Pro Password Management

This week, I am sharing some tips to help teachers start the year well with classroom technology. In this Blog, I share some advice about student passwords.
 
Single sign on (SSO) allows students to log into multiple platforms with the one set of credentials. This is usually a Microsoft or Google account and although it is becoming increasingly used, many schools will find they are not quite there yet. This usually means that students have a collection of passwords for the many different platforms they log into. Especially in the years of primary schooling, students will have a tough time remembering all their different passwords. 

Password Cards

Although many services allow you to print out neat little login cards for your students, these are often misplaced during the year. One idea is to laminate and collect all a student’s login cards on a keyring or loose leaf binder ring. These can be attached to a student laptop bag or lanyard in the classroom. You can download the pictured password cards from the Upper Elementary Shots website. 

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Letting the browser do the work

​Google Chrome, Safari and Edge browsers both have the capability to remember passwords. Teaching your students how to create and edit the passwords their computers remember is a good skill to develop. While you are at it, teaching students to create internet favourites or bookmarks to the websites you will be using frequently during the school year is also a great time-saving idea. You could even create a splash page of links to your most frequently used websites yourself and have your students browers set to open that page whenever they open a new internet browser window. 

​Taking the time to teach students about managing their passwords, will save you headaches during the school year. You are also teaching students to be responsible for a lifetime of password management. 

​Do you have some other suggestions? Please leave a comment below!