Hands Off the Mouse!

One of the articles I read last week for my Concepts of Education Technology class mentioned letting students play more of an active role in technology integration in the classroom. I completely agree with the idea. Some of my students can do things with technology that I never dreamed of doing, and they teach me!
After considering all the things my students know how to do before they even walk in my classroom, I've decided to become a partner in learning rather than a lecturer. I want my students to depend on themselves and feel confident in their ability to learn things without me spoon-feeding it to them. Therefore, I am adopting and adapting the "Hands off the Mouse" approach to teaching.
"Hands off the Mouse" means not taking the mouse out of a student's hand to show them how to use a piece of software. Instead, I talk them through a process so that they are doing the clicking. This is harder than I thought. I never realized what a habit my mouse take-overs had become until I had to force myself not to do it, but I have been avoiding mouse take-overs for a week now and it's paying off.
I noticed after just two days of hands off my students are picking up processes much quicker. They are not asking for the same directions over and over, and they are also more confidently attempting to do things on their own even though they might not "get it".
Most notably, however, is the help they are offering to each other. I watched a freshman boy checking on and helping the upperclassmen on either side of him. When I told him how awesome I thought it was that he was helping his neighbors he started helping students all over the classroom! Incredible! This set off a chain reaction and the quality of the work in that particular class is far and away superior to, and more creative than, my other classes. I also noticed that when they help each other they talk each other through the process-no mouse take-overs. Interesting.
After the success of "Hands off the Mouse", I am going to try more student-centered strategies.