Technology in Action: Getting the Most from Your Electronic Classroom.
panelists: Michael Miller, Director of Information Services, Media Union, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Gale Burrow, Coordinator of Library Services, Honnold/Mudd Library, Claremont College, California.

Reported by Sue Neumeister, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York

Michael Miller began by showing the types of rooms that are considered when designing computer classrooms. "Labs" are used for hands-on computing workshops without teaching. "Demo" design has the audience observing but there is no hands-on. The "classroom" is designed to teach learning by doing where the room is setup to be used both as a demo and lab.

Basic requirements for students in classrooms are that students should be able to easily see and hear the teacher and other students. The computer screen should be non-glare and the room should be free of noise from hallways, streets, and machinery. The room should be physically comfortable with airflow, temperature control, comfy chairs, and adjustable height of keyboards.

Basic requirements for instructors in classrooms are the same as students plus a control of technology. Instructor's stations should be as user friendly as possible. They should be able to control the lights and temperature and should have convenient access to technical support before and during class.

Once you have a physical room, start with the orientation of the room. Determine the front of the room and, whenever possible, place the doors in the rear for less disruption by latecomers. The placement of the screen and whiteboard is important. Can you see the board if the screen is down? Whiteboard should extend beyond the screen and should have a matte surface to double as a screen. Placement of the instructor's station should focus on the instructor, but should not block the projection screen. Miller showed several examples of classroom layouts to demonstrate different design plans.

The placement of furniture should be designed to facilitate communication and collaboration. Consideration should be given to the proximity of instructor to students (closer is better). Recess monitors enhance eye contact. Do not build a platform for the instructor since it creates a barrier between instructor and students.

What kind of furniture should be purchased? Get good chairs with wheels, back support, and the ability to adjust seat height. Tables should either have recessed monitors or the ability to reduce the height of monitors.

One of the critical issues for lecture rooms, although less so in computer classrooms, is the room-to-room noise such as laughter and music and outside noise from the hall and street. Avoid having windows if at all possible. Do a sound test ahead of time for machine, air conditioning, and fan noise.

The instructor's station should have a control system that has the ability to "blank out" screens for students, so the focus is on instructor. It should also have convenient access to all technology screens, boards and lights. Another way to keep the instructor "in control" is the ability, from their station, to see what is on the other screens in the room.

Lighting is an important factor when designing a classroom. Screen glare is the enemy! The room shouldn't have windows. If it does, you should black them out. Doing this also improves the noise too. Use dimmers or creative use of accent lights to reduce light on the screen. Assuming you have no dimmers, lights should be controlled from front to back and not all lights on one switch. The placement of the light controls should be within easy reach of the instructor.

Network issues include developing a convenient and comprehensive plan for distributing wire. Ask "How do I get wire from here to there?" Wiring through ducts is much easier. Wire standards will keep evolving. Get wiring that your campus will support. Avoid conduit and be cautious about wireless technology. Putting a phone in the classroom for emergency technical support and having the number easily accessible and readable is a good idea.

The type of use (Mac/IBM) will determine the equipment issues and type of equipment. Plan for the broad range of application. Get more memory than you ever thought possible, with disk and zip drives. Establish the replacement cycle up front (i.e.: 3 yrs. to upgrade). A computer classroom without technical support is a disaster waiting to happen. (Don't utilize the cataloger who likes to dabble in computers!)

Types of projectors include VGA (640x480), which has the lowest resolution and is the least expensive, SVGA (800x600), which is the most popular, XGA and SXGA. Will you be projecting from the front or rear? Buyer's questions include what type of resolution? Is it portable? How bright is it? (brighter is better). How much does it cost? You get what you pay for. Usually the cost is from $4000 to $5000.

Additional related issues are scheduling (class use vs. event use), shared use (who controls the space), and the need to have qualified technical support.

Some resources to consider:

• Allen, Robert L. Classroom Design Manual. 3rd ed. College Park, Md.: University of Maryland, 1996.
• Complete Buyers Guide to LCD Projectors:
  http://www.projectorcentral.com/
• Classroom Floorplans:
  http://www.cudenver.edu/public/ITI/classroom.html
• Applied Computer Systems, Inc.:
  http://www.acs-linksystems.com/
• Computer Classroom and Laboratory Design Bibliography:
  http://www.unc.edu/cit/guides/irg-03.html
• Resources for Designing Library Electronic Classrooms:
  http://wings.buffalo.edu/publications/mcjrnl/v6n1/class.html

Miller concluded with some last instructions. Instructors need to help students so there should be ample aisle space. Students should have comfortable chairs with no arms. Adaptive equipment application such as a small computer on wheels or a highly adaptable, movable station should be made available. The instructor's station could have a control system thereby eliminating the need for a projection screen and projector. The student terminals should be fully recessed or at least partially recessed.

The second speaker, Gale Burrow, began her "Learning to Teach in the Teaching Room" presentation by listing some of the things to consider when instructing in an electronic classroom. Having control over the students is one concern, as is allowing for system response time. Instructors need to change teaching style and condense what they are saying to allow for hands-on. The ability to print handouts from the Web should be made possible.

Burrows continued by describing the Claremont Colleges. In December 1996, $1,000,000 went to the design of a new electronic classroom. The types of library instruction that was used were classes for freshmen and new graduates, upper level subject focus classes, and classes sponsored by librarians. In the spring of 1998, the W.M. Keck Foundation Learning Room was established with expectations of usage in the fall. Originally a 15'x25' space, it is now a 30'x50' room. The instructor's station had control of the main screen, lighting, windows blackout screen, and the students' computers.

The expectations for the fall of 1998 included teaching with much more technology, teaching hands-on, and teaching with fewer lectures and more student involvement. To help plan for the fall, an Instruction Special Project Team formed to devote time to guides and sample lesson plans for standard classes taught. They also reviewed instructor evaluation forms from students and faculty.

The freshman exercise was a model in the basic steps in the research process: (1). Articulate an appropriate question, (2). Identify sources that may answer the question, (3). Selecting sources to help locate information, (4) Using library databases to locate books, and (5). Selecting and retrieving the books. Steps 1-3 can be assigned before class or in class (10-15 min.). Instruction included some lecture, some hands-on with some questions and explanation. The instructors let the students explore on their own.

To learn to use the freshmen exercises, model teaching with instructor librarians as "students" took place. They were shown how to incorporate "standard" information on library server and resources into the sessions. How exercises could be adapted to focus on the class topic was also shown. The Learning Room's capabilities were reviewed and an exercise template in a shared folder accessible to all librarians was provided.

The things that needed improving were to provide an optional tour exercise for freshman, encourage team teaching to see how others use the exercises, plan more brown bag lunches to discuss what works, and invite outside experts to critique.

1. Get it in Writing: Policies and Procedures for Library Electronic Classrooms
Cynthia Akers (akerscyn@emporia.edu), Assistant Professor of Library Services and Reference, William Allen White Library, Emporia State University presented an overview of policies and procedures to explore the greatest potential in the use and accessibility of electronic classroom facilities. She highlighted the advantages of LECs, the common features of LEC policies, the LEC at Emporia State University and their usage policy, publicity and questions to consider when formulating policies. A bibliography with URLs was included in the handout.

2. Learning to Teach in the Learning Room
Gale Burrow (gburrow@rocky.claremont.edu), Coordinator of Library Instruction, Honnold/Mudd Library, The Libraries of the Claremont Colleges told of her experiences and the challenges faced at the W.M. Keck Foundation Learning Room where librarians transitioned to a hands-on teaching environment. Focus of the poster session was on the freshman exercise developed during the summer of 1998--the process of thinking hands-on, the creation of a hands-on exercise to enhance learning, and helping teacher librarians become comfortable with the new setting and the new lesson plan. Handouts included the exercise on using research skills, the Keck Learning Room guidelines and policy for use, and the furniture and equipment needed for the room.

3. Shopping for Hardware/Software: Where to Go for Product Info
Barbara L. Cressman (cfblc@eiu.edu), Assistant Head, Circulation, Booth Library, Eastern Illinois University presented solutions for current product information about electronic classroom hardware and software. A selected list of software and hardware sources was provided.

4. A Room of Our Own: Developing an Instructional Space That Really Works
Mark Christel (Christelm@hope.edu), Humanities Librarian, Van Wylen Library, Hope College focused his poster session on considerations that went into renovating an area for a new lab and how moving from a lecture-format classroom to the new computer lab had impacted instruction. Pre-construction goals and post-construction thoughts were provided.

5. Going Beyond Generic Browsers: The Next Step
Robert W. Fernekes (bobf@aiken.sc.edu), Reference/User Education Librarian, Gregg-Graniteville Library, University of South Carolina, Aiken and Neil J. Adcox (adcox@rdesk.com), Freshman, Clemson University developed the browser into a more efficient tool for presenting, accessing and processing information, as well as for collaborating and communicating globally. RDesk, is a project to better serve the library/research (R) users and in the process provide the means for them to acquire discipline and digital empowering skills and knowledge (DESK). Handouts included RDesk diskettes, modules, and the project overview that explains the methodology, thesis, and purpose of RDesk.

6. The Audience is Listening: Using COMWEB to Enhance Teaching and Learning in the Electronic Classroom
Stephanie Michel (smichel@runet.edu), Reference/Instruction Librarian, McConnell Library, Radford University introduced the COMWEB system and its dynamic applications to library instruction. The McConnell Library's electronic classroom is highlighted. The complete presentation can be found at http://www.runet.edu/~smichel/comweb.html

7. Redesigning Freshman Seminar Library Instruction
Trisha Stevenson (stevenson@library.ed.nyu.edu), Public Services Librarian, Ehrman Medical Library, NYU School of Medicine; Melinda Raine (mraine@pepperdine.edu), Coordinator of Information Resources, Pepperdine University; and Elizabeth Parang (eparang@pepperdine.edu), Coordinator of Periodicals, Pepperdine University presented the redesign of the library program at Pepperdine University in order to effectively meet information competency goals. Requiring students to complete a virtual tour, a library catalog tutorial, and follow-up review questions before their in-class session allowed librarians to efficiently utilize the limited amount of time allocated. The Freshman Seminar Library Orientation can be found at http://rigel.pepperdine.edu/instruction/or/index.html

8. Take This Exit: Teaching With the World Wide Web
Ru Story-Hoffman (rshuff@cc.cumber.edu), Public Services Librarian, Hagan Memorial Library, Cumberland College addressed a four-year migration from overhead transparencies and paper assignments to total Web-based instruction. Included were assessments and visions for the future at Cumberland College. Handouts included "Instruction Resources on the Web." The library instruction homepage at Hagan Memorial Library is found at http://cumber.edu/library/LI/

9. Techniques to Expand the Impact of Our Electronic Workshops
Haiwang Yuan (haiwang.yuan@wku.edu), Gay Perkins, Elaine Moore and Elisabeth Knight, University Libraries and Museums, Western Kentucky University presented how University Libraries' Public Services Department partnered with BellSouth to offer free Internet workshops to the University and the Bowling Green community, in addition to on-campus instruction. The technology and techniques they used to enhance the workshops were highlighted.

The author and editors do not maintain links to World Wide Web resources.

ISSN 1069-6792
Revised: 10/5/99
URL: http://wings.buffalo.edu/publications/mcjrnl/v6n2/alatech.html