What are ways you manage the use of laptops in your classroom and what additional best practice ways might you add?

One of the easiest ways to manage use of laptops in class is to have students put their lids down when the teacher is talking to them or when they should be doing anything other than working on the laptop. Another tool that we use in grade seven is to assign each student a specific cart and computer to use. This trick allows teachers to easily find out who has not plugged in their laptop when finished with it. A penalty could be given for chronic failure to plug in laptops.

 Another useful tool is to offer positive comments to students who are making good use of their laptop. Also, having students use their computer for group research projects and then having students share their results is a good motivator for proper laptop use. Using librarians to teach students to find online resources is a great way to give students more tools that help them in their projects. Finally, having students use Google Docs or Diigo for research and knowledge sharing is another powerful motivator for effective computer use in the classroom.