Classrooms are the new epicenters of digital learning. From erstwhile systems of in-person attendance to new-age virtual learning, it comes as no surprise that digital distractions can easily impede learning. Digital devices are pervasive, including MacBook, smartphones, tablets, phablets, and wearable tech – each one of these is a potential disruption waiting to happen. Teachers in the modern age are constantly having to deal with students and their digital distractions. What with social media, texting, emailing, gaming, and the like eating into learning time, it comes as no surprise that technology can be detrimental to achievement in a classroom-style scenario.
The overarching objective is to leverage technology to the hilt for educational purposes. Fortunately, today’s cutting-edge tech is fully capable of providing all the data, computing abilities, and real-time access needed for effective education. However, students can easily get distracted by their technology, and this can create setbacks for individual learners and the class as a whole. In this guide, we tackle 6 simple technology solutions designed to combat digital distractions in the classroom. Ironically, many of these tech solutions require using technology-based options, but they work quietly in the background so that students can remain focused on their studies.
In this guide, you will quickly learn how to stay focused at school with all of your technology readily available at your fingertips. Let’s get started!
#1 Applications to Manage How Students Spend Their Time Online – The BlockSite App
Today’s learners are well versed in Internet technology and the IoT. The World Wide Web and the dramatic advances in fibre-optic Internet, 5G technology, and smart tech represents a small sample of what we’ve achieved as a society, with an eye to even greater developments in the future. With so much distracting activity in the form of online videos, social media, news, sports, gaming, texting, et al, it’s no wonder that the tech gurus among us are turning to innovative technological solutions to help students manage their time online better.
One such app is known as BlockSite. This app blocks thousands of sites from myriad categories that can serve as distractions to learners. It can also easily block apps. By preventing learners from accessing harmful and distracting content, it’s much easier to stay focused on the tasks at hand i.e. learning. The app is available from the Chrome Web Store where it enjoys a stellar rating from tens of thousands of reviews, and over 1M+ downloads. The BlockSite app is ideal for work mode functionality, blocking adult content (major distraction to school learners), and enhanced time management.
#2 OneTab Chrome Extension For Compressing Open Tabs on Your Browser
OneTab is a powerful Chrome-based extension that is capable of ‘compressing’ the open tabs on your browser. Created by one-tab.com, this highly-rated Chrome extension is able to dramatically reduce memory and clutter. As a student, it can get overwhelming with scores of tabs opened on your browser, as you struggle to click through each of them, in search of relevant information. With OneTab, it’s possible to convert your tabs into a list and restore them as you please. Not only can you speed up your computer by dramatically reducing your CPU load, but it’s also possible to power up your computer from sleep mode much quicker with OneTab. As a decluttering tool, OneTab is a powerful tech solution for removing distractions from your browser.
#3 – Store Your Hardware in Your Bag While You’re Studying, Or Try This!
The subject of this student guide is Digital Distractions in The Classroom: 6 Technology Solutions. While it is certainly possible to simply adopt a philosophy of ‘out of sight, out of mind’, by taking laptops, smartphones, tablets, phablets, gadgets, and gizmos and removing them from your desk while you’re at school, there are ways to ‘disable’ these devices so that they are no longer distractions during your learning.
Simply place your devices on airplane mode so that they don’t receive any Internet signal while you’re studying. That way, you won’t be bothered by beeps, pings, melodies, or jingles every time messages flood your social media, email, and text messaging accounts.
If airplane mode sounds a little too extreme (and it likely is for some people), try simply silencing the device by turning the volume all the way down, or flipping a switch. The other option is to simply place your iPhone on Do Not Disturb. Each of these tech-based solutions really works. There is no reason to go to the extremes with these tech solutions, but a 25 minute ‘deactivation’, or ‘silencing’ will allow you to focus all your energy on your studies. What a win!
#4 – Fine Tune Your Gmail Account so That You’re Not Interrupted during Class
Gmail is one of the world’s favorite email platforms, yet most of its powerful functions, features, and attributes aren’t well known. For example, you can use Gmail to mute conversations, which automatically archives all replies, with no Gmail clutter or noise to worry about. You can also click on the Snooze button which determines when you will receive emails in your inbox.
If you are studying, or in the middle of a classroom assignment, the last thing you want is a Gmail distraction notifying you of a new line of credit you have been approved for, or a fabulous cruise ship holiday vacation you are now eligible for, or a spammy notice informing you of the millions of dollars you have won from a fictitious long-lost relative you’ve never heard of.
Whatever it is, the message can probably wait until the end of class. The re-focus from your studies to your email messages detracts from your understanding of the study material. If you allow emails to control your time, they absolutely will. Take control back and use the snooze button in Gmail to maximum effect.
#5 – Screen-Control Software Programs – Introducing XNSPY
This option gives classroom teachers broad-ranging control over Internet-ready devices which may serve as distractions in the classroom. By allowing teachers to lock the screens of student computing devices, XNSPY serves as a powerful technologically-based solution for preventing disruptions in the classroom. This system makes it easy for students to stay focused on their assignments.
You can easily block digital distractions, or access to web browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Microsoft Edge, et cetera). This invasive way of preventing digital distractions allows the teacher to monitor device usage while the students are in class. Naturally, everything is agreed to well in advance, so there is no overreach without acquiescence. The company dubs its product as, ‘The world’s most powerful & non-intrusive parental control app’, but teachers like it too!
#6 – Brain.FM for a Lyrical, Melodious, and Soothing Solution to Decreasing Distractions and Refocusing Mental Energy
At first sight, it may seem disingenuous to encourage students to log into Brain.FM for listening to music while they’re supposed to be studying. However, multiple studies confirm that students actually benefit from sounds that are directed at the concentration epicenters of the brain. Brain.FM is one such service – a premium service – which certainly works by providing functional music to improve focus. It’s best to use the service before class so that your mind is ready, set, and geared towards the learning to follow. This science-based music system has a real effect on brain functionality, focus, and concentration.