Bouncy Balls: A Good Tool for Managing Classroom Noise | Educational Technology and Mobile Learning
Bouncy Balls is a free web tool that helps you manage your classroom noise. Bouncy Balls has an integrated noise meter that automatically detects different noise levels in surrounding environment and sends off alert signals. Bouncy Balls is completely free, requires no registration or software download, and most importantly, is simple and easy to use.
There are various ways to use Bouncy Balls in your classroom. For instance, you can use it in group work activities to keep students noise at an acceptable level. You can also use it in silent reading activities to help enhance students focus by mitigating distractive noise, or you can use it in assignments and quizzes, and so forth. Any type of learning activity that requires controlled noise environment, Bouncy Balls is an ideal classroom management website to consider.
As is the case with any EdTech tool you integrate in your classroom instruction, always make sure you try it first multiple times, familiarize your students with how it works and let them experiment with it for awhile, only then you can fully integrate it in your teaching practice.
The way Bouncy Balls work is simple. First, head over to bouncyballs.org and click on Begin Bouncing button. Next, change the tools settings to your preferences (e.g., adjust the sensitivity level, theme, and number of balls), turn on the microphone, and choose a noise alert type. Voila! You are all set.
Using the Sensitivity meter you can set a noise baseline in your classroom environment and when students go over it (i.e., when they are noisy) Bouncy Balls’ alert goes off. Sensitivity meter goes from 0 to 200 with the latter being the most sensitive to noise. For instance, when I set the Sensitivity meter to 200, even the keystrokes on my keyboards makes Bouncy Balls alert goes off.
Besides adjusting the sensitivity meter you can also set the number of balls displayed in the screen. You can go from 25 to 175. You also get to select the theme that you and your students like. Bouncy Balls offers five themes: Plastic, Emoji, Numbers, Bubbles, and Eyeballs. Click on any theme you like to select it. As for the Noise Alert feature, Bouncy Balls allows you to choose between no sound, beep, or shush.
Watch this short demo to see Bouncy Balls in action.
