Classroom Management of the Future?

Managing our Classrooms with Technology

Technology has become a key part of classrooms, but even with new technological developments, the challenge of classroom management persists.  There are many different approaches to managing a classroom, but recently, technology-based approaches have emerged.  Cho, Mansfield, and Claughton (2020) conducted a literature review to explain the “intersection of technology and classroom management” (p. 2).

A lot of the literature surrounding technology and classroom management focuses on technologies that help teachers learn new skills.  Examples of these technologies included videotaping real classrooms, videotaping oneself teaching to analyze later, databases, and simulations.  Other literature focuses on tools teachers can use in the classroom.  For example, there are apps like ClassDojo and ClassCraft that reward and punish students for certain behaviors.  In ClassCraft, teachers can give students points for good behavior.  Each student can then use these points in a fantasy game on their app.  These apps do face criticism for encouraging students to “function in a state of constant surveillance” (Cho, Mansfield, & Claughton, 2020, p. 7).  I do believe this is a legitimate concern.  This probably sounds bad, but I think an important part of growing up is breaking some rules.  The last thing I want to do as a teacher is put my students in a state of constant stress and pressure to follow the rules.

Other literature about classroom management through technology examined how students used technology to grow their own self-discipline.  Rather than a teacher marking down behavioral problems, students were responsible for noting their own struggles and reflecting on them or watching videos of themselves and considering their behavior as filmed.  This approach was successful in the few cases it was tried (Cho, Mansfield, & Claughton, 2020).

There is a lot of interesting information presented in this article, a lot of which I had never considered before.  Here’s what I liked.  Videotaping myself teaching to reflect on my skills is something I would love to do.  ClassCraft is probably the only tool I would consider using in a classroom, and I would only use it sparingly.  I like the positive reinforcement aspect of that app that rewards good behavior, however, at the high school level, I wonder if students will be interested in progressing through the game that the app uses.  Perhaps similar apps will be developed by the time I start teaching that are more meaningful to high schoolers. 

As for what I didn’t like, I felt uncomfortable at the idea of videotaping students and using AI to detect behavioral problems.  That technology is probably going to detect problems that I didn’t even notice, and sometimes addressing minor problems that would usually go away on their own just makes things far worse.  The concept of recording my students makes me feel distinctly uncomfortable, and I don’t think I will ever go that far in my classroom management.  Ultimately, while I do feel there is merit to some ideas and this is definitely a topic worth exploring further, I think I will be sticking to more traditional forms of classroom management until these technologies are better developed.

Cho, V., Mansfield, K. C., & Claughton, J. (2020). The past and future technology in classroom management and school discipline: A systematic review. Teaching and Teacher Education, 90, 1-11.

Ed Tech of the Week

As an undergraduate student, I had to present my thesis during the COVID pandemic.  While education is shifting back to a mostly in-person model, no one can deny that technology is now a crucial part of learning.  When I presented my thesis, we used a tool called Gathertown, and I think it could potentially translate into an interesting secondary education experience.

A sample of what a Gathertown room might look like. 

When you enter a Gathertown space, you select an avatar that moves with the arrow keys.  Students can navigate their character around a space, stopping in certain sections of the virtual room.  In each space, students will connect with other students via video call.  What makes this tool unique is that even if an entire class is in a Gathertown room, not everyone will connect to the same call.  Students can move between different locations to switch to different video calls.   Participants can also visit virtual posters (anything in .jpeg format) and pre-recorded videos uploaded by the moderator.

In a collegiate setting, this was an excellent tool to share projects.  Obviously, a secondary education setting would need more than one teacher to ensure no one is behaving inappropriately.  Because of this, I don’t see Gathertown being a great tool for an individual classroom, however, I think it would be excellent for a larger-scale project.  For example, students could do book reports in presentation form then put their recorded video or posters on Gathertown.  Then anyone in the school could visit the space, making information sharing more accessible.  I could also see art shows done in person and also on Gathertown since Gathertown spaces can be permanent in a way physical art shows cannot.  It could also be a space to store students’ projects so they can access their work and their classmate’s work throughout the year.

The biggest downside to Gathertown is that it does cost money to organize a space.  If you want to see more about this tool, you can follow THIS link.