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Many faculty would like to be able to shift
real-time communication from a plenary format (typically
dominated by one person speaking at a time while everyone
else in the course listens) to a small group format
(typically groups small enough for everyone to contribute)
and back again (sometimes featuring reports from the small
groups back to the whole group).
Physical classrooms sometimes make
this activity difficult because chairs are fixed to the
floor and/or quite close together. (Click
here for a old photo of a lecture hall in the Sorbonne.).
This activity is easier if chairs can move or at least
swivel. Some classrooms feature chairs on wheels, which make
it even easier to switch formats. One of the appeals of
wireless classrooms is to make it easier for students to
move their computers so that they can work in groups.
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The Evergreen State College, with its
long tradition of supporting learning communities, has
gone beyond these simple models. Its new classroom
building, Seminar II, provides each learning community
with a set of spaces: for large meetings, nearby rooms
for small breakouts, space for storage of student
projects between meetings, and more.
Click here to see a floor plan (and the rest of the
slideshow about the building).
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Technology infrastructure can make it easier, or harder,
to shift frequently and easily from whole group work, to
small group work, and back. For example:
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If students are sitting at desks or tables in a row,
with fixed computers, are the spacings of rows and
the placement of displays going to make it easier or
harder for students to work in groups of two? three?
four? more?
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It can make a big difference, for example, if power
or internet connections come through desks (usually
fixed) or through the floor (usually more
flexibility of movement). Thanks to Larry
MacPhee of Northern Arizona U for pointing this out
to me.
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Wireless will usually make it easier for students to
move than wired connections.
Virtual classrooms: in some software
programs, faculty can create more than one thread of
conversation (or chat room, if the conversation is live). In
my limited experience, most packages are relatively limited
and awkward. The TLT Group frequently uses
Elluminate's vClass system to support online workshops
and virtual meetings where participants can communicate
simultaneously via internet audio, chat, and shared
whiteboard; one of its features is the ability to split a
large number of people into several working groups. When
that's done, members of each small group can speak to and
hear one another, chat, and draw on the whiteboard, while
the other small groups are doing the same thing. When small
group sessions are over, people reunite in a large group and
can once again hear and see one another's messages.
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PO Box
5643,
Takoma Park, Maryland 20913
Phone:
301.270.8312/Fax: 301.270.8110
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To talk about our work
or our organization
contact: Sally Gilbert |
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