Multi-computer Classroom/Computer Lab

Multi-computer classrooms offer more opportunities for hands-on learning than the one-computer classrrom. While this is desirable, it presents several challenges to the teacher. For efficient and effective student learning teachers must plan well: set up a schedule, put students into groups, create lesson plans for facilitating, and design assessments for the ongoing and completed task. 

http://vathena.arc.nasa.gov/project/teacher/manage/managem2.html
The four computer classroom has more than one computer connected to the Internet. This model offers great opportunities for student collaboration. While this is very exciting, it presents some new challenges to the teacher.

http://www97.intel.com/en/ProjectDesign/UnitPlanIndex/GradeIndex/#1
Intel Education's listing of effectively designed projects with unit plans indexed by grade (age) and subject.

http://www.stmary.k12.la.us/intech/INTECH/introduction/georgia/multicomputer.htm
Having multiple computers in your classroom gives you more opportunities to truly integrate technology into your teaching. To be successful, teachers need to schedule use of computers, assign student time on a computer, plan work for cooperative learning groups, consider student management, assign student roles, decide on behavioral expectations, and devise checklists and rubrics.

http://www-personal.umd.umich.edu/~karenmj/classroom_files/frame.htm
This PowerPoint compares one computer classroom to a multi-computer classroom: sharing uses and guidelines for each learning environment, making comparisons, and summarizing thoughts.

http://www.cobbk12.org/~instructionaltech/wireless/PowerPoint%20presentations/AthensLookMomNoWires.ppt
Cobb County School District spent $75 million on technology hardware to upgrade the curriculum and instruction. For the past ten years, this school district has grown by an average of 2,700 students per year. Their theme...WireLESS is MORE.

http://news.com.com/2009-1023-5103805.html
Laptops at Evergreen High School in California are discussed in a video (video - lower right on page) presentation. View this groundbreaking initiative and formulate an opinion. Are laptops a vital component in the classroom? Do they raise test scores? 

http://www.apple.com/education/mobilelabs/
Apple Mobile Learning Labs provide the best solution for schools that need an affordable way to increase student access to the latest technology. Ready to roll into any classroom, these complete labs conveniently bring innovative digital tools right to where learning is taking place. These labs provide a cost-effective way to share technology among classrooms, and schools can regain valuable space by converting dedicated computer labs back into classrooms.

http://search.dell.com/results.aspx?s=gen&c=us&l=en&cs=&k=wireless+cart&cat=prod
Are you "wired" for the 21st Century? Let Dell assist you with products, technical support, articles, & solutions.

http://www.techlearning.com/showArticle.php?articleID=181502133
You want wireless mobility? Have a COW. Computers on wheels that is. COWs combine the wireless technology of today with the audio/visual carts of yesteryear for an entirely new spin on mobility. Increasingly used by districts with laptop computing initiatives, COWs are among the hottest high-tech sellers in schools today.

http://www.thejournal.com/articles/16471
The first wireless technology program for preschoolers was implemented in January (2003) at the Primrose School at Bentwater in Atlanta, Ga. The new school serves as a testing and training facility for groundbreaking educational approaches, including emerging innovations in curriculum and technology.

http://www.thejournal.com/articles/16485
Two years ago, mandeville high school (http://mandevillehigh.stpsb.org/index.shtml) in Louisiana purchased a mobile wireless computer lab with grant funds from the state. This lab not only helped improve the writing and research skills of the school's ninth-grade students, but also improved its overall performance score to become one of the highest performing schools in the state.

http://www.techlearning.com/story/showArticle.php?articleID=49901145
Despite a growing number of mobile computing initiatives across the country, including dramatic statewide adoptions in Maine and Michigan, laptop programs continue to breed controversy.

http://www.thejournal.com/articles/16486
As the fifth largest school district in california, Santa Ana Unified School District faces the challenge of providing technology access to its more than 63,000 students and over 6,000 certificated and classified staff members. The district found the solution in wireless computing, which is now being used as a highly successful strategy for implementing technology integration into its classrooms, as well as providing professional development and training opportunities to its staff members.

http://thejournal.com/articles/18647
THERE WAS A TIME when being a teacher at Lenawee Intermediate School District (MI) meant getting in line—a long line—if you wished to get hold of audiovisual equipment for your class. Last year, the arrival of media carts changed the whole routine. “This isn’t exactly emerging technology or cutting edge, but it brings a lot of different pieces of equipment together and provides easy access to it.” 

http://www.teachers.tv/video/160
An investigation into whether ICT suites in primary schools are becoming redundant in favour of wirefree laptops that are integrated into the classroom. The headteacher and staff at Fowey Primary School in Cornwall discuss the pros and cons of their 15-strong fixed-location PC suite as opposed to a fleet of 16 leased laptops.

http://www.classroomconnections.k12.sd.us/information/press/20060323-ArgusFrontPageArticle-print%20format.pdf
Do laptops boost learning? There's a whole new set of skills that children who are going to go to college in the 21st century need that we didn't have

http://www.2010education.com/docs/ClassroomConnectionsPresentation.pdf
An online presentation on laptops, which was given to South Dakota educators during a Feb. 22, 2006 conference in Pierre, SD.

http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2005-10/2005-10-20-voa65.cfm?CFID=111325044&CFTOKEN=34867749
A new high school opened in Vail, Arizona, this past July with all the resources you would expect to find in classrooms these days -- except textbooks. Instead, every student received an Apple laptop computer… making Empire High School a pioneer in the growing use of technology in American education.

http://www.techlearning.com/techwebinar/
View the presentation: The Tipping Point in K-12 Education:
One-to-One Computing, Electronic Textbooks, and New Tools for Learning
Realizing the promise of educational technology takes having a vision, implementing appropriate resources, and using the right tools. This Webinar presents the vision of one-to-one computing, a district’s implementation, and a review of tools to make it work.

http://1to1stories.org/?page_id=2
The 1-to-1 Stories Project is an attempt to gather the stories and collective wisdom of these initiatives so that we might learn from each other and inform the work of those considering, or at the early stages of adopting, 1-to-1.

http://nausetschools.org/podcasts/nausettechnews12.mp3
Kim Conner and Majen Hammond, Instructional Technology Specialists at Nauset Regional Middle School, discuss the impact on teaching and learning that they have seen thus far this year with the new Tablet PCs in the computer labs.

http://kathyschrock.net/power/
This Web page provides educators with resources for effective use of the handheld computer in support of teaching and learning. The site includes supporting Web sites, links to hardware
and software sites, books, and training handouts.

http://www.aasa.org/publications/saarticledetail.cfm?ItemNumber=1755
Why the personal computer of choice in K-12 ought to fit in a student’s palm.

http://www.ed.gov/pubs/EdReformStudies/EdTech/computer_allocation.html
Across the case study sites, there were five different strategies for allocating computers for student use. Read the article to see what they are.

http://spectrum.troy.edu/~techtip/readings/labvsclassroom.htm
Perhaps its time to admit that the classroom computer model AND the lab model are instructionally sound ways to deploy equipment. Having both models in a school is clearly to be desired. The real question is not should you have both, but can you afford both?

http://members.shaw.ca/priscillatheroux/lab_or_classroom.htm
Should we put the computers in the classroom or the computer lab?