August 13, 2021

Classroom Management in the Digital Learning Age

Students are about to return to the classroom. They will be full of energy, excitement, and one additional item that is not so familiar, a personalized digital learning device. Elgin ISD Board of Trustees approved the purchase of iPads and Chromebooks for every student in the district. These were pushed out at the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year, but this school year many teachers will be experiencing this additional component into the teaching and learning cycle. So how can teachers use these to support student learning, but also maintain an appropriate and beneficial learning environment?

Practice and Prepare

Just as Harry Wong mentions in First Days of School, you must have established procedures and practice them often for classroom procedures and routines, teachers and campuses will need to do the same in their classroom for these devices. Here are a few of the procedures you might think through and establish.

Retrieval and Return

Establish with students how they are to retrieve their device from the cart/charging station and how they should return it. A few questions to think through and some suggestions:

How many students should be at the cart at a time? How are teachers going to establish and maintain this number?

- Create a technology materials manager role in your class roles. This person collects their table’s devices.
- Release only 2-3 material managers at a time
- Have each group’s devices plugged near each other
- Color code the group’s device with colored circle stickers and add numbers

2. Should there be a specific person to retrieve a group's devices?

- Rotate the material manager role, as any other class role
- This adds ownership and lets all students learn the roles of the classroom

3. How can students know that the device they are getting is the one they used last time?

- Use colored circle ‘garage sale’ stickers, multiple can add easy visual reference
- Add numbers to these, so not to write on the device itself
- Keep a list of what student has what device that students can refer to

4. When students are done with the device, how will they return it? Will all be returned at the same time or a grouping format?

- Leave time at the end of class or timeframe to return and plug in devices
- For younger students, it might be best to start the day with the teacher unplugging all devices that will be used that day and plugging in at the end of the day
- Using materials managers will help limit congestion when returning
- Check cart to ensure all devices have been turned in before releasing students or moving on

Support Needed

As with anything technology, there may be times when it doesn’t work or students may need additional support. Developing students a sense of ownership and growth mindset can help ease issues without slowing the class down. Here are some suggestions to help with troubleshooting.

Determine and encourage ‘tech’pert students
- Some students will have a natural ability to assess and address tech issues. Use these students to support others. Different students will have different skills, where one student might be great help on general troubleshooting others might be great at a specific app. Celebrate these students and give them ownership in the success of the class.
3 Before Me
- To limit the teacher’s need to address every tech issue, establish a Three Before Me rule. Students must use three sources before asking the teacher. These sources could include their working partner, other groups of students, Google search, YouTube search. Teaching students searching techniques for support can help this even more. Searching for the terms, issues, and not whole questions will give better results.
Establish a way to have students request support
- Just as teachers might teach students hand signals for restroom needs, the same can be done for technology support. This could be a series of thumb signals, up = good, sideways = might need help, down = immediate help needed. Another popular format is using stacks of red, yellow, and green plastic cups. These are easily stacked together and can be changed based on student needs.

When and Where to Use

Just as students need to know how to get help, they also need to know when and where digital devices should be used. Students are in a world of constant access to technology, but may not have been taught when it should be used. Establish norms that support this understanding.

Create a visual representation of how and when technology is used. A stoplight system works as a reference to the use of technology. Red light = No tech use, Yellow = use but only with permission or instructed, Green = free use to support the day’s learning goals. This can either be a poster like this one, or some teacher might prefer getting a set of push lights and then color the lens.

Establish norms on how and where to use the device. Carrying a device with two hands, using it when seated on the ground or table, and using it away from water and food can help make sure that the devices will not need to be removed for repair.

Establish verbal commands. This could be a simple as “Apples Up” or “Cover your Keyboards” to have students flip or partially close their device and shift their eyes to the teacher. Having commands like this across the campus can help all students understand what to do no matter where on campus they are.

Basic Troubleshooting

Teachers are not expected to be tech experts, but some basic troubleshooting will support student learning. When a teacher knows a few key moves, they feel more prepared and comfortable with the devices in their classroom. Here are some basic suggestions to give just-in-time support to students.

Power

Check to make sure that the device is charging. On the Chromebooks this will be indicated by a white or amber LED near one of the charging ports. On the iPads this is seen by either a battery icon shown on a dead iPad or a lightning bolt in the battery icon near the clock.
Change the cable that is being used to charge. This may be a different slot or power plug. District carts are wired with multiple cables for this purpose. If there is a charger and cable present, try a different plug in the wall.

Frozen or stuck apps or processes

Close the app on the iPad. Press the Home button twice rapidly. Then gently touch then swipe up and away the app that is being used. On Chromebook, you may use the close icon on most apps, or long-press/right click on the app in the dock and choose close.
Force restart the device. On iPads hold the Lock and Home button until the device shows the white Apple logo. On the Chromebooks, press the Refresh and Power button on the keyboard.

Audio or Video

Check to make sure that the device is not muted. Either by accessing the Control Center by pulling down on the upper corner of iPads, or selecting the volume options on the bottom right corner of the Chromebook.
Adjust the volume by the control buttons on the side of either device. It should show on the screen that volume is being adjusted.
Check if there is something stuck in the headphone jack. Visually inspect to see if a headphone is broken off in the port. DO NOT place items in the port to check. If so, turn in a Helpdesk to get it repaired.
Adjust the brightness of the device. Chromebooks can be adjusted from the keyboard. iPads can be adjusted from the Control Center, by pulling down from the upper right corner of the iPad.

Those steps should help most issues. If something isn’t being resolved, a restart can generally fix many items. This resets all the processes and connections. On iPads hold the Lock and Home button until the device shows the white Apple logo. On the Chromebooks, press the Refresh and Power button on the keyboard.

Classroom Space

A final consideration is what mobile learning devices do for the space. Mobile being the key word. The classroom no longer has to be constrained to one space or four walls. Consider how the desk arrangement supports not only the lesson, but the flow of the class. Are students visiting stations, QR codes around the classroom, group work? Also, what is the teacher’s visual reference. To help maintain a class, situating the student desks/groups to where teachers can see most or all screens at one time can help eliminate distractions and constant redirection. If students are having trouble staying focused or do not follow expectations, teachers should revert to how they would handle the situation before technology. A student is disrupting, try proximity control. A student is not charging their device, providing an alternative assignment with less options. Teachers have previous experience with classroom management, it just takes using those skills and applying to the digital landscape.

Keeping the Student First

Adding personalized learning devices to the classroom opens a new world to learning access and solutions. It also opens up a new world of teaching practices. Veteran teachers come to this with multiple years of experience in classroom management. New teachers most likely lived some of this development in the classroom. Either way, managing digital learning devices in the classroom can be a supplement to previously learned pedagogical and teaching practices. Teachers starting small, practicing frequently, and taking it slow will be able to focus on the learning and having the technology devices as a beneficial support.

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