Translation to layout design specifications for the classroom:
Practically, the concern for the flexibility described above led to the following specifications for the layout of the room:
1) The students should be able to see their computer screens, the instructor’s computer screen, and the main board without moving. This led to arranging the students in a traditional row arrangement. The instructor’s computer screen can be projected onto the front wall. It can either be projected onto a screen or onto the front whiteboard. (Projecting onto the whiteboard allows the instructor to add annotations.) 2) The students need enough room to be able to take notes and do paper work while at their computers. This meant moving from desks to tables. 3) Based on our experience teaching in computer labs, we wanted the students to share computers, 2 students to 1 machine, but we also wanted them to be able to form groups of 4 students with 2 machines. This led us to putting tables together so 4 students would be at an extended table with a pair of computers together in the middle of the table. Since the students will be regularly moving as groupings change with the activity, we got chairs with wheels. 4) We want several people to see the same screen and we want them to be able to point things out to each other. We also wanted the instructor to be able to see all of the students’ computer screens without moving from some point in the room. This led to a decision to use screens on top of the tables rather than ones sunk into desktops. To improve sight lines we wanted the CPUs under the tables. 5) To make it easy to switch to group work there should be enough board space to have 5 or 6 groups of students at the board at the same time. To do this we have white board on all available walls.
We also came up with a number of practical points derived from our experiences of trying to teach in other rooms with computers.
6) The tables should have enough space that an instructor can move behind the students when they are working and reach over a student’s shoulder to point to a screen. We found that this translated into a spacing of 6 feet from table front to table front. 7) While computer work can be saved electronically, it is useful for the students to be able to make hard copies of their work, both for notes to study, and to be able to add
notations by hand. We included two printers in the room both to avoid congestion and to allow for the case when one would develop problems at an inconvenient time. 8) Unlike a traditional classroom, a computer classroom needs a place to store supplies. For the usage we envisioned that would include both computer supplies and teaching materials, like manipulatives for the mathematics for teachers class. This led us to include locking cabinets in the design of the computer classroom. 9) Another way that computer classrooms differ from traditional classrooms is that one regularly needs to change the lighting as one switches from board work to looking at a projected computer screen. We found that the room should to have adjustable zone lighting controlled from the instructor’s station.