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CONTENT

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INTRODUCTION

This assignment is based on the criteria of adult education classrooms rather than primary and secondary teaching. College teaching is truly difficult and focused learning is hard work. Colleges are expected to encourage student’s enthusiasm and interaction, furthermore adapt to students individual learning styles and difficulties without leaving the course content and lesson plans. These tasks and requirements all meet in the classroom and this “learning and teaching” environment needs to be a teacher’s ally- not an opponent to defeat.

The challenge to colleges is to combine the knowledge and expertise of computer, telecommunications, staff, designers, architects, technology, comfort factors with presenters’ requirements and learners’ needs and difficulties in the classroom.

DEMANDS OF TODAY’S COLLEGE CLASSROOMS

Attractive comfortable classroom environment adds dignity to the learning process. Too often, college classrooms are regarded as cold, ugly, spiritless, colourless and windowless. There should be a creation of diversity among classrooms. Repetition of design of every classroom in a building is considered dull or boring for the learning and teaching environment. Acoustic, lighting, and seating should be coordinated with the requirements of technology and should be integrated into design in early stages. Classrooms should be flexible and adaptable to different learning methods of tutors, including multimedia presentations, student team projects and collaborative small group work. In today’s classrooms teachers’ tasks should be mentoring and helping students to discover learning and plan activities rather than delivering instructions.

  1. Equipments in classroom

Today’s college classrooms should contain projector, interactive whiteboards, DVD player and speakers mounted in the suspended ceiling. Interactive whiteboard has advanced the teaching and learning process in classrooms. It enhances efficiency and improves attention and information retention in the school environment.

There should be laptops at each students work station and a master teaching laptop. This learning facility provides the ability to display students work on a large screen and send selected images and information to every student computer. Classrooms should be changed from isolated places to places which enable the access to high speed broadband internet connection facilitating access to a variety of learning resources and materials, interactive whiteboards linked to the Internet, with all students being able to operate the boards from their seats. (Classroom of the Future, Department of Education and Skills)

In my classroom design there will be a SMART Board™ 600, 77" (195.6 cm) interactive whiteboard which has the ability to create a whiteboard and flipchart that combines as one, recording everything that has been said and done. At the end of the class, everything can be saved, printed or even create a whole website simply and easily. Interactive whiteboards have made a huge impact and revolutionised the modern classroom environment, allowing lecturer to benefit from full power of the internet and content from their classroom PC or Laptop.

The all-in-one design brings an interactive whiteboard, audio system and projector together.

Interactive whiteboard

(Source: www2.smarttech.com)

Airliner

(Source: www.smarter-solutions.ltd.uk)

My classroom design will also benefit from an Airliner, wireless slate which enables teachers to teach from anywhere and allows learners to interact with information from their seats.

A two way video smart classroom consists of all requirements mentioned above, additionally TV cameras and microphones. Classes can be broadcasted and accessed on the internet even on a mobile phone. Students, who cannot attend the class, would be able to participate. Moreover experts or guest lecturers from other colleges, even from other countries can interact with the class. In this hectic lifestyle it is impossible to attend all classroom lectures. As an example, it is rather difficult for me to run my own business, running a family and a house with two step children, keeping a social life plus doing this course. It would be a great opportunity if we had this facility provided for my class which will enable me to access the lessons from my house when I am unable to go to college.

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  1. Classroom orientation and seating arrangements

The front of the classroom should be covered with boards and should not have protrusions. Although most classrooms are rectangular and deep, they should be wide, not deep, keeping the lecturer close to the students who are seated in the furthest seats and providing a large presentation and walking space for pacing teachers in front of the classroom.   An eye contact between the lecturer and learners is essential to attract the learners’ attention.  From my own experience of 5 years of university education and several adult education courses I have attended, I ...

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