Pencil Spaces on Chromebook
The fleet is deployed. Now put it to work.
Pencil Spaces turns the Chromebooks a school already owns into live classes, tutoring and small-group intervention. It runs in Chrome, so there’s nothing to install or reimage.
270M minutes of live learning, 1,000+ organizations and 99.99% uptime, on a public status page.
Room 114 · school Chromebook
Tutor · at home
One Space · two places · live
Works with Google
The school’s Google tools, inside the lesson.
Schools that run on Chromebooks run on Google. Pencil Spaces meets them there: the same sign-in, their files from Drive, and their Slides, Docs and Sheets on the board.
Sign in with Google
Students and teachers use the school Google accounts they already have. It’s on by default.
Google Drive
Bring lesson material into a Space straight from Drive.
Google Slides
Present with everyone on the same slide, or let students work through the deck at their own pace.
Google Docs and Sheets
Open them on the board, next to the rest of the lesson.
Google Calendar
The Pencil Spaces add-on turns a Calendar event into a Space and invites everyone in one click.
Chrome
Share a tab with its sound, or install Pencil Spaces as an app straight from Chrome.
Where it shows up
Three jobs for the same Chromebook.
Schools buy Chromebooks for everyday classwork. Pencil Spaces adds the lessons that need a live teacher or tutor on the other end.
During the school day
Tutoring that reaches the classroom.
Students join from their classroom Chromebooks while tutors teach from anywhere: video, a shared board and the lesson materials in one tab.
In small groups
Intervention without moving desks.
Breakouts with a board each, raised hands in order, and polls and timers to check who’s got it.
After school
The same Space at home.
When the Chromebook goes home, the board and the materials are exactly where the student left them.
Real classrooms, real devices
Built for school Chromebooks as they are.
Entry-level processors and shared carts
Runs on ChromeOS 110 or later with a dual-core 2 GHz processor. Tech Check tests each device before launch, and a student who takes a different Chromebook from the cart picks up where they left off.
Twenty devices on one access point
For a room of 20, our IT guide recommends access points that handle 30–40 connections and 200+ Mbps, and names models that do.
Wi-Fi that dips mid-lesson
When bandwidth drops, video steps down first so voices stay clear.
Students one tab away from YouTube
Teachers get a private alert when a student goes idle or switches tabs, and Lead keeps every screen on the teacher’s view.
For the district’s IT team
The IT checklist, answered.
What a network or device admin asks before approving a new tool, in one place. The full detail lives in our IT guide.
01 · DEPLOY
- A URL, nothing to install.
- Push it from the Google Admin console.
- Installs from Chrome as a web app.
- ChromeOS 110 or later.
02 · SIGN-IN
- Google Workspace for Education, on by default.
- Clever and ClassLink.
- Microsoft Entra ID.
- LTI for Canvas and other LMSs.
03 · ALLOWLIST
- *.pencilapp.com
- storage.googleapis.com
- Firebase authentication.
- Our video provider’s call domains.
04 · PORTS
- UDP 50000–60000 and 3478.
- Falls back to TCP 7881.
- Then TURN over TLS on 443.
- Outbound 443 alone is enough.
05 · TEST
- Tech Check at my.pencilapp.com/techcheck.
- Tests the device and the network.
- Run it on a student device, signed in as a test student.
06 · COMPLY
- SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001.
- FERPA and COPPA.
- GDPR.
- A signed DPA.
In schools now
“Since adopting Pencil Spaces, we have witnessed meaningful improvements in operational efficiency and educational engagement … Pencil Spaces is a value-add to our program.”
Augustine Literacy Project, Charlotte
1.9×
the reading gains of matched peers
37%
lower cost per child
60%+
more students served
Source: Program Evaluation for Augustine Literacy Project–Charlotte, UNC Charlotte CEME, December 2025. Gains: first graders at or above grade level, 2023–24 DIBELS against matched peers. Cost and reach: ALP benchmarks since 2021–22, cited in the report.
For Chromebook partners
A fleet needs more than devices.
A Chromebook deal can carry the devices, the network that serves them and the classroom they run. Pencil Spaces is the classroom.
One purchase order
- 01Chromebooks and Chrome Education UpgradeRefresh the devices Tech Check flags.
- 02Classroom access pointsSized to the IT guide for 20 devices a room.
- 03HeadsetsOne per student, so a full room can talk at once.
- 04Pencil Spaces licensesSold through you, and renewed through you.
- 05Rollout and training, under your nameAdmin console deployment, rostering, teacher training and first-line support.
Three steps to a signed district
- Step 01
Bring us the district
Send us the district and what it’s planning. You’ll hear back within a business day, with the opportunity registered in your name.
- Step 02
Show it on their Chromebooks
A real lesson on their own Chromebooks, and a walk through the IT checklist with their team.
- Step 03
Roll it out together
You supply the hardware and the network. We set up Google sign-in and rosters, and get the teachers trained.
What districts ask
Before they say yes.
Does every student need a Google account?
No. Google sign-in is on by default, Clever, ClassLink and Microsoft Entra ID work too, and guests can be let into a Space by link.
Some of our Chromebooks are old.
Run Tech Check on them. Devices on ChromeOS 110 or later with a dual-core 2 GHz processor are ready; the rest are the refresh list.
Not every school in the district is on Chromebooks.
That’s fine. The same Space opens in any modern browser, on any laptop or tablet, so a mixed fleet still shares one classroom.
Is it safe for younger students?
It’s FERPA and COPPA compliant, with a waiting room, controls over who can share their screen, and safeguarding alerts during class.
Partnerships
Know a district on Chromebooks?
Send the district’s name and what it wants to run: tutoring, intervention or after-school help. We’ll set up a lesson on their own Chromebooks and go through the IT checklist with their team.
partnerships@pencilspaces.com
Email partnershipsGoogle, Chrome, Chromebook, ChromeOS, Google Workspace and YouTube are trademarks of Google LLC. Other product names are trademarks of their owners. Pencil Spaces is an independent company; references to these products describe our integration with them.
