Nigel Crawford - Bookmarks

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The Unwired Classroom

Tags: from now on, jamie mckenzie, laptops on 2008-11-05 -All Annotations (5) -About

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From Now On has argued since 1991 that good equipment will not suffice. Wireless laptops can help to eliminate many of the barriers, obstacles and inconveniences that have contributed to teacher reluctance in the past, but the focus of use must be on curriculum and learning
When one teacher is finished with a technology rich lesson and has little need for the laptops, they are simply loaded into a cart and rolled down the hall to someone who is ready and eager to begin a unit. No need to sit around idle while non computer tasks are taking place.

Ease of movement is likely to encourage more frequent daily use of each computer.
Sadly, until now, the preferred model in most classrooms has been a thin and even distribution of 3, 4 or 5 computers per classroom, often bolted down at the back of the room in a fixed location on computer tables. This model provides far less student access than a wireless laptop cart with 15 units and proves frustrating to teachers who need critical mass to launch significant projects such as writing as process or WebQuests.
In many schools, computers were distributed to all classrooms regardless of the readiness or inclination of the receiving teachers to blend the new tools into daily lessons. Despite research by Becker and others indicating that use is heavily influenced by teachers' preferences, styles and readiness levels, all teachers and all classrooms in some buildings were treated equally. Ironically, the most equitable distribution of equipment to fixed locations may lead to a lack of real access and use. Becker (1999) found that constructivist teachers allowed almost three times as much use of computers as traditional teachers when they each had five computers in their rooms.

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The Over-Equipped Classroom

Tags: no_tag on 2008-11-05 -All Annotations (3) -About

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Getting Attention in the Laptop Classroom

Tags: no_tag on 2008-11-02 and saved by6 people -All Annotations (12) -About

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The teacher has chosen a technique that brings the class together with eyes forward. Perhaps they could have all seen the same ad on their separate laptops, but classroom interaction would have been quite different. The teacher has their attention - an aspect of classroom learning that is inadequately considered in the literature on new technologies in schools.
The teacher downloaded the file from the Web at home, knowing that the school's network would perform poorly when trying to show such streaming video. At the same time, the decision to show the video up front was determined by a desire for attention at the outset of the lesson.
What are the most important aspects of classroom culture when it comes to laptop classrooms?
The most effective laptop classrooms will view laptops as just one element within a complex array of tools that extends to mundane items such as blackout curtains and chairs. Good planning orchestrates all of these elements so as to optimize learning, but grandiose visions sometimes subvert such planning. One can visit laptop classrooms where every student has a computer but the room is so awash with sunlight that the projector cannot be used. There are also many classrooms where the chairs and tables are better suited to a didactic classroom of the 1950s. Putting all one's eggs into a laptop basket leaves no money for swivel chairs or trapezoidal tables. While rarely noted, a classroom with shared laptops is also a laptop classroom.