69ý

Opinion
Classroom Technology Opinion

What Could Go Wrong?

By Doug Noon — December 22, 2006 2 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print
Email Copy URL

For most people, “Whatever can go wrong will go wrong,” is Murphy’s Law. For me, it’s Murphy’s Lab, since that’s usually what happens when I first take a group of elementary students into the computer lab.

From the moment their fingers touch the keyboards, glitches—both technical and human—erupt like landmines all around me. Some kids forget their passwords. Others can’t spell the URLs needed to access Web pages. A few can’t remember where files are saved, and even after they’re found, they can’t be opened. I run around doing triage like an ER nurse as students call my name repeatedly, wave their arms for help, or goof off.

At least, that’s the way it used to be. After years of trial and error, I’ve hit on a few strategies to help save both my sanity and my lessons:

BRIC ARCHIVE

1. Pair more proficient computer users with novices. I’m only one person, but I’ve found I can leverage the expertise in the room by matching neophytes with lab partners who can answer rudimentary questions when I’m busy helping elsewhere.

2. Short-circuit spelling problems. Computers are unforgiving in their demands for specificity. Type one wrong letter, and a student’s access is denied, or her Web search comes up blank. When students are first learning their usernames and passwords, I hand out Popsicle sticks with that information written on them. The sticks are more durable than scraps of paper, and easier to keep track of when I collect them at the end of each class period. To help students speedily get to key Web sites, I set up links pages so that misspelled URLs don’t slow them down. Web services such as Wikispaces offer free, user-friendly Web sites for teachers:

3. Save—in the right place. I don’t wait until the end of the class period to announce that students should save their files because that always results in lost work. I teach them to log onto the server when they first sit down in the lab, so that each new document they create gets properly saved before they work on it. During the period, I check to make sure they’ve done that.

4. Keep it simple. When students are starting written assignments, they can avoid complications caused by incompatible software if they use a basic text editor instead of a word processor for their rough drafts. TextEdit in Apple’s Mac OS X, and Notepad in Microsoft’s Windows are suitable for creating basic documents that are portable across platforms and easy to open. After students finish drafting, they can copy and paste their text files into a word processor or blog for final publication.

When I have these procedures in place, things in the lab often go smoothly enough to lull me into thinking I’ve got it all under control. But then I hear my name called in that distinctive tone of a helpless pupil sitting before a frozen computer. It’s then I’m reminded for the umpteenth time that no matter how much progress I’ve made in adapting the computers and students to each other, no list of strategies will ever be long enough to keep Murphy from paying us an occasional visit.

Related Tags:

A version of this article appeared in the January 01, 2007 edition of Teacher Magazine as What Could Go Wrong?

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Artificial Intelligence Webinar
AI and Educational Leadership: Driving Innovation and Equity
Discover how to leverage AI to transform teaching, leadership, and administration. Network with experts and learn practical strategies.
Content provided by 
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
School Climate & Safety Webinar
Investing in Success: Leading a Culture of Safety and Support
Content provided by 
Assessment K-12 Essentials Forum Making Competency-Based Learning a Reality
Join this free virtual event to hear from educators and experts working to implement competency-based education.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.

Read Next

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Classroom Technology Sponsor
The top 5 ways generative AI increases student creativity
Focus: Whether generative AI will increase or decrease students’ creative thinking tools.
Content provided by Adobe Corporation
Classroom Technology From Our Research Center 'Mom Is Texting': Teachers Say Parents Are a Daily Distraction During Class
Many parents feel the need to be in constant contact with their children.
4 min read
Close up of student's hands on their desk in the classroom and holding a smartphone
iStock/Getty Images Plus
Classroom Technology Most Teens Believe Conspiracy Theories, See News as Biased. What Can 69ý Do?
Teenagers—like adults—struggle to recognize accurate, unbiased information in a chaotic digital media landscape.
6 min read
Fake News concept with gray words 'fact' in row and single bold word 'fake' highlighted by black magnifying glass on blue background
Firn/iStock/Getty
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Classroom Technology Whitepaper
Teachers Could Boost Instructional Time with the Right EdTech
A new survey examines edtech’s potential to reduce the amount of time that’s lost to disruptions because students can’t see or hear instr...
Content provided by Logitech