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Temple University Center for Research
in Human Development and Education |
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The Impact of the Prototype Classroom on Teaching and Learning
for Preservice Teachers: Imagining the Possibilities
129
by
Miriam Singer
Fairleigh Dickinson University
Imagine if your School of Education had a “Prototype Classroom of the Future” where professors and preservice teachers could freely explore the possibilities of best practices in teaching and learning. Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU) designed such a room where everything is mobile, and technology freely adapts to the room arrangement rather than the other way around. This Techno-Brief will examine how the availability of the Prototype Classroom of the Future has enhanced a graduate course entitled “Effective Teaching - Effective Schools” taught by the author during Spring 2004. It will also look at the reality of this ideal classroom in the context of actual classrooms in today’s schools.
The Prototype Classroom Design
Kimble (1999), citing the CEO Forum’s 1999 report, suggests that as a first priority teachers be prepared to use technology effectively in the classroom: “Model best practices in all professional development by using technology to teach about effective technology integration processes to meet predetermined objectives” (pg. 4).
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When one speaks of authentic learning experiences, multiple intelligences, cooperative learning, constructivism, and higher order learning skills it is best to find a way to model the concepts and have the graduate students experience the same types of learning environment they are encouraged to implement in their future classrooms. The Prototype Classroom has fostered this type of learning environment. (See the accompanying pictures of the prototype classroom.)
“Low-tech” furnishings were selected to provide flexible room configurations. They include five-foot-long tables with corner ganging gears, rugged wheels with stops, and pop up outlets that plug into the electrical floor outlets embedded throughout the room. The rolling high-back ergonomic office chairs with flexible arms round out the furniture. The faculty originally set the tables in the fashion of a long conference table promoting the idea of a seminar setting. While students were comfortable with the layout, those at the far end felt distanced from the teacher and could not adequately see each other, nor could they hear well. The tables were rearranged several times and eventually were separated into cooperative learning groups with four to six students per group. This, of course, lent itself to support cooperative learning with higher order thinking skills being promoted.
The room itself has no fixed front and back configuration. The sturdy smart board and the data projector are portable and can be placed where needed. Sometimes the “sides” of the room become the front of the room. Preservice teachers can construct their own knowledge as to how the classroom setting affects teaching and learning. The students reflect upon the effectiveness of various classroom layouts and gain a better comprehension of how this may affect their own classrooms in the future.
The availability of wireless Internet-enabled laptops allows the students to conduct immediate searches for resources and access WebQuests, the online Blackboard, and assignments. More proficient students assist their less experienced peers in cooperative learning experiences. Appropriate use—not just computer access—is what students should take with them into the field.
According to
the ECS, the National Partnership of Excellence and
Accountability in Teaching, the National Staff Development
Council, and the Consortium for Policy Research in Education
agree on what constitutes quality professional development:
Another advantage of the Prototype Classroom is wireless access to the printer. A high-speed color printer was selected because it operates at the cost of black and white printing, and students can quickly turn printouts into posters for discussion using a simple enlarger in the room. The wireless system also offers the ability to access Blackboard during class so that students can learn how to use it properly. This semester, the author found that students had an easier time with Blackboard and were less intimidated by it than in the past since it was demonstrated and used within the classroom.
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