A Gradual Release of Responsibility Over Student Devices

The other day, a student brought me a nearly dead Chromebook and requested a replacement.

“Looks like it just needs a hard reset,” I told her. Pointing at the keys, I said, “Press the refresh and power keys at the same time. That might take care of it. If not, I’ll swap it out.”

“You’re not going to do it for me?” she asked.

“You’re going to do it for yourself,” I responded. “You got this. I believe in you.”

This same student—who can restart her phone by touch in her pocket, mind you—looked seriously doubtful but gave it a try and got the device working again. “Why didn’t you just do it for me?” she asked.

“Because I’m not always going to be here,” I said. “By spring break, all the Chromebooks are going to be super-slow again, and they’ll need at least a hard reset. Now you know how. Show everyone.”

STUDENTS’ SHRINKING ZONE OF PRODUCTIVE DISCOMFORT

Despite using their personal devices with ease, a lot of students lack confidence navigating websites like Canvas or Google Classroom. Many more struggle with their Chromebooks. This is the heart of what I do: empowering students to seek tech solutions beyond their current comfort zone. 

Students’ zone of productive discomfort with school technology shrank noticeably during distance learning. They were suddenly thrust into new, confusing online learning environments with limited support (so were we as educators!). Years prior, when faced with a tech problem, students would troubleshoot to find a solution. Now they turn to their teachers at the first bump in the road.

It’s important for students to have a degree of intellectual curiosity about their devices. We won’t always be there to help them. That’s why I started shifting technology challenges back to my students. Reenergizing their motivation and engagement with technology not only supports their developing technical skills, but boosts their sense of autonomy, self-efficacy, and confidence. It does take more time to teach tech skills rather than simply solving students’ problems for them, but that investment pays off through growing independence for your students and fewer interruptions for you during class.

GETTING STARTED

Encourage students to try before seeking help: Let’s say the issue is a confusing website: A student is struggling to find missing assignments in Google Classroom. Try reflecting their question(s) back to them:

• What have you already tried?
• What else could you try?
• Have you asked a classmate?

If they’ve tried everything, we can explore together. “Show me the site, and let’s poke around,” I might say. “I’m sure we’ll figure it out.” I don’t pretend to know everything.

Have students drive the keyboard: When students come into the library to print out an assignment, they often want me to do it for them. I hold up my hands and point to the USB cord attached to the printer: “Plug that into your Chromebook and bring up the doc. Then select ‘Print’ and find the printer in the drop-down. Don’t worry, I’ll be sure you find it.”

I describe the process so that students can follow along on the keyboard. The next time they come in, I tell them to give it a try while I continue working. If they are not getting anywhere, I’ll help them, but I don’t hover. This goes for any number of simple tech-related issues that students face, like searching for an assignment in their email. This is about more than just getting a task done; we’re helping them to develop a can-do mindset for all technology in their futures.

Curate and share troubleshooting resources: Building a resource bank has been invaluable in helping our school community take initiative and troubleshoot effectively.

On our school website, I’ve created a page with links to quick helpful videos made by various members of the school staff:

• After being peppered nonstop with emails from students who couldn’t find URLs for websites they needed (despite receiving them several times), a grade-level counselor created a video showing how to use browser bookmarks.
• An art teacher, an English teacher, and I created a video about writing and managing emails after we all agreed we were tired of receiving emails with the entire contents IN ALL CAPS IN THE SUBJECT LINE.

Occasionally, issues come up that we don’t have a resource for; in that case, I talk students through how to search for reliable troubleshooting guides online. Printer not behaving? Let’s look up the make and model with a couple of words describing the problem, then try a few solutions until one works. This process helps normalize the idea that no one knows everything. Everyone can become skilled at finding solutions.

Encourage an expert mindset: While fostering confidence and motivation is a great starting point, it’s even better when students begin thinking of themselves as emerging tech experts. Teach students not just how to develop the tech skills they’ll need, but how to assist their peers who are learning alongside them.

Find the experts in your class by asking for help with common tech tasks like powerwashing a cart of Chromebooks; ask if anyone can model creating browser bookmarks for the class. With the expert’s permission, teachers can encourage other students to ask them for help where needed. Students with more tech experience will settle into being an authority, while others may look to their peers as experts and aspire to be one themselves. The expert mindset is contagious!

Teach boundaries: Draw a clear line between troubleshooting and violating warranties or creating permanent damage. Students are often afraid to experiment with a tech challenge—like searching for a buried menu option or adding a new printer to their profile—because they don’t want to break something or get in trouble.

• Trying solutions suggested by trusted sources (a tech-savvy teacher, a manufacturer’s guide, a Help Desk ticket response) is great.
• Getting out a screwdriver to open a machine violates warranties. Students most likely can’t do permanent damage from a keyboard (except Delete Account and random software downloads: Don’t do that!), but they definitely can with hand tools and thumb drives.

Model failure as part of learning: This is perhaps the most important point. When students are working on a tech issue, I remind them that troubleshooting often takes several tries with several solutions before a problem is solved. Getting the fix on the first try is worth a high five, because this is the exception, not the rule.

Issues with technology require patience and persistence. When students get frustrated, remind them to take a deep breath and remember that they run the tech, the tech doesn’t run them. These are also teachable moments for a key life skill: giving yourself grace. The process of acquiring knowledge and skills involves making mistakes and learning from them. Model kind self-talk and persistence in real time. “Oh well, that didn’t go the way I hoped! What can I try next?” is a great way to show that with tech, each failure is one step closer to a win.