PatSine

I've been asked to meet with a colleague to discuss what a smart classroom should look like in a school of education today. The jumping off question was "What kind of SmartBoard should we get?" That got me thinking about the way to think about the whole design.

The first thing I'd want to think about is how to structure the classroom so that the teacher isn't always the center of the classroom. But I know most higher ed classrooms and most K-12 classrooms still look like the teacher talking and the students listening so how can we rework that model.

Recommendation 1: Install 2 projectors and 2 good projection spaces

That will give us a place for presentations, display of data, and all the things we'd do in a one projector classroom. Projector 2 gives us a chance for some joint exploration of the ideas of the class. Two of the primary ways to accomplish this are using a Google Jockey and setting up Live Blogging. Right now my favorite tool for accomplishing this is CoverItLive. The client gives lots of options for setting up a live blog and managing the session, which can subsequently be posted on the web in the class blog or wiki.

That leads to my next recommendation.

Recommendation 2: Share the knowledge collection tasks with students

In every classroom, there are many good things going on each day that go uncaptured. Or worse, they are captured in private notebooks that may or may not have the right information. Darren Kuropatwa has been the leader in demonstrating how to use a class blog to capture everyone's contributions to the class and then to use the power of group collaboration to make sure the "notebook" accurately reflects what has been accomplished.

Recommendation 3: Use Web 2.0 tools for collaborating and sharing the class information

Too often higher ed faculty want to protect their lectures and notes from others who might copy them. But this is exactly counter to the way we expect students to collaborate and develop 21st century skills. By default all of our work is copyrighted. An easy way to demonstrate that collaboration is important and valued is to simply add a Creative Commons license to everything that is posted.

Beyond this the range of Web 2.0 tools for education is almost limitless and growing every day. However, a few tools have emerged as part of the standard arsenal of educators. These include Google Docs, Wikispaces, PBWiki, Edublogs, Delicious and Diigo. These need to be demonstrated and

Recommendation 4: Use K-12 standard technologies to prepare future teachers

Back to purchases... There are a few tools that teachers will encounter as they move into the professional work place.

1. SMART Boards. I know there are lots of competing interactive whiteboard products, but SMART Boards have become the Kleenex of this space. The rich community of educators and the depth of lesson suport from the company puts this one out achead of the others.
2. Inspiration and Kidspiration. Again, there are lots of competing products both free and commercial, but these two have emerged as leaders because of both the community and the company.
3. Graphing calculators.
4. Probes and probeware.
5. Laptops. I'd rather see every student bring their own, but it may be necessary to offer at least a few in the classroom.

Recommendation 5: An annual budget

The day this classroom opens, it will no longer be state of the art. A year later it will be laughably embarrassing to call it cutting edge. If we have a commitment to leading with technology then it is essential to look at this as an ongoing investment in the quality of education and that takes a commitment every year.