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I can be really scary to think about monitoring students. I think its important to start with digital citizenship lessons and also make sure that the district internet has appropriate blockers on it. -Abby Saviers

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I agree that it is very important to monitor the students' use of technology.  It is very important for teahcers to be actively involved as students use technology.
-Alisha Moad

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There are many different apps and software programs that can help to keep students on track and to make sure they are not using their internet access inappropriately.

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[UPDATE 7/27/2017]: This article has been updated to include new free software options and to remove software that is no longer available or no longer free.
When I was in middle and high school, teachers were still experimenting with digital classrooms. In computer labs, instructors would have complete access to our display screens at any time. They could freeze our screens, take control of our desktops, and they had full viewing capabilities.

However, these capabilities were limited to the stationary computer labs . L aptop mobile labs were controlled only by a teacher's ability to individually monitor screens while unsubtly hovering over our shoulders. Any work done from home was free from the jurisdiction of teachers, and online lessons were unheard of.

Since then, technology has changed and entire lessons are able to be conducted and managed from home if necessary.

Classroom management software and classroom collaboration tools are a part of that change, both of which I will cover in this piece. These tools will improve your ability to manage digital classroom interactions, as well as bring students together for projects and other assignments.

Digital classroom management and other tools don't have to soak up your budget. You can m anage your classroom, instruct individual students, and conduct digital lessons for free with the top free collaboration tools and digital classroom management software .

Free Classroom Management Software

Veyon is an open-source digital classroom management software - built off of iTALC - that gives you complete control of your student ' s computers, allowing you to display lessons, aid in corrections, view workstation progress, and lock out particular users.

The first impression I had about Veyon was how clean the user interface was for a free and open-source software. Veyon is visually pleasing and straightforward with 3D icons, simple prompts, and easy navigation. Adding to its user-friendly nature, Veyon is also easy to install and run on any major operating system (Windows, Linux, OSX).

Key features for Veyon include an overview mode for classroom supervision, the ability to power on and off workstations, send messages to workstations, broadcast screens, and perform homeschool broadcasting.

That being said, it has a clean user interface which allows users to monitor up to 3,000 screens. Where LanSchool Lite falls short of other software, such as Veyon , is the limited interaction with the monitored screens. With LanSchool Lite you can view screens in real-time, view their active applications and last visited website, and you are able to arrange the screens in any order you desire.

Unfortunately, functionality and features end there. In order to unlock interactive features, you must purchase the full LanSchool software.

The user interface for MyVision is clean and simple, with easy to use functionality buttons on its top bar as well as an auto-arrangement feature for screens.

MyVision Free is available for both Mac computers and PCs.

Free Classroom Collaboration Tools

These are tools that are useful when running a digital classroom, whether you are broadcasting your screen onto all displays or each student is contributing their own actions in a collaborative app. All apps are free!

Bubbl is a collaborative mind-mapping tool for generating new ideas and concepts in the classroom. This tool is also useful for classroom presentations, especially for class discussions and activities. The free version allows up to three mind maps at a time, all of which are savable and shareable.

Bubbl is an online tool; no installation required.

Wiggio is a collaborative workshop tool that offers group messaging, calendars, group polls, file sharing, and virtual meetings.

This tool is perfect for those who choose LanSchool Lite as their free classroom management software in order to make up for the lack of interactive and collaborative features. This way you can still monitor your students and keep in contact with them even while they are working remotely.

Think of Edmodo as social media for teachers, students, and parents. Teachers can assign work, students are able to complete the work, and performance assessments and lesson plans are available to all parties.

P arents can know what their children are working on, and how well they are performing now that all three main aspects of education are on a collaborative platform.

This tool is growing in popularity with over 48 million users worldwide.

For further exploration into Edmodo, be sure to read this comparison: Moodle vs. Edmodo vs. Blackboard: The Ultimate LMS Comparison

Other classroom tools and guides

It is amazing just how far digital learning has come in the past decade. As education moves increasingly from in-person learning to the digital world w e should all prepare for this.

The Capterra school administration blog is full of guides and resources in order to help you with this transition to digital, such as these pieces:

Have you used any of these free digital classroom tools? Are there any others you would recommend for our list? Let us know in the comments below!

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The Top Free Digital Classroom Management Software and Classroom Collaboration Tools

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UPDATE 7/27/2017]: This article has been updated to include new free software options and to remove software that is no longer available or no longer free. When I was in middle and high school, teachers were still experimenting with digital classrooms. In computer labs, instructors would have complete access to our display screens at any time.

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By holding students accountable for their actions, it should minimize some of the problems we may face.

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I would  just check my students histories at the end of the day, and try my best to keep sites blocked that I didn't want them to go on.

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If i was a teacher and each student has a laptop to do their work, i would check the history on the laptops at the end of each day! - Kendal park

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Do you ever wonder where our students will be in 10, 15, maybe even 30 years with technology? How do we as teachers make sure that we monitor everything that they look at using all this great technology? i know that at my high school we were not suppose to be able to get on youtube, but eventually we all cracked the code and figured out how... :/ It now makes me nervous being on the other side as a teacher.