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Laptops for learning, and the thinking behind QE’s new digital classroom guidance
“…Learning is…the process of paying attention to and thinking about something.”
Peps Mccrea, UK educationalist
At the start of this term, QE launched new guidance for digital classroom etiquette. Since our 1:1 programme is now in operation across Years 7–11 and also embedded in our curriculum, this was an essential step, according to Deputy Head (Academic) Anne Macdonald and Head of Digital Teaching & Learning Michael Noonan.
Summarised in a classroom poster and explained in full in a longer document, our guidance sets out the rules and expectations for the use of laptops in classrooms. It explains how laptops can distract – and the negative impacts that has on learning – while advising pupils on how to maximise the educational benefits laptops can bring.
To understand the importance of the guidance, it is worth taking a step back and considering what ‘learning’ means. What do students actually do? Over the years, we have come to realise that Peps Mccrea’s definition as ‘the process of paying attention to and thinking about something’ offers a readily understandable and accurate way of viewing learning. Attention and thinking are the mechanisms by which learning happens. If our students don’t pay attention to something, they won’t end up learning about it. Attention is the steely gatekeeper of learning.
From this perspective, it is easy to understand why distractions are such a big deal in the classroom – like a ship ploughing through the ocean, they create a wake of inattention which inevitably takes time to dissipate.
It follows, then, that one important aspect of teaching is directing attention: teachers guide pupils to focus on the right things at the right time.
At QE, we promote learning in a collaborative environment: our aim is that all boys should gain from classroom discussion. If pupils get distracted by their laptops, such discussion is impaired. But used properly, laptops can enhance the quality of collaboration, leading to more focus from the participants, so that paying attention becomes socially contagious, a QE norm.
As teachers, we are working hard to achieve this. For example, we make use of routines in order to refocus attention, and we consider in our planning what our students should be paying attention to and thinking about at each moment during the class.
We hope our pupils will play their part by following the positive advice in the new guidance and by avoiding digital distractions, thus ensuring that their devices are truly laptops for learning.
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