How do I help my students login quickly?

You are wasting valuable class time waiting for students to login!

Getting students signed into their device can be one of the biggest barriers to using technology in the classroom. It can also waste a tremendous amount of class time. You need a simple way to get them logged in quickly.

It doesn’t matter if you teach kindergartners or high school students (or adults!). Remembering user names and passwords is no fun.

How do I help my students login quickly?

Remembering and entering users names and passwords is the 21st century of “bring a pencil to class.”

You just have to do it.

And practice it.

There are three different ways that students can sign in to their Chromebook:

• Guest Access – no login required.
• Generic class account – every student uses the same username / password
• Individual account – student enters a unique user name and password assigned to them

I do not recommend Guest or generic login. While convenient, these two login solutions eliminate the opportunity to individualize instruction in your classroom. These methods will also eliminate the opportunity to use Google Classroom, Drive, and man other wonderful classroom tools that require individual accounts. 

Your students NEED to login using their own account.

Here are four tips and strategies to help you streamline the login process in your classroom.

1. Create Login Cards

You are probably already doing this!

Here are some suggestions for making this time-consuming task a little easier!

• Use this Google Slides template to design your login card
• Enter your student names, email addresses and passwords into this spreadsheet.
• Use AutoCrat (a free add-on for sheets) to merge the data from the spreadsheet into the Google Slide, creating unique cards for each student!

? If you have never used AutoCrat before, watch this video.

2. Adopt the Class “Login Challenge”

This simple routine will help your students practice getting started.

1. Time how long it takes all students to login.
2. Write the time up on the board.
3. Try to beat the time every day.
4. Keep track of the class login time until you can get everyone signed in in less than 1 min.

Adopt the class “login challenge” to teach the basic skill of getting devices out and ready. Teach your expectations early in the school year to take full advantage of this time-saving habit for the entire school year!

Here’s a graphic you can save to remember the class login challenge! You can even download it as a PDF or a JPG.

?ON THE PODCAST: Elementary teacher Jolanda Nederveld shares some AWESOME tips on how to help young students use technology! You can listen to my conversation with her here.

3. Optimize your Chromebooks

There are some simple things that your IT department can do to simplify the login experience on student Chromebooks:

Turn on domain autocomplete

Chromebooks can be configured to automatically include the @myschool.org part of your email address.

This is super helpful for schools with super LOOOOONG domains.

To turn on this feature someone with Google administrative access will need to visit

Enable the multi user sign in screen

Chromebooks can save a list of past users. All that is required is a password

If you have a dedicate class-set of Chromebooks, this is a good feature to enable. Students should use the same device every day. Their login picture will be shown and all they need to do is enter their password to sign in.

This feature is NOT recommended if your Chromebooks are shared with the entire school. A Chromebook can only remember 8-10 previous users so this feature isn’t very helpful if dozens of different students use the same device.

To enable this setting

To turn on this feature someone with Google administrative access will need to visit

This is what your students will see when they sign in to their Chromebook…

Chromebook login screen with multi users support turned on.

4. Sign up for Clever Badges

You aren’t the only teacher who is frustrated by the login process. Many teachers share your frustration.

A company called Clever has developed an elegant login solution that eliminates passwords and replaces them with unique QR codes assigned to each students.

The student scans the QR code to sign in.

It works like this

This service is free for schools, but will require that your school sign up for Clever and connect it to our G Suite domain.

To learn more about Clever badges or to sign up, click here.

How do I help my students login?

The sign in process is a necessary barrier to individualized learning.

Yes, it can be annoying.

My advice – adopt as many (all?) of these strategies in your classroom.

Focus on the login process on a daily basis for 1-2 weeks. After this, the majority of your students will be able to login on their own, fairly quickly.

Have students who have mastered the process assist students who continue to struggle.

Let the learning begin!

Which of these four strategies have you implemented in your classroom? How is it going?

Leave a comment with tips and advice for your fellow elementary teachers!

Do you have Chromebooks in your Classroom?

Download a free chapter of my book, The Chromebook Classroom!
by John Sowash
January 15, 2018