Do students in your organization need the ability to switch between different keyboard languages during exams in kiosk mode on Chromebooks? For example, a German exam might require a German keyboard layout, while students' default keyboard is set to English. As an administrator in Google Workspace, you can enable the ability for students to switch keyboard languages on their Chromebooks while in kiosk mode. This guide explains how to allow students to switch between preset keyboard languages during an exam in kiosk mode.
Prerequisites
To configure these settings, you need permission to edit Kiosk settings for organizational units in your organization's administrator console (Google).
Steps to allow keyboard language switching
- Access the admin console: Log in to your organization's admin console.
- Navigate to device settings: From the homepage, go to Devices > Chrome > Settings > Device Settings. Make sure to select either a top-level organization or the OU where students' devices are located.
- Configure allowed input methods for Kiosk: Scroll down to, or search for, the Kiosk settings section. Look for the "Kiosk allowed input methods" setting. Click on this option and specify which keyboard languages you want to make available for your students while in Kiosk mode (e.g., German, English).
- Save the configuration: After selecting the languages, save the settings to apply the changes to the devices under the selected organizational unit (OU).
How students can switch keyboards in kiosk mode
Once you have configured the keyboard options, students can easily switch between available input methods during exams. When a student is in Kiosk mode, they can press "Ctrl + Shift + Space" to cycle through the available keyboard languages.
The options available for selection are limited to the keyboard languages allowed within the device's organizational unit (OU).