The current use of mobile devices as tools for learning has resulted in high school and middle school educators fighting a constant battle in their classrooms for the attention of their students and the need to block distracting mobile games.
While educators are teaching students, they may be texting, surfing the internet, playing games, or posting on social media platforms. Students are not fully focusing on the lessons being taught in the classroom due to the distractions available on their mobile devices, this results in students only being half present for the majority of their classes.
Dealing with mobile games in the classroom
The advancement of mobile phones has created a platform for more advanced and addictive mobile games to be developed. Mobile games like Fortnite and Call of Duty would have previously only been accessible on a gaming console or PC. However, the ease of access to such games on the modern mobile phone used by students creates a very enticing distraction for students who are already struggling with focusing in the classroom.
It is important to clarify that the use of mobile devices in the classroom, devices such as Chromebooks and tablets can be hugely beneficial for a modern K-12 classroom. However, mobile phones, that is students’ personal devices, are the distractor in chief that most of the more advanced games are played on.
Games like Candy Crush, while not requiring advanced devices to run, are still extremely addictive and are modeled on the same concepts used to make slot machines at casinos addictive. These addictive and distracting mobile games are generally detrimental to the learning of students.
Students at school are very easily distracted and these mobile games are at their essence developed to be distracting. Games such as Candy Crush can be played on school-issued mobile devices, and preventing students from accessing such applications can be a high priority for schools.
Teachers struggle to keep their students focused on their lessons at the best of times so when students are using their mobile devices in the classroom it can become almost impossible to know whether a student is focused on the lesson or a game on their mobile device.
How can we help you block distracting games?
Thankfully, Mobile Guardian’s Campus solution, made up of Learn & Safer, provides teachers and parents with the tools required to restrict and control the distractions that mobile games have on students.
Learn, our classroom management toolset, allows teachers to easily review their students’ activities on their mobile devices when they are in class. While Safer, our web-filtering toolset, allows teachers and parents to restrict students’ access to mobile games online through our advanced and sophisticated web-filtering features.
However, it is important for students to develop their own time management skills, which teachers and parents can assist with by helping to show students how they manage their time and avoid getting distracted when their focus is required. App’s can also assist teachers and parents with helping students focus. We researched 5 apps to help students manage their time, that combined with guidance from teachers and parents, can help improve student time management significantly.
In addition to mobile games, Mobile Guardian is perfectly suited to limit student access to social media platforms. Explore our blog series on how to block social media mobile phones and devices.
If you’d like to find out more about Mobile Guardian and how our solution can help your students focus on the lesson at hand, book a demo here and we’ll explore your learning environment together.
Onwards,
Michael Rosenthal
Team Mobile Guardian
