Laptops offer all sorts of wonderful educational possibilities for you and your students, but they also present a physical barrier between you and them and they offer plenty of distractions.
Tips to minimize distractions in a laptop classroom
Create engaging and well-designed activities. If students are busy with worthwhile activities, that include clear directions and challenging time limits for completion, they are more likely to stay on task.
Move around the room and check screens. In is early years as a laptop teacher Tom learned to design his classroom in such a way that he could move around the room easily to see his students' screens. They became accustomed to Tom teaching from various parts of the room, often behind them (where he could see multiple screens at once).
Hold students accountable. Punishing one or two students who wander off task early in the academic year can have a quieting effect on the entire group, at least for a while. Laptops in the classroom are there for academic purposes. Period.
Consider watching their screens from yours. While it might smack of "Big Brother," remote viewing of student screens from your laptop can be of great educational value, as well as a deterrent to student surfing. Apple Remote Desktop and Vision are software programs that enable you to watch screen activities on computers.
Check Internet history. Start class by having students go to an educational web site. At the end of class look at their Internet browsing history (under "Go" in Internet Explore" and see if they visited any other sites. Consider numbering your laptops and assigning students to laptops. That way it will be easier to know who was on a particular machine.
Lower screens during discussions. To prompt students to listen to you or each other during discussion, tell them to "close to a thumb," or lower screens down almost to the keyboard.
Use online folders or portfolios. Students should have access to a server where they can store their notes online.
Email homework assignments. Students are probably going to want to check their email first thing when they come into class. So, have the homework right there waiting for them.
Use a scribe and email. Occasionally have just one student take online notes to be shared through email, class web site, or in print form.
Use a thumb drive. Students should be able to access their notes from home, or anywhere. If they don't have access to your school network from home then use a jump ("flash") drive to moves files to and from your classroom.
Laptops offer all sorts of wonderful educational possibilities for you and your students, but they also present a physical barrier between you and them and they offer plenty of distractions.