eMINTS equipment

Options and considerations for designing eMINTS student workstations and classroom layouts. Equipment Monitors Keyboards and mice CPUs Room layouts Rows and columns Pods and tables U-shaped arrangements

Student workstation arrangements

This discussion of workstation arrangement focuses on where the various pieces of the computer are installed on classroom furniture. The standard eMINTS' student workstation has three pieces.

1. 17" color monitor
2. Standard keyboard and mouse
3. Micro tower CPU

The ways these items are placed on the desks and tables configure the spaces student have for their work. Below are some general observations about how different configurations impact student workspaces.

The choices for workstation arrangement begin with your choice of desk or table. Specialized computer desks have predetermined locations for each part of the computer, so decisions about the workstation arrangement are made when a particular brand of desk is chosen. Classrooms using plain tables or modified tables have more choices to make.

Issues of the arrangement of computer workstations are ultimately issues of ergonomics. A good summary of these considerations can be found at: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/Pubs/etf/guidelines.shtml.

Monitors

• The largest element of the computer is the monitor. Monitors need to be placed where students can see them. In classrooms with plain or modified tables, the conventional location is on the tabletop.
• However, standard 17" monitors require a relatively large space. Depending on the width of the table, a standard monitor can prevent placement of other items (keyboard, mouse, student papers) on the table in front of it.
• An additional consideration for the monitor is its height. Our observations of eMINTS classrooms suggest that placing anything under a monitor (e.g., a storage container, a power control module, a desktop CPU) raises it to a point where students cannot comfortably see around it.
• One alternative to the standard monitor is the flat panel monitor. Flat panels take up much less table space, freeing the area directly in front of the monitor for a keyboard and student work. In addition, they do not produce as much heat as standard monitors.
• Flat panel monitors have characteristic problems as well. First, their unit cost is higher and districts are responsible for this additional cost. Secondly, the monitor panel, casing and stand are all more prone to damage than the standard monitor.

Keyboards and mice

• Keyboards and mice are the only input devices available to students. They need to be placed in that are accessible. This means that students should be able to sit comfortably in front of a keyboard and be able to reach all of the keys.
• Keyboards and mice should be on the same platform, i.e., either both on a tabletop or both in a keyboard tray. Having these devices on different surfaces at different heights increases the activities students have to perform to complete their work.
• While keyboard trays free up table space and provide a place to store the keyboard and mouse, they also fix the position of the keyboard in the tray. This means that students must move to use the keyboard, rather than moving the keyboard to where a student is sitting. This movement may have implications for student time use. When deciding whether to use a keyboard tray, the ways students will work should be considered.

CPUs

• The standard eMINTS' CPU is a "Micro" tower designed to be placed on the floor or in a specialized hanger. Some of the implications of CPU placement are discussed in the plain tables section above. This section addresses three general considerations for CPU placement.
• Placing the CPU on the tabletop. This arrangement makes the CPU accessible to all students, but at the expense of tabletop space for students. Placing the CPU on a tabletop potentially puts it in the way of other students and requires student adjustment for them to see.
• Placing the CPU in hangers or other racks. Depending on where the CPU racks are installed, this option can increase or decrease student accessibility to features of the CPU. However, keeping the CPU off of the floor solves many problems.
• Placing the CPU on the floor. Putting the CPU on the floor frees up tabletop space and increases visibility. However, placing the CPU on the floor exposes it to damage from being kicked or moved. This increases the chances that cables will come disconnected, etc. Placing the CPU on the floor also creates an obstacle for janitors and maintenance personnel.

Student workstations - room layout options

Rows and columns

Pods and tables

This room arrangement groups student workstations together around the room. This arrangement creates many aisles and walkways between the tables, but it also places some students with their backs to the smart board.

• This arrangement allows for more extensive work groups, i.e., among the all of the students seated at table rather just the two students seated at any given workstation.
• The arrangement of pods and tables in a classroom frees floor space for other activities. It allows for alternative work areas, e.g., reading pits or a common worktable.
• This arrangement allows for a centralization of cabling, since the tables can be organized around cable poles.
• However, in many pod and table arrangements, some students will sit with their backs to the smart board. The consensus of the CIS is that having students sit perpendicular to the smart board is acceptable, but having students sit so that they have to turn completely around to see the smart board is not. Pods and tables should be arranged to minimize the number of students who have to turn around to see the smart board.
• The arrangement of pods and tables is difficult to achieve in some rooms. Occasionally, the use of this arrangement reduces the absolute number of tables that can fit in a room.

U-shaped arrangements

This arrangement places student workstations around a central area. In most cases, this central area is the space surrounding the smart board. In other cases, the student workstations are installed against classroom walls, defining the entire classroom as the "central" area.

• An advantage of the arrangement is status of the central area. Potentially, this area gives the teacher easy access to all student workstations.
• Installing the student workstations along classroom walls open up the entire classroom to other student activities. In such classrooms, teachers report being able to see the majority of the student monitors whenever they walk through the work area.
• Having a solid bank of tables (as the U-shape implies) reduces the number of cable drops necessary to achieve connectivity. Having all workstations installed against a wall eliminates the need for freestanding cable drops all together.
• However, this arrangement can produce difficult sightlines, particularly when students are seated on the interior of the "U".
• When computers are installed against a classroom wall, they must leave their computers for group instruction. Often, such arrangements combine computer furniture with traditional school desks, thus doubling the amount of furniture in the classroom.

Reviewed May 20, 2003.