First reply to the
discussion question on
Hi Jona,
Has this ever happened to someone you know? My husband, an electrical engineer,
who designs electrical power supplies and works with hi-tech engineering
equipment, informed me that there is a reason for having a lab with many
computers over having many computers in a classroom. Every computer needs a
separate phone line to be on the Internet and a lab can handle having a high
speed multiple line capability (wideband) but it would be costly to put that
kind of wideband connection in every classroom for multiple computers. If the
schools ever have enough money to put multiple computers in every classroom
then that would be the best solution.
Your question about whether to have one computer in every classroom or many
computers in a laboratory really is a question about how the teachers plan to
use the computers. Do they want the computer as an individual resource to
"show and tell" the technology but not have too many chances for
hands on experience by the students or do they want to teach a subject to a
group of students at one time that requires the use of a computer for each
student during the class? If it is the former, then they would vote for having
one computer in each room. If it is the latter, then they would vote for a
laboratory of computers.
Personally, I would vote for the laboratory since you are then able to teach a
group of students or give an individual student a pass to the laboratory to
work alone. The only draw back to this is that the teacher must schedule ahead
of time when they want to show the students something on the Internet or work
on the computers because the computer lab will probably have a schedule to sign
up for its use.
The best solution eventually would be to let each student have a notebook
computer in their classroom but then this requires multiple phone line
connections per classroom. A school district in
The elementary school where I volunteer has a computer in each classroom and a
large computer lab as well so I guess they wouldn't have to worry about that
choice anymore. Hopefully, as money becomes available for technology in each
school district, every teacher will accumulate equipment and have enough
computers in each classroom to do small group studies and rotate a group at a
time through the set of classroom computers.
I am looking forward to hearing what everyone else in our green group 2 has to
say about their experiences with classroom technology.
Second reply to the
discussion question on
Hi Jona,
I had another thought about your question of whether to have one computer in
each classroom or have a laboratory of computers. As technology advances, and
the wireless computer interface becomes a reality, that decision may not need
to be made.
If each teacher "owns", or is responsible for, a school computer that
uses a wireless connection, it may be possible for the teachers to agree to
bring their individual computers together in the lab for a specific class
period to teach many students at one time and then take them "home"
to their own classroom afterwards.
I think our mind set is that the plug-in lines on the computer are always going
to restrict the easy movement of the computer around the building. That
restriction may soon be gone. Then the only restriction will be how many phone
lines you have to connect to the Internet at that school.
The idea of each teacher having a dedicated classroom wireless computer and then
loaning it out to another teacher to hold a larger class session may be a
solution to your dilemma. Have you thought of the possibilities of having a
group of kids go investigate some plants or insects outdoors and look up
matching plant or insect diagrams off the Internet on their laptop computers
while they are sitting beside the plant or insects? What a great way to teach
botany or entomology.
The real power of using the computer in education is that information about a
specific topic is so easily attainable. The search engines provide the means to
tailor a search and provide the many choices of where to look for the subject
matter. When that tool, the computer, can go where you need to go, it is like
getting a super-sized brain enhancement.
I am looking forward to hearing how the educators in our group have used their
classroom or laboratory computers to enhance their teaching methods. Also, I am
curious as to how everyone will answer your question about either preferring
one personalized classroom computer per teacher or a group of generic
laboratory computers for the whole school to use.
Cindy (Cynthia) Vaskis
Third reply to the
discussion question on
Hi Jona,
Another concept to solve the question you present is to ask the principal if
the computers they get can be laptops instead of desktops. Then maybe the
school can have a traveling cart of the computers to take from classroom to
classroom. If the teacher wants to schedule the cart to be there for a certain
subject he/she can do so ahead of time and go get the cart from the library or
computer lab room. If the teacher wants to use the Internet then maybe he/she
can schedule to use the laptops in the computer lab that day where all the
phone line connections are setup. Later, the school might be able to run a
wideband cable (or whatever it is called) into each classroom and then the
teacher could use all of the laptops in the classroom on the Internet. I think
flexibility in how and where the computers might be used is the issue here as
well. Not all teachers are going to agree to have the computers in the lab
versus one in each classroom. This possible solution could meet both needs.
I hope to hear from some of the green group people soon. What does everyone
else think would be a good solution?
Cindy (Cynthia) Vaskis
First reply to Heather about
discussion question on
Hi Heather,
That was a great response to my comment on the discussion question. Since my
past experience has been teaching peers in a computer/engineering field and not
so much experience with kids, I enjoy hearing how teachers are using the
computer for kids. I did teach a computer class for several home schooling
groups back in 1994 but the Internet was not there yet. I'd like to hear how
you incorporate the web sites into your lesson plans.
These dropin assignments we are to do for this class
seem to be just that, a lesson for kids. I am wondering how to use the web
sites in the lesson itself. I've thought of making a crossword puzzle and each
question would have a web site that contained the answer so if the student goes
there and reads the material he/she should be able to answer the question. That
way they get used to using the web as a resource and learn more than just the
question asks since they have to read a paragraph or two to find the answer. I
plan to use this for a lesson on the history of mathematics for secondary level
math.
Thanks for the input and hope to talk to you later in the week.
First reply to Tony about
discussion question on
Hi Tony,
Thanks for your comment. Since I have not been in the position to teach yet in
a public school I really don't know what teachers are using today.
By the way, even though the question was about where you want the computers I
think people in our discussion group would be interested in how people are
using the computers in their classrooms. I am making my web project about
secondary level math and how it relates to real world projects based a lot on
my experiences as a computer analyst/programmer when I worked for large
computer and engineering companies.
I would be interested in knowing how you use the computer in class and for what
subjects. Thanks again for sharing that information about COWS. My husband, an
electrical engineer, enjoyed the acronym as well.
Second reply to Heather
about discussion question on
Hi again Heather,
I have not heard of an LCD big picture screen in the classrooms before now. The
elementary school where my younger son still attends does not have anything so
fancy yet. The teachers are still using overhead projectors and marking pens. I
am wondering if a regular TV can be hooked up to a computer screen's output. A
long time ago at work (1989) the technical gurus at work hooked a computer
screen's output up to a large TV like/movie screen display and whatever we did
on the computer also showed up on the big screen. We were demonstrating some
expert system tool to a conference of managers and programmers.
If you know the name of the company that makes that screen device I would like
to know. Well, thanks again for the input. Talk to you again,
First reply to Billy about discussion
question on
Hi Billy,
I thought you laid out the pros and cons of the computer lab versus computer in
classroom decision very logically and concisely. Have you ever been asked such
a question at your school or are these types of decisions left to those who
manage the money? I would hope that the principal would give the teachers a
choice in the decision but what if the teachers disagree? My impression is that
the principal might mention that the school is going to get computers but that
where they go may not be up to the teachers. What are your thoughts about how
realistic this decision choice is?
Could you share how the computer might be used in the physical education
classes since I think many of us are not in that field? Would you look up
information on what college sports have to offer if students are interesting in
pursuing physical education or sports as a career?
I know that my university (
Thanks for your direct and to the point response. Hope to hear more about how
the computer and Internet could be used in the physical education realm.
Thanks,
Third reply to Heather about
discussion question on
Hi Heather,
Thanks for your response. The LCDs I have seen in
computer monitors but I did not realize that was what we were watching in the
library during class. I am a programmer and my husband is an electrical
engineer. I deal with software issues and I let him deal with any technical
hardware issues. I guess I'd better go to COMP
The question for this discussion does not consider the pre-condition of the
classroom already. Most teachers already have a computer in their classroom so
that maybe the question is really asking if you would like to get "one
more" computer in your classroom or put everybody's "one more"
computer into a lab. Which would you prefer based on knowing you would get to
keep what you already had in the classroom? Then you would not need to worry
about whether you could do your organization things as you have always done
them.
I asked Tony and I would like to ask you also to share how you plan to use or
are using the computer in the classroom for teaching. Since I am just starting
out in the teaching field and have had a career as a computer programmer, I am
curious about what people want to have as far as computer tools/programs on the
computer or how they would like to use them in the teaching aspect. I am making
my web project a resource page for secondary level math to show students how
math relates to some real world applications based on my experiences as a
programmer at engineering companies.
I would like to know what other people think is important for students to use
on the computer and if they think it helps the students to learn more
efficiently.
Thanks again for your comment and hope to hear what your ideas are in how to
use the computer for teaching purposes.
Second reply to Tony about
discussion question on Friday March 12, 2004 1:18 pm
Hi Tony,
I enjoyed your response to the question about how teachers may need to
accommodate special education students using computers. I have two sons. The
older son, Jeddy, is a special education student. He
is now 12 years old and doing fine but at five years old he was hardly talking
at all. You could ask him if he wanted some kind of food and he would respond
with a one word reply. It was rare that he used more than two words in a
sentence or reply.
We had him tested at a well known children's hospital in
He was great at putting together puzzles. You could just show him a 25 piece
puzzle at 2 and a quarter years old and he'd have it figured out in 30 minutes.
His input channel to his brain was not receiving verbal input but he could
receive visual and kinetic (showing him a process) or motion input. I could
show him how to put Thomas the Train tracks together by doing a few and then he
would build these fantastic layouts at age three years old.
We moved from
When we moved to
When he entered first grade Jeddy had figured out how
to read some because I had helped him when we were still in
During Jeddy's first grade year, I had both of my
sons using our new iMac computer everyday after school playing the Magic School
Bus programs on science subjects (Outer Space, Dinosaurs, Inside the Earth,
Oceans, Volcanoes, etc.). These programs matched Jeddy's
input cable into his brain. The programs do not require much reading to operate
them and the characters read the choices to the user so that the user
eventually can read for themselves some of the menu choices. I think the
computer is the reason he improved so much in his reading during first grade.
I have heard that special education children usually do well using computers as
tools for learning because they can go at their own pace and figure things out
with having to communicate with people. This has its drawbacks though since
they still need to develop social skills while playing with other children. Jeddy is still struggling with some of that by behaving as
a younger child socially but he's improving.
Well, that was a long story but the point I wanted to make is that there is a
good reason to have computers around for special education children. Sometimes
this is the only rapid means for bringing them out of themselves and into the
world of knowledge, especially if they are struggling in the communications
area. The computer to a young child is not threatening because they don't worry
about messing it up as we adults sometimes do. I think some adults worry that
they'll make a mistake and then have to fix it.
Kids don't have the concept that they'd have to fix it and they may not even be
aware that they could mess it up. They just see it as a big toy to test it to
its limit of durability but in doing so they learn alot
about how to use it. They just keep trying stuff until they find what works. My
two boys, now 11 and 12, love to get new computer games and figure out all of
the nuances and secret keys to every aspect of the game. If it blows up they
just turn the computer off and start up again.
I don't know if you are involved in special education or not but in the
speech/language/communications area they are finding that a lot of parents of
children with these problems come from technical backgrounds (engineers,
computer programmers, and mathematicians). In
My perspective on using computers comes from having a career in programming,
having helped tutor grade school level children in several home schooling
groups and then having two sons that have seemed to do very well at learning to
use our computer for their gaming needs. I have yet to understand how teachers
plan to use the computer to meet the educational needs of their students. If
you have any thoughts on this I would appreciate hearing them.
Thanks for your several responses so far,
Hi Billy,
Thanks for the reply. Do you get a computer in your classroom, the
gymnasium, or in an office for you? How
do you get on the net at school for your own administrative tasks? It seems that every teacher at my son's grade
school now has at least one computer in their classroom that is on the
Internet.
I believe your class
objective is to get the kids up from the computer chairs and moving. I am wondering if the Internet has game rule
books available for viewing during a class on a laptop computer when you are
teaching a sport so that someone could look up a rule during practice if they
don't understand something.
Another issue that some
people mentioned is whether or not teachers will be as necessary if the student
can find out so much informaion on the Internet. I think that people can never be fully
replaced by computer programs because people can motivate other people to learn
but the computer can only recite what it has been programmed to do.
Thanks for your comments,
Hello everyone and Jona,
I don't know if we are so good at writing our responses that we have completely
exhausted the discussion topic or not but the discussion seems to have slowed
up. Here are a few ideas that some of us might want to know about or discuss.
Please add your ideas about what you'd like to know from the group.
If you were to get another computer how would you use it?
How is everyone currently using their computers in their classroom or lab today
at their schools? Billy responded with some good ideas about using the computer
for physical education classes.
Since I am in the teaching program at McDaniel to become a high school math
(and computer) teacher I would like to use the computer to show the students
areas in the real world where math can be used so that it would be more
interesting to study math in middle and high school.
Some of these application areas are:
1) space exploration where math is used to calculate orbital position vectors,
velocities and attitude control for the space shuttle and the International
Space Station (ISS)),
2) astronomy where math is used to calculate rotational movements of the
orbiting telescope (Hubble) or pointing positions for ground based telescopes
(observatories) to view different stars selected from star maps,
3) digital electrical circuit design using algebra to calculate the minimum
number of terms (electrical components) required and how to use a
Math/Electrical Engineering tool called SPICE to draw the circuit design, and
4) computer image generator systems (CIGs) that
create computerized terrain (land) data to move tanks and other computer models
across the computerized land in military computer simulations or games.
My background at work as a computer programmer was in most of these areas and,
hopefully, my dropin sites will reflect them.
So my question to all of you is what do you want to do with the computer if you
got one or a laboratory full of them?
Maybe you are already doing plenty with the ones you have and would not need
another one or maybe you would not even have the time to think about using
another one.
Would your answer be to the principal on Friday that you wouldn't care if you
got one or not because you wouldn't know what you would do with it?
Or would your answer be that you couldn't wait to get one and could you borrow
other teachers' extra computers if they would let you have them for a class
session?
How do you feel about getting a new computer? Do you care or not? Some people
may say they wouldn't have the time to figure out how to use it. Others may be
waiting with "baited breathe" to take anything the school can give
them. Where do you stand?
Well, I hope this stirs up a few thoughts among us because I'm very interested
in finding out how each of you are currently using the computers or plan to use
them because I think shared ideas make us better teachers.
P.S. You'll all get your chance to stir up questions too.
Hi Jona,
In answer to the principal, what if some teachers decided that they didn't need
any computers but that they could all use a pay raise? I heard that in
Maybe the funds for extra computers cannot be rerouted into pay checks. As a
computer programmer, when I left working full time in 1992, I was making more
than I think I could hope to make after several years of teaching even 15 years
later (when I plan to graduate in 2007). The shortage of funds always seems to
be a problem for teachers.
Well, this was just an after thought.
Group Summary for Discussion
Session 4 on Sunday 3/21/04
The overall group view of
where an additional computer per teacher should be placed, either in the
teacher’s classroom or altogether in a laboratory, was split fairly evenly
between those who wanted it in the lab and those who wanted it in the
classroom. It came down to how the
teachers planned on using the computers.
Those teachers who liked to do their administrative tasks and lesson
planning on the computer wanted it in the classroom. Those whose views were that we need to expose
all the students together to the new technologies wanted the laboratory. Both views have very valid reasons for their
choice. It was mentioned that maybe both
views could be satisfied if the computers were mobile (computers on wheels or
COWS) and could be used in either place.
Wireless technology or laptops allow the computers to not be tied to a
particular location. This concept of
mobile computers also allows teachers to use them in the field, outside the
classroom for research in the outdoors.
The pros of a laboratory were that a group of students could be taught
together simplifying the process of introducing new technology but the cons
were that scheduling time in the lab may be difficult and some teachers don’t
have the time to go to the lab to do their administrative tasks. The pros of having a computer in each
classroom were that the teacher could personalize their computer usage and have
the ability to demonstrate the technology during their lessons in the classroom
but the cons were that not all the students would get as much personal time on
the computer as they would in a lab situation.
The summary of each individual that contributed to the discussion is
mentioned below.
Billy compared the pros and
cons of having a computer in the classroom or of having all of them in a
lab. If the computer was in the
classroom then it would become a resource for the teacher, they could
personalize it and not have to worry about sharing time with others. If all the computers were put into a lab then
a class of students could be taught together which would keep the class more
organized and would simplify the lesson planning. Also, individual students could come to do
work in the lab but probably not in somebody else’s classroom. He thought that the ultimate decision about
where computers went would be made by the administration or principal even
though teachers’ preferences would be considered. He had the students in his class use the
Internet to research sports history and rules and to find the best exercises to
meet their physical education goals. He
also asked them to determine what exercises might be harmful and share all this
information with their class. He thought
that the computer lab would provide a better use of the computers because the
focus is to make a technologically rich environment for the students rather
than just providing a resource for the teacher’s use in the classroom. He also thought that eventually there would
be both a computer in each classroom and a computer lab.
Anthony thought the best
decision was to have the computers in the lab because to have the computer in
the classroom it becomes mainly a resource for the teacher but to have it in
the laboratory it is accessible to many students at one time for a class where the
teachers can introduce the new technology in a lesson to all students. Even though some teachers would not be ready
to use the lab initially, if there are good role models of some who do use the
lab effectively then others would follow.
He mentioned that Special Education needs may require you to group
several computers together for writing assistance classes. He also mentioned the computers on wheels
cart (COWS) that his school used to send a group of computers to different
classrooms when requested. He thought
wireless computers or laptops were probably the way of the future but they are
more prone to be stolen.
Laurie voted for the
computer lab since more students would have access to a computer than if they
were scattered around in different classrooms.
It might keep teachers from using PowerPoint. She liked the COWS idea from Anthony which
shows good technology people can overcome logistic problems. She brought up the point about whether
McDaniel has a class about what computer technology is available for the
teaching.
Melissa thought that having
a computer in the classroom far outweighed having them all in a lab. Her reasons were that the teacher needs a
computer for grading, finding information for lesson plans and using web sites to
answer student questions. She felt the
computer an invaluable tool for her administrative tasks, lesson planning and
for helping individual students.
Heather liked the idea of
having wireless technology where the computer can take the classroom outside to
study the environment. She opted for
having a computer in every class room.
She has her computer as a learning station for looking up web sites for
dictionaries during reading class and for finding weather reports online as
well as in a newspaper. She felt that
the students should learn to use the computer for all subjects and that going
to a lab at a special time inhibits the view that the computer could be used
anytime and, hopefully, anywhere with wireless technology. She brought up that the laptops would need
some special handling care and there should be a backup plan if they were not
available. She mentioned using an LCD
screen off the teacher’s computer which could show students, on a big screen
for all to see, how to access Internet information but the LCDs
are expensive and hard to move from classroom to classroom effectively. Melissa said that she must have at least one
computer in her classroom for her administrative and lesson planning needs. She thought the best approach would be to let
the teacher teams decide where to put the computers but that usually these
decisions are made at the administrative level.
I, Cindy, thought that the
computers would be better off in a lab unless you could get laptops where a set
or group of computers could be sent to any classroom upon request. It might be too expensive to get multiple
Internet connections for every classroom whereas a lab is usually funded with
getting the best high speed wideband connections to the Internet. The question really becomes how the teachers
want to use the computers. If there is
only one computer per classroom, then the teacher would probably be the one to
use it the most for administrative and lesson planning reasons and the students
would not get much time on it. If all
the computers were in a lab then more classes on technology could be taught and
the students would benefit more. The
logistics of where the computers are located may be a thing of the past with
wireless technology. I also brought up
how my special education son used the computer at school and home and that it
has helped him overcome some of his communication problems. I thought Melissa had a good point about how
every teacher should have at least one computer in the classroom but I also
mention that the conditions of the classroom before the principal asked his
question were not specified. Maybe each
classroom already had a computer and this was about where one more computer
would go. I shared my ideas about how I
would like to use the computers for teaching and asked others to share their
experiences and plans for teaching with computers. Then I brought up the idea that maybe the
teachers would rather spend money on salary increases than on new technology
based on some current events happening in