This EdTech Solution Defeats Student Distractions Before They Even Happen

The K-12 classroom used to be the picture of productivity, but now that every student has a device, it’s full of distractions. There are major concerns surrounding student distractions with the increase of 1:1 devices in 2021, and teachers need to be prepared to face that reality when they return to the classroom.

The threat of device distractions

While school-issued devices do enhance instruction and provide support for teachers, students, and parents, they also bring the threat of added distractions to the classroom that didn’t previously exist. 

Activities like online games, social media, video streaming, and unrelated learning sites are all distractions that threaten the previously productive learning environment of the K-12 classroom and make teachers feel uncomfortable – and sometimes even afraid – of teaching with devices. 

As a result, K-12 educators are actively seeking to defeat these distractions before they even happen.

A solution that works

Many schools think that a content filter alone will mitigate the distractions that devices bring to learning environments. But that is rarely the outcome. Although content filters protect students from inappropriate and dangerous sites, they are not meant to protect teachers from the distractions that devices cause in the classroom. 

Classroom management and device monitoring solutions are what will protect teachers for distractions in the classroom.

Luckily, Dyknow’s classroom management solution defeats distractions before they happen on 900,000+ student devices and gives thousands of teachers confidence with devices in the classroom. Dyknow enables teachers to passively or actively monitor student devices during class and create blocking plans to eliminate distractions before they happen.

How to defeat distractions before they even happen 

1. Passively or actively monitor device activity

First and foremost, teachers need the ability to Passively Monitor student devices during class. This allows them to review activity after the fact. Not police during class. Dyknow enables teachers to collect and review class history data throughout the class period without ever having to look at student thumbnails if they don’t want to. Teachers can also Actively Monitor by viewing all student thumbnails in real-time and enforcing blocking plans to eliminate device distractions before they happen.

2. Blocking distractions before they happen

To defeat distractions before they happen, it’s important teachers are able to create customized, classroom-level blocking plans to block distracting sites that their content filter doesn’t. With Dyknow, teachers can create custom blocking plans and enforce these plans throughout their classes and lessons. The ability to easily save blocking plans in Dyknow enables teachers to create custom blocking plans for different class activities that require only specific sites and apps.

3. Reviewing distractions to inform blocking

To truly know what sites and apps are distracting students, teachers need the ability to see what students are accessing – or attempting to access – during class so that they can refine their blocking plans to include these sites. Dyknow’s Class History feature enables teachers to review all monitored student device activity from the beginning of class, filter that information by the student, date range, or activity type, and share that data with students and/or parents.

4. Engaging students when distractions are eliminated

Once distractions are defeated, teachers can focus on engaging students in the classroom and using technology to truly enhance their lessons. Features within Dyknow enable teachers to engage students and conduct formative assessment activities within the app while still defeating distractions.

• Send a Message – Teachers can send pre-filled or custom messages to one, all, or a few students during class. They can also push out full URLs to students to redirect them during class.
• Check Understanding – Teachers can use this feature to ask students how well they are understanding the given lesson plan or other class material during a monitoring session.
• Question Bank – Teachers can also send questions to student devices during a monitoring session. These questions can be created before, during, or after a monitoring session.

Defeating distractions before they happen with a classroom management solution is the only way to ensure that teachers feel confident using technology and students are engaged with devices during class. 500+ educators are happier with Dyknow to solve this problem than any other solution. Don’t just take it from us, see why Dyknow is #1 in satisfaction on G2.