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Prepare the student device: Chromebook

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Please note that this instruction is intended for users with experience in administering a Google Workspace organization.

For locking down student Chromebooks, we offer two different security clients:

  • Trelson Kiosk
  • Trelson Browser Lockdown (Chrome extension)

Both are specifically designed for ChromeOS and provide a controlled environment for completing assignments and exams. We recommend that both security clients are installed on the students' Chromebooks. Before starting the installation, please ensure that the following requirements are met:

  • Student devices must be managed and enrolled with Chrome Education Upgrade licenses. See Google’s help article on device management.
  • The Trelson Workspace application must be installed in your admin console. Follow the steps in this article to install the Trelson application in your Google Workspace domain.
  • You have admin access in the Google Admin Console to manage Chrome devices and accounts in your domain.

Installation guide: Trelson Kiosk

Secure digital exams in kiosk mode on Chromebooks

  1. Open the Google Admin Console:
    1. Use the Chrome browser and go to admin.google.com.
    2. Sign in with an administrator account that has permission to manage Kiosk apps in your Google Workspace for Education domain.
  2. Enable Verified mode:
    1. Go to Devices > Chrome > Settings.
    2. Select the Organizational unit where students’ Chromebooks are registered, or choose the top-level organization so that the settings are inherited by all sub-OUs.
    3. Open the Device settings tab and locate the setting Enrollment and access.
    4. Under Verified mode, you need to paste a Service Account address in the field “Services with full access”. Find this address by opening a new tab, logging in to Trelson with an account that has administrator access, and visiting assessment.trelson.com/teacher/kioskinfo. Copy the value from the “Service account” field and paste it into the specified field in the Admin Console. Note: If there are already other Service Account addresses listed, make sure to add Trelson’s on a new line.
    5. Click Save to grant Trelson access to verify whether the Chromebook is in kiosk mode, which is required for the student to start an exam.
    6. IMPORTANT! Double-check that all OUs below the OU where you added the Service Account address have inherited the setting. The Service Account address should be visible in the same field for all OUs containing registered Chromebooks.
  3. Add the Kiosk app to Chromebooks:
    1. Go to Devices > Chrome > Apps and extensions.
    2. Select the Organizational unit where students’ Chromebooks are registered.
    3. Go to the Kiosks tab and click the yellow “+” button in the top right corner.
    4. Choose Add app via URL and paste the following URL:
      https://assessment.trelson.com/student/kiosk
    5. Accept the terms to add the app.
  4. Configure app settings:
    1. After the app has been added, click on it to expand the configuration settings panel.
    2. Scroll down to Add extensions and select Add from Chrome Web Store.
    3. Choose the Search by ID option and paste the Companion Extension ID, which can be found in Trelson (if you are an administrator) via:
      assessment.trelson.com/teacher/kioskinfo
    4. Select Trelson Companion Extension when it appears and click Select.

    5. On the detailed settings page for the Trelson Kiosk app (which appears on the right-hand side when you click the app), make sure the following are enabled:

      • Allow on-screen keyboard
      • Enable plug-ins

      Then, scroll down to the extension added inside the app, expand the gray arrow for details, and make sure that “Allow enterprise challenge” is enabled (see image).
      1.jpg

    6. IMPORTANT! Double-check that all OUs below the one where you installed the kiosk app have inherited the installation. The kiosk app must be installed on all OUs containing registered Chromebooks.
  5. Verify that the Trelson Workspace application status is “Granted”:
    1. In the left-hand menu, go to Apps > Google Workspace Marketplace Apps > Apps list.
    2. Select Trelson.
    3. If the status is “Granted”, no further action is needed. If the status is for example “Partially granted”, click Grant access to approve the permissions required for the new kiosk app to function properly.

Your students are now ready to open the kiosk app!

How a kiosk application is accessed.gif

Installation guide: Trelson Browser Lockdown

Secure digital exams in a locked-down Chrome browser

  1. Open the Google Admin Console:
    1. Use the Chrome browser and go to admin.google.com.
    2. Sign in with an administrator account with permissions to manage apps in your Google Workspace for Education domain.
  2. Force install the extension for student accounts:
    1. Go to Devices > Chrome > Apps and extensions > Users & browsers. Select the Organizational Unit where the students’ accounts are located, or a root organization (as long as the OUs with student accounts are below it).
    2. Click the yellow “+” button > select “Chrome Web Store” and search by app ID: ‘bcfphnbeddegigffmilnjfddmjcpacol’. Then click Select.
    3. Set installation policy to Force install and Pin to browser toolbar. 
    4. Change to Allow all permissions. Click Save.
  3. Configure policies to avoid conflicts with the security client:
    1. Go to Devices > Chrome > Settings > Users and browsers and select the Organizational Unit where students’ accounts are located (or a root organization if applicable).

    2. Review the table below. Click the links in the left column or search for the corresponding policy in the console. Configure each setting according to the recommended configuration for a secure locked-down environment.

      Link to setting in Admin Console Configuration
      Multiple sign-in access Block multiple sign-in access for users in this organization
      Developer tools

      Developer tools availability

      Never allow use of built-in developer tools

      Developer mode on extensions page

      Do not allow developer mode on the extensions page
      Google Lens overlay Do not allow Google Lens overlay
      Google Translate Never offer translation
      Android apps on Chrome devices Unlike standard web apps, the Trelson Browser Lockdown extension cannot prevent students from using installed Android apps. If there are apps that students can use to cheat, they must be disabled, or the setting configured to “Do not allow users to install Android apps”.
      Incognito Mode We recommend to disallow students from using the Chrome browser in incognito. If you wish to keep Incognito Mode as an enabled option for your students, please inform us and we will help you out further to make it secure.