Digital classrooms with access to internet give students numerous opportunities to be distracted from their tasks at hand. In order to keep them focused towards intended usage of technology and to retain attention on the lessons, student monitoring software has become of paramount importance.
Technology has filtered through every aspect of modern education. Schools, colleges, and other educational institutions have acknowledged that smartphones and tablets are powerful tools for learning. The gadgets have features that can be harnessed to create a more engaging classroom environment.
However, without the right supervision, students can use these devices to access materials unrelated to their curriculum. They could log onto inappropriate websites, chat, access social media, and participate in a range of distracting activities.
To keep students on task, tools like student monitoring software help instructors by eliminating distractions that gadgets pose otherwise. This also helps in saving teaching time as teachers do not need to waste precious minutes trying to get students to focus and ensure they aren’t occupied with Facebook or Snapchat.
In a number of ways, student monitoring software can help keep pupils on task:
Preventing access to inappropriate web content:
Students can use classroom computers or tablets to surf the web during class. They can be playing games, visit websites unrelated to lessons, chat, and post on social media. Teachers could try to manually monitor each student, but they would simply shift to the lesson on their screen, seeing the teacher approach. In a large classroom, walking to each desk would take far too much time making it difficult for the teacher to keep students focused on learning.
Classroom monitoring software allows teachers to restrict all websites and applications that are not helpful for a lesson. A list of necessary web pages can be configured and the rest can be blocked. This ensures that pupils are only viewing material conducive to their education.
Student monitoring software would help to redirect students’ focus to the lesson by letting teachers view what each student is viewing on their devices and manage it centrally from a teacher console.
Providing real-time assistance to students:
Digital classrooms might be genuinely difficult to navigate for many students. They might have trouble with accessing the right web page or material on their device. They might also have trouble asking questions in front of their peers. This especially applies to introverted students and may cause a significant lag in their education.
With student monitoring software, teachers would have the control over what every student is viewing. The software projects an image of each student’s screen in real-time onto the teacher’s terminal as a thumbnail (which can be maximized). If a student is having trouble finding the right page, the teacher can project the same page or video or content on every screen from their console. As a result, students would not struggle in keeping up with what is being taught.
Class control software often comes with private chat features which students can use to approach teachers directly without having to speak up in class. This ensures that they get all doubts cleared and questioned answered.
The teacher can also use classroom computer management software to project a certain student’s screen on every device in the room. By showcasing a student’s work to everyone else, their peers can be motivated to do better. It keeps morale high by showing pupils that they have a collective goal to aspire to.
Encouraging student collaboration:
Group discussions are always quite helpful for learning. Students retain more information when they participate in a healthy debate or discussion on a topic. With class control software, students can engage in group discussions. It is possible to create a chat room in which all students can put forth their opinions and have concepts cleared by knowing both their teachers’ and classmates’ opinions.
Controlling online behavior:
A class control software not only enables teachers to monitor student devices but also lets them control the device remotely. If a teacher detects that a student is distracted due to playing games or surfing the social media, they can take control of that machine, change it to the right material, or even lock down or black out their screen.
Secure assessment of students:
One of the best ways to keep students on task is to test them on their knowledge of a subject. Often during a lesson, students seek ways to distract themselves if they are bored. They can miss the teacher’s instruction completely.
Student monitoring software can assist the teacher with setting up quizzes aimed at testing a class’ knowledge quickly. Multiple-choice questions can help to keep pupils sharp and focused and guarantee their full attention on the lesson. Teachers can also create tests with essay type questions to create a surprising assessment and examine just how much progress students are making.
Student monitoring software is essential for all classrooms that leverage the advantages of technology towards enhancing learning. One of the most sustainable advantages of this is that technology can be used to instill better learning environments. Students’ classroom experiences can be refined and supervised in order to enhance their grades and their schooling. Software such as Faronics’ Insight provides a number of options to keep students focused on their necessary tasks and let teachers get the best out of the classroom time they have with their pupils.
