5 Top Tips For Managing Technology In The Classroom

5 Top Tips for Managing Technology in the Classroom

If you schooled in the 90's, walk into today's classroom and you will marvel at the changes that technology has brought in education. Students are bringing their laptops, tablets and other electronic devices to classrooms. Several institutions have come up with firewalls, browser security and other measures to regulate how learners use technology. Teachers that allow learners to use technological tools can utilize these 5 top tips for managing technology in the classroom.

• Put in place electronic policy

Teachers who intend to make technology part of their instructional method should explain to learners the acceptable rules and behaviors. Lack of policy will cause disruption as learners are likely to disrupt themselves with content that is not related to classwork. Every task should begin from “offline” where students are taken through what is expected of them. Learners should be made to understand that the rules are not meant to rob them of their classroom fun but, to meet the learning objectives. Have policies that include the standards of file naming, file sharing and strategies of executing assignments and projects

• Weigh the students’ strengths

Several new technologies are being deployed in schools. A good tutor should learn alongside learners on how to use them. Learning about the new programs with learners will create solidarity. Tutors should find out learner weaknesses and avail materials that will strengthen them. Little time should be spent on things that most students understand and more attention given to areas that are giving students problems. Teachers should be ahead of the class in order to have a better understanding of learner difficulties in using technology.

• Monitor the classroom progress

Teachers should walk around the classroom when learners are using their devices to work on assignments or projects, to monitor their progress. The younger students should be guided to use hardware appropriately. Applications such as classroom monitoring software allow the tutor to monitor online activities of students from an administrative online portal. This method enables teachers to control classroom technology from their own devices. Tutors who monitor the progress of the learners meet their instructional objectives because they reinforce full utilization of technology tools.

• Use non-disruptive consequences

Digital devices and platforms have several sources of distractions that call for not only monitoring by teachers but also consequences for learners who misuse technology. If for example the teacher finds students using their devices to browse irrelevant content, the students should be warned. The teacher can also take the device away from that student and allow the rest to go about with their activities uninterrupted. Students who are frequently distracted should be assigned extra tasks to keep them busy.

• Use unique repeated phrases to call for attention of students

When students are engaged in various tasks, it can be challenging to call for their attention. Tutors can solve the problem through coming up with a list of unique phrases to call for learners’ attention. A phrase like “can I have your attention?” will train students to respond instantly if used repeatedly. “One minute to save your work” warning tells students that they have little time to save their current tasks and change to something else.

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Maria is part of the community outreach team at Edu Aid. Maria is passionate about ongoing education at all ages, and when isn’t learning new things is a keen walker and cyclist and can be found exploring.