, I can\u2019t recommend a wrist rest enough.\u00a0 They look unnecessary right until the hand pain sets in.\n

3. A USB Microphone<\/h2>\nBad audio is just harder to listen to.\u00a0 As you\u2019ll see if you look up an old 240p on YouTube, it causes ear fatigue, making it an endurance test to sit through for the length of a lecture.\u00a0 No laptop has a good built-in mic, and your standard gaming headset won\u2019t cut it either\u2014but the upside is that there are so many cheap options, especially used ones, that there\u2019s little financial barrier to great sound anymore.\u00a0 The $40\u00a0Blue Snowball iCE<\/a>\u00a0is the most popular option in its range, but going off name-brand can get you even better value for less: I can personally attest that the $30\u00a0Tonor<\/a>\u00a0has great sound quality for the price.\n\n \n\n\"\"\n

And the $33 Pardunll<\/a> comes with enough accessories to make you feel like you're teaching from a radio station.<\/em><\/p>\n\n

4. An HD Webcam<\/h2>\nLooking good on camera might be less important to the learning process, but like audio, there\u2019s no reason to settle for crappy video when you can look professional for a steal.\u00a0 Any 1080p Logitech webcam is more than enough for all video calling and general recording needs: I use the venerable\u00a0C920<\/a>.\u00a0 Expect to pay about $70 for most types of them new, but used ones go for $30-ish on Ebay.\n

\"\"<\/p>\n \n

The Pro Stream Webcam<\/a>, a newer C920 variant (they all have the same design, just in different colors) that retails for $53.<\/em><\/p>\n \n

5. A pen tablet<\/h2>\nBut of course.\n\nMany Chromebooks come with touchscreens and passive styluses\u2014but not pressure-sensitivity or stabilization, leaving them useless for drawing.\u00a0 So if you plan to do anything more than note-writing, it\u2019s more practical to get a Wacom tablet that\u2019ll let you draw for real\u2014not to mention they can be reused with any future machine, and chances are they\u2019ll last you through several.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t that long ago that using a tablet with ChromeOS was a tall order, but the latest generation of Wacom devices have native plug-and-play support for versions released after 2021, including pen pressure and even tilt.\n\nThere are three lines:\n

The One By Wacom<\/a><\/h4>\n \n\n\"\"\n\nThe simplest and cheapest option, for those who want to get going without much initial investment\u2014but don\u2019t worry, it draws just as well as one at any price point.\n

The Intuos<\/a><\/h4>\n

\"\"<\/h4>\nThe Intuos has been the standard for beginner and intermediate artists for twenty years for a reason: striking the perfect balance between simplicity and precision, it\u2019s versatile enough to use for art at any level.\u00a0 Support for its programmable shortcut buttons is coming later in 2022.\n

The Wacom One<\/a><\/h4>\n\"wacom\n\nOur entry-level drawing monitor, counterpart to the One by Wacom.\u00a0 If you\u2019re a heavy user of digital whiteboards and marking programs, or moonlight as an artist, this might be the companion for you.\u00a0 Also serves as a second monitor, which by itself is invaluable for Chromebooks.\n

Finally\u2026<\/h1>\nSpeaking of digital whiteboards and annoting programs, Wacom tablets come with three-month free trials of Collaboard, Limnu, Explain Everything, and Kami, versatile apps for noting and grading that integrate with most LMS\u2019es.\n

Visit our eStore<\/a><\/h3>\n \n

\u2014<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019re a veteran Chromebook user, or at least taught remotely on them through the pandemic, you might have these things already\u2014but if your school\u2019s distributing them for the first time, or you\u2019re looking to buy your own, here are some peripherals that\u2019ll make your life way easier.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":12106,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2328,2656],"tags":[1020,1461,1462,131,1463,1464,1253,1465,542,134,1466,1467,495],"class_list":["post-12105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-elearning","category-education","tag-chromebook","tag-chromeos","tag-drawing-monitor","tag-education","tag-keyboard","tag-microphone","tag-pen-tablet","tag-peripherals","tag-remote-learning","tag-teaching","tag-usb-hub","tag-webcam","tag-work-from-home"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12105\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}