The Sentinel: Chromebook Game Playing Reaches Epidemic Level

From a teacher’s perspective, students playing games on their Chromebooks in class interferes with class plans and attention spans. English teacher Amani Elkassabany said that Chromebooks “distract students from thinking and being engaged with their peers.”

To combat students exploiting Chromebook privileges, she “sets clear expectations when Chromebooks are and are not needed in class. I also use Lightspeed as a last resort; it allows me to freeze their screens.”

History teacher Jeff Benya “makes announcements at the beginning of class, such as ‘put away your phones and close chromebooks.’ I walk around and close chromebooks when students are off task and not doing their work.”

Lightspeed, a replacement for GoGuardian, allows teachers to manage and see their students’ screens. It gives teachers the tools to keep their students from online distractions on their Chromebooks. Teachers started using this platform after MCPS discontinued GoGuardian. Teachers have implemented rules in their classrooms to work around this distraction issue, such as assigning more work on paper in class, not allowing Chromebooks during lectures and using Lightspeed to see students’ screens.

Read the article through The Sentinel Newspapers.