UWCSEA East has been requiring students in grades 6 and above to have laptops for learning since 2011. Since then, we’ve learned a lot about how students learn with technology, and we continue to push our pedagogical practices to ensure that technology is leveraged in the best ways possible to enhance student learning. We also…
Category: distractions
Reducing Distractions on Digital Devices
Distractions are as old as time. Think back to high school when perhaps you were doodling on a pencil case or passing notes to friends. What is different is that the very tools that allow us to access such wonderful learning and communication opportunities, can also have the power to distract us. In the presentation…
Learning How to Focus
Take a look at the photo below. What does it tell you? What do you notice? It tells me that with close to 60 tabs open, this student was so distracted by the extension that he/she wasted a significant amount of time being off task. The worrying thing is that if this student continues these patterns…
Learning to Manage Distractions
One of parents’ biggest concerns around student use of technology is that of distractions. The same tool we use to create and learn, can be used to entertain and derail productivity. So what are our options, as teachers? As parents? We could create elaborate structures of control (blocking certain websites, turning off wifi etc), but that…