The Technology Stoplight Approach to Devices in the Classroom
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by Dan Krutka
If you’re a classroom teacher, it’s like that you have had to address devices in the classroom. For young students, issues may emanate from how students relate to their devices. For older students, smartphones, tablets, and computers all offer a world of websites, videos, apps, and games that can pull students’ attention from the teachers’ aims for the class. And I don’t want to pretend that this is just an issue for young people. Teachers regularly answer to the pull of their devices, sometimes hypocritically in front of students whose devices are stored away.
My views on this issue have shifted some over the years. In 2017, Jeff Carpenter and I wrote an article arguing “why social media must have a place in schools.” We wrote:
While administrators offer reasonable justifications for limiting social media uses in schools (e.g., Children’s Internet Protection Act, parental concerns, cyberbullying, distraction, privacy issues, obscene or harmful content), these very issues justify the need for students and teachers to explore social media toward the goal of becoming responsible digital citizens (Carpenter & Krutka, 2015; Ribble, 2012). The majority of school policies related to social media still focus on what students should not do with these technologies, but we are slowly be- ginning to see students and teachers explore what they can do.
We went on to argue that teachers should both teach with and about social media and concluded by saying, “We do not believe that every teacher in every class must use social media, but educators must ensure that students’ overall school experiences help them (re)consider how these platforms can enrich and diminish their personal, social, and civic lives.” Reading back on this article I remember a time when I was more optimistic about social media. I still think that many of the suggestions in the article can work with a thoughtful teacher, even if there are some activities I would move off of for-profit social media platforms to more closed and secure networks.
However, the biggest update I wish I could make to this article is in the following sentence:
The majority of school policies related to social media still focus on what students should not do with these technologies, but we are slowly beginning to see students and teachers explore what they can do.
I’d add that we also need to focus on what social media and other platforms and devices undo. Over the 7 years since this article was published, I have more deeply considered the ecological effects—often unintended—of technology. While I previously saw devices as conduits to more people and information, I now often see them as pulling us away from the people and information that is most important. For students, I increasingly believe they need to examine how their relationships with their devices affect their relationships with humans. I’ve sought to figure this out in my own classroom.
The Technology Stoplight Approach
To address device distraction in the classroom, I created the Technology Stoplight Approach a few years ago. The purpose of this approach is to make decisions about technology use communal, not individual, and thoughtful, not thoughtless. The Technology Stoplight Approach requires class conversation to ensure we are aligning our class purposes with our technology use. When I first introduce the approach, it begins with time to discuss how students feel about the role of their devices in their lives. I ask them to talk in small groups and with the whole class about (a) what is most important to them in their lives, and (b) how do devices enrich or diminish what is most important to them. I have always found these discussions to be rich. Students are thoughtful, and share lots of concerns. As someone who has struggled plenty with my relationship with my smartphone, I learn a lot from them.
After this discussion, I share with them that our goal is to use our class space to practice using our devices in alignment with our class purposes so they can do so outside of school too. Before each class activity I ask students, what stoplight aligns with the activity? Here’s are the options:
Red Light: Let’s be present with each other and technofast from our smartphones, tablets, and laptops.
Yellow Light: Let’s use technology in a limited way to help us accomplish a specific task in front of us. For instance, one group member may access a device for research, note-taking, or sharing.
Green Light: Let’s use technology as we see fit to help accomplish our goals together. Use your judgment!
Initially, we usually hold substantive discussions, but over time we learn, and are able to make collective decisions quickly. The best part is that students see lessons for their life in each option.
With the red light option, we often discuss the value of taking breaks from our devices, and sometimes even extending them into longer technofasts that can allow us to reset our rhythms and reflect on the impact of devices on our lives. Sometimes the best way to understand the roles of something in our life is to remove it. When we completely put away all devices, it is not a punitive school decision, but a thoughtful and collective decision to focus on being with each other. We most often enact this option during important class discussions, which is at the core of my classes.
With the yellow light option, we often discuss the importance of focus when we want to complete a task, and how for example, learning to use our laptops without opening other tabs or programs at the slightest feeling of frustration or boredom is an important skill. We discuss the downsides of task switching and how long it takes to get back to our primary task when we do so (see Cal Newport’s work at https://calnewport.com/ or David Levy’s Mindful Tech for more).
With the green light option, students have open access to their devices, but they still have a responsibility to align their uses with our class goals. This means that they need to cultivate the skill to use devices without distractions that take them off their desired path.
Many of us need practice in using our intentionally distracting devices (see “What Happened in Vegas with Natasha Dow Schüll” from the Your Undivided Attention podcast) to better align within our goals. This is what I’ve come up with for my classes. What do you do?
References
Damico, N., & Krutka, D. G. (2018). Social media diaries and fasts: Educating for digital mindfulness with pre-service teachers. Teaching and Teacher Education, 73, 109-119.
Krutka, D. G., & Carpenter, J. P. (2016). Why social media must have a place in schools. Kappa Delta Pi Record, 52(1), 6-10.
Levy, D. M. (2016). Mindful tech: How to bring balance to our digital lives. Yale University Press.
Newport, C. (2021). A world without email: Reimagining work in an age of communication overload. Penguin.