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Session 4. Managing Devices and Fixing Faults Calmly
Objective. Set up simple routines for shared devices and use a troubleshooting ladder that ends in Plan B within about two minutes.
Every teacher has lost ten minutes to a cable, a frozen tablet or a missing password while thirty pupils watched. The problem is rarely the fault itself; it is that nobody decided in advance how long to try and what to do instead. This page looks at two things that give those minutes back: a fixed order for fixing faults with a time limit, and simple routines that make shared devices dull in the best sense of the word.
Key ideas
Fewer devices, clear roles
- You rarely need one device per child. Groups of three or four with roles (reader, typist, checker, reporter) keep everyone busy: 36 pupils need only 9 devices.
- Start the task on paper: plan, question, prediction. Then use the device for a clear time box, such as 10 minutes, and return to paper to explain.
- Pupils without a device are never left out: they are in a group, take a role, or work from a printed copy.
Five routines that save minutes
- Hand out and return: devices are numbered, one pupil per group collects them, and each group has its own number and seat.
- A signal for attention: 'screens down' or lids half closed, sound off, eyes to the teacher. Practise it once, calmly, in the first week.
- Charging and care: a rota says who charges what and when, devices go back to one place, and food and drink stay away from them.
The troubleshooting ladder
- Step 1, Look: power, battery, cable pushed in, right input, volume and mute. Most faults end here.
- Step 2, Restart the device. Step 3, Swap one thing at a time: another cable, another socket, another device or group. Never open a device.
- Step 4, Plan B: if about two minutes have passed, move to the printed or board version. Fix the fault later, not in front of the class.
Stay calm and keep the class working
- Give the class a short task on paper while you check, such as 'write three questions about the picture you saw yesterday'. A busy class does not misbehave.
- Ask a pupil helper, but do not let a child open or repair equipment. Say 'we have Plan B' in a normal voice.
- Keep a fault log in a notebook: date, device, what happened, what fixed it. After class, report repeated faults to the person responsible.
The troubleshooting ladder
Why the first two minutes decide the lesson
When a machine fails, it is natural to try 'one more thing'. Each attempt feels cheap, but the class waits through every one. Deciding in advance that Plan B starts after about two minutes removes the argument with yourself. The limit is a guide, not a law; what matters is that you chose it before the fault, when you were calm.
A fixed order also helps. Look first, because loose cables, wrong inputs, muted sound and empty batteries cause many faults. Restart second. Swap one thing at a time third, so that you know what worked. While you do this, give the class a short written task, and say 'we have Plan B' in an ordinary voice. Fix the machine after the lesson, not in front of an audience.
Making shared devices boring
A shared device lesson goes well when handing out, using, signalling and returning are routines that pupils could do with their eyes closed. Number the devices and the groups, give each group a fixed place, and set roles so that one pupil reads, one types, one checks and one reports. Teach the routine once, calmly, and practise it before it matters.
Time boxes and paper-first planning guard against distraction, which the UNESCO monitoring report names as a cost of technology that is often underestimated. Ask groups to plan on paper, work on the device for a set time, and then explain their result without the device. Keep a simple tally of which group had the device last time, so that no group always waits.
Examples from the classroom
Forty seconds in Bukhara
Scene. Jasur teaches Grade 8 informatics in Bukhara. As the bell rings, the projector shows 'No signal'. He follows his ladder: power is on, the cable is firm, so he presses the input button and chooses the second socket. The picture appears in about 40 seconds. Meanwhile pupils copied the first task from the board, and the lesson starts on time.
Insight. Looking first solves most faults, and a short task keeps the class busy while you check.
Nine tablets, thirty-six pupils
Scene. Aziz teaches Grade 5 in Tashkent and has nine numbered tablets for 36 pupils. Pupils sit in groups of four with roles. A charging rota names Bobur to charge tablets 1 to 4 and Sevara tablets 5 to 9. Each group works on a tablet for ten minutes, then closes it half way and explains its answer on paper. Everyone has a job all lesson.
Insight. Roles, numbers and time boxes let nine devices serve 36 pupils.
The video that would not play
Scene. Malika teaches Grade 6 in Fergana. Her laptop freezes before the video. She restarts it once, and when two minutes pass without a picture, she says 'We have Plan B' and reads a short printed account of the same story. Pupils answer three questions in pairs. After class she writes the fault in her log and tells the school's computer teacher.
Insight. She chose her stopping point in advance, so the lesson goal survived the fault.
Common pitfalls
- Trying one more thing again and again while the class waits.
- Changing several things at once, so that nobody knows what fixed the problem.
- Opening a device or letting a pupil repair it.
- Handing out devices with no roles, no time limit and no signal for attention.
Routines and the Two-Minute Ladder
- Design the routines (10 min): in pairs, fill the routine worksheet for sharing 9 devices among 36 pupils: hand out, use, signal, return, charge. Write one rule for each.
- Fault role-play (15 min): in threes, one is the teacher, one the observer with the observer card, one the class. The teacher reads the fault card and says aloud each ladder step; the observer answers only what that step would show and counts 30 seconds for each step. At 4 steps (about two minutes) the teacher must switch to Plan B. Rotate roles for 3 cards.
- Fault log (5 min): write one row of a fault log for your last card: date, device, what happened, which step fixed it or whether Plan B was used.
- Share (5 min): which rung fixed most of the faults? Which fault needed Plan B? Add one routine to your own list.
Your facilitator will guide you through this activity in the session.
Questions to discuss
- At which step did you most often catch yourself wanting to try 'one more thing' instead of switching to Plan B?
- What did the class do while the teacher checked, and what should it have done?
- Which routine from your sheet will you teach pupils first, and how will you practise it?
Reflect
- What is the most common technology fault in your school, and which step of the ladder would solve it?
- Who is responsible for repairs in your school, and how do you report a fault?
- When did technology last take more of a lesson than it gave?
Try it tomorrow
- Write your own troubleshooting ladder on a card and tape it near the projector or TV.
- Choose one device routine, such as numbered devices, and teach it in your next lesson.
- Start a fault log in a notebook and record the next fault in four short lines.
Further reading and links
Share devices in groups with roles, use the ladder (look, restart, swap), and go to Plan B at about two minutes.