20 Ways Teachers Save Time with Lightspeed Classroom Management™

With the mass proliferation of digital learning tools in recent years, digital distractions run rampant.

Educators need to ensure students use them properly to advance their learning. Classroom management apps help with that, offering teachers visibility into students’ online activity so they can spot students who are getting off-task or struggling to keep up with their peers.

Lightspeed Classroom Management™ is a cloud-based classroom management solution that gives teachers unparalleled visibility into what’s going on with classroom activities. With Lightspeed Classroom Management, teachers don’t have to worry about being everywhere at once, peering at every student’s screen. Teachers also don’t have to remain glued to their own screens, following their students’ page views trying to figure out who’s off-task.

That’s why Lightspeed Classroom Management is so revolutionary. Lightspeed Classroom Management uses smart analytics tools to zero in on unusual browsing activity, notifying teachers in real-time when students may be distracted or need help. Lightspeed’s classroom management solution frees teachers from their desks and devices so they can spend more time educating and less time managing. Best-in-class screen monitoring capabilities allow teachers to view a student’s full screen or zoom out to see the entire class at once.

If your district is looking to create engaging learning environments anywhere, whether in-person or at a distance, Lightspeed Classroom Management can help. Below, discover 20 ways teachers can save time with Lightspeed Classroom Management.

1. Get insights on unusual browsing behavior

Lightspeed Classroom Management highlights student screens indicating unusual browsing behavior. Utilizing artificial intelligence, Lightspeed Classroom Management leverages years of data on students’ typical browsing behavior to understand when students’ online activity is abnormal.

2. View screens of the entire class all at once—or zoom in on individual screens

A convenient slider allows teachers to easily move back and forth between a view of all the screens in the class—so they can easily glance from student to student—to a zoomed-in view on just a few or even just one screen. Entering full-screen mode allows an even closer look.

3. Examine any student’s browsing history

Using Lightspeed Classroom Management, teachers can easily check students’ browsing history anytime during the class period to verify their browsing history is on task. Simply click a student’s name and select “History” to view the student’s browsing activity for the entire class period. Additionally, teachers can view every student’s open tabs.

4. Receive student status updates

With Lightspeed Classroom Management, students set their status to “Working,” “Done,” or “Need help.” This way, teachers know when it’s time to move on to the next task—and if students who are finished with their work are browsing unrelated URLs, teachers don’t have to wonder whether they’re distracted from the current assignment.

5. Discover which students need help

Teachers know better than anyone that not all students who need help raise their hands and ask for it. In Lightspeed Classroom Management, students set their status to “Need help” to discreetly notify their teacher when they’re stuck.

6. See individual student screens in real-time

With Lightspeed Classroom Management screen views update in real time. So, if browsing activity changes or if a student needs help with a writing assignment teachers see what’s happening on the student’s device that very moment.

7. Record any student’s device screen activity

When teachers encounter a student who is continually getting off task, they can record the student’s device screen, capturing that activity so they can provide examples to parents or administration to correct the student’s behavior. Note, with students’ privacy in mind, the ability to record students’ screens is limited to only the class session.

8. Send instant messages to student device screens

Does a distracted student need a nudge to focus? Teachers can send a custom message or choose one from a list of predefined messages (e.g., “Are you done,” or “Need help?”) directly to the student. It will show up as a notification in the student’s browser. Students can then respond, “Yes” or “No.” Teachers can choose to send their message to the whole class, a subset, or one individual student.

9. Send links to students

Lightspeed Classroom Management enables teachers to push links to their students — the whole class, a group, or just one student. Pushing a link opens a new tab on the student’s browser. This gets everyone on the same page at the same time.

10. Lock student screens

When a teacher wants their students’ eyes upfront for a minute or needs a distracted student to stop what they’re doing immediately, they can lock any students’ screens for as long as necessary.

11. Set Web Rules to restrict student access to specific websites

Teachers may want their students to browse a specific site or group of sites during class time. With Lightspeed Classroom Management, teachers can use Web Rules to block or allow a specific site (or multiple websites), ensuring no student browses web content outside what teachers want them to access.

12. Release students from Web Rules when they’ve finished with their work

When students set their statuses to “Done,” they’ll be released from any Web Rules their teachers created. Then, they’ll be free to browse the web or work on other assignments.

13. Create student groups to ensure students are getting the content they need

Teachers can create student groups right from the main dashboard by clicking “Create Group” at the bottom. This is an excellent feature for group projects or if teachers identify students who need learning interventions and require more customized lessons. Teachers can also share their screens, lock student screens, and push URLs to only that group.

14. Customize content for each student group

Every student group has a Group Web Rules feature. Thus, teachers can create custom lists of websites to block or allow based on each group’s needs without blocking everyone else.

15. Quickly determine who’s checked into your class and who’s missing

Right from the teacher’s dashboard, teachers can see which students are “Checked-in,” “Available to Add” or “Offline.”

16. Ensure students are in your class when they’re supposed to be

If a student should be in a classroom but isn’t, they will appear in the “Available to Add” section at the bottom of the class. Teachers can easily check them into the correct class with one click of a button.

17. Conduct your digital classroom with Microsoft Teams

Lightspeed Classroom Management integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Teams. So, if your district prefers Microsoft 365 tools, teachers will easily have access to the Microsoft tools. Talk to your IT admins to set up Lightspeed Classroom Management within Teams and take your digital classroom to the next level.

18. Color code … almost anything!

Teachers can keep classes organized by color on the My Classes homepage. Want to color code your web rules so you can see where each one is at a quick glance? There are colors there, too.

19. Custom arrange student thumbnails within groups

Choose exactly what order you want to see your students in by dragging and dropping students on the Enhanced Screens view. View students alphabetically, match the order on your screen to a real-life seating chart, or organize them in any other way that makes sense.

20. Easily manage all classes from the My Classes homepage

View all classes simultaneously and manage them with a clean, easy-to-navigate page. Customize the arrangement of classes into any order you want by dragging and dropping the thumbnails into the order of your choosing.

With Lightspeed Classroom Management in your tech stack, your teachers will have control over their digital classrooms and real-time visibility of student activity, allowing them to create engaging learning environments anywhere. Lightspeed Classroom Management is available as a stand-alone product or can be purchased with our integrated suite of products.