The impact of 1-1 devices in the classroom, 5 years of experience.

I have seen the challenge of what students do with their digital devices in the classroom. My classroom has been 1-1 for about 5 years now.

The presence of the technology has driven me to change my teaching style. You can complain about that fact if you like, but it has forced me to innovate. Not everything I have tried has been successful, but my classroom looks hardly anything like it did 10 years ago.

I hardly ever teach from the front of the room in a lecture style. I haven't asked students to copy notes off of a chalkboard/whiteboard/overhead in ages. (I actually picked up chalk and taught one lesson from the blackboard late in the school year and it felt strange! It was the correct tool for that lesson at that time however.) 

When I do teach from the front I insist that all devices be closed.

I always try to have my seating arrangements set up so that all the student's screens can be seen from one location. If I have flexible seating arrangements, none of the places students can sit allow them to put their backs to the wall and hide what they are doing.

I have also found it necessary to change the kind of assignments I give. I started, like most teachers, by taking the same lessons I used to do and putting them online. That went over like a lead balloon! (Which exist if you watch the MythBusters!) When you put an assignment up that can be answered in 5 minutes by using CTRL-F and CTRL-C and CTRL-P you realize that you really need to change your assignments. (And maybe should have changed them years ago!)

It's not always pretty, it's not always perfect, but it has forced me to re-think just about everything I do in the classroom. And that's not a bad thing.