Strong Practices for Managing Technology in the Classroom

Focus Area / General Advice
Ensure smooth transitions from no tech to the tech or from the tech back to no tech /
  • Have a system and practice moving to and from computers
  • Distribute and collect laptops/tablets, calculators, or other devices with efficiency—assign a student to this classroom job, teach the procedure
  • If students are in front of devices when you are speaking, have them turn monitors off, close their laptop lids, or flip their keyboards/mice upside down

Protect student work (Dropbox? Google Classroom? USB drive? Classroom folders?) /
  • Ensure their work is accessible to both you and the student (and their group if group work)
  • Consider the best option: Dropbox, Google Classroom, USB drive, classroom folders, online site)
  • Test this solution to avoid work from getting accidentally deleted
  • Ensure that students know how to “turn in” assignments by listing directions clearly in the classroom or on the assignment

Set, enforce and re-enforce expectations for appropriate use of technology /
  • Emphasize what observable behavior you expect to know your students are on task (e.g., saying “I expect to see only the Word processor open at this time,” having a classroom visual that a teacher moves throughout the lesson to share different tech expectation with the students)
  • Develop class rules and encourage students to make responsible choices about which sites to use/avoid (e.g., have fair consequences when students trip up)
  • Teach them how to avoid plagiarism (e.g., conduct a lesson on it and teach them how to cite sources early)

Have a backup plan for when case technology fails… and it will /
  • Know what you’ll do if internet goes down, the video you want to show won’t load, the website or app you need is blocked by the school filter, or you’re short a device or two

Actively monitor student activity /
  • Set your classroom up so you can see what students are doing
  • Remain active so your students can see you—walk around the room to view student activity and be available for questions or behavior redirections
  • Give immediate consequences for not being on-task
  • Rely on student helpers to assist students with “helpdesk” type needs so you can continue to focus on instruction.
  • Possibly invest in a program that allows you to monitor all student screens at once

Other ideas?

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