Come back, computer lab, all is forgiven

Why is it that all innovators seem to have an “either-or” mentality, an all-or-nothing approach? “Out with the old, in with the new!” seems to be their call to action, yet sometimes – I would say often – the new is not as good as the old. At least, not so much better that the old should be dispensed with altogether.

This is most certainly the case in the context of the tussle between computer labs (old) and personalised, mobile, computing (new). It is held to be axiomatic that new schools, or new builds of existing schools, neither need nor should have computer labs. The analogy that is often used is that you don’t have to go to a special pencil room to write. Another analogy is that people who work don’t have to go anywhere special to use a computer. They have all the tools they need at their fingertips: if not on their person, at least on their desk.

But these analogies are false, the arguments red herrings.

There are no pencil rooms because the nature of the technology is such that pencil rooms are unnecessary. Pencils are and always have been portable enough for any classroom to be transformed into a “pencil room” for the purposes of a handwriting lesson. As for the workplace argument, contrary to what you might think from listening to government and business pronouncements, the purpose of education is to educate, not emulate industry, nor to train young people to be in a work environment. It’s a false analogy anyway, or at least a selective one. If the equipment required is, say, a supercomputer, or a special high-end computer and, for example, a 3D printer, as far as I know the people who work with such equipment do not have their very own set-up on their desks: they go to where the equipment resides.

Nevertheless, forget all this, because matters of fact will never convince a zealot. Let’s, instead, ponder the practical issues. Why are computer labs worth keeping, from a purely pragmatic point of view?

In the following article, I use the word “computer” as a shorthand for “desktop computer”, and “laptop” for “laptop, netbook and tablet”.

Logging on

You can go into a computer lab first thing in the morning and switch all of the computers on, and leave them on for the whole day. That means no waiting while they are spring to life – although the verb “spring” may not immediately spring to mind when 15 or more computers are all trying to access the network at the same time. With laptops, you don’t have the luxury of being able to leave them on all the time. Incidentally, from a “green” point of view, I think that switching computers off and on throughout the day can use more energy than leaving them on all day, and there is, after all, the “hibernate” mode.

Keeping going

When you go into a computer lab, you can assume that all of the computers are going to have power. Not so with laptops. Even a laptop or tablet whose battery lasts for several hours may have run out of juice by the time the last lesson arrives. And as a Head of ICT recently reminded me, a laptop battery which lasts 5 hours now will not do so in 6 months’ time.

Handy hints

A big advantage of a computer lab is that you can put up posters explaining how to do things. A simple notice telling people how to access the system if they have forgotten their password, or are a guest in the school, is invaluable. You can do that sort of thing to some extent with laptops, in the form of a small booklet or a notice stuck on the device itself, but such solutions are much less robust than the humble wall poster .

Come together

As Tony Parkin pointed out recently in his comment on In ICT, the past is not what it was, having to share a computer in a computer lab led…

… to some of the most creative and collaborative learning as two pupils discussed and worked together to address challenges. Like to remind those who bang on about '1 to 1' computing that there were some good points in pair working!

Keep it clean

In my opinion it is much easier to keep a computer keyboard clean than a laptop keyboard. The difference is probably only marginal, but it seems to me that you can be more vigorous on a computer keyboard because if you accidentally damage it you won’t have damaged the computer itself.

Sit up straight

Young people are getting taller and taller. Is there a potential problem regarding posture, given that the taller ones may have to hunch up over a laptop on a desk? I think posture issues are easier to resolve in relation to a desktop computer.

Don’t move

Here’s a conversation the last time I had a faulty laptop:

Repair person: You’ve been moving it, haven’t you?

Me: Yes, it’s a portable.

RP: They’re not meant to be moved around.

Me: ! (= stunned silence)

Admittedly, solid state components render this less of an issue than it was in the past, but the fact remains that, on the whole, laptops are not as robust as computers, and were not designed to be moved about continually.

Conclusion

There are obvious advantages to having technology that goes to where the student wants to use it – but I am yet to be convinced that computer labs have outlived their usefulness.

Comments

[David]

Desktops are much more robust than laptops, and in general more accessible by children with special needs.
Ideally every classroom would have a number of desktops as well as easy access to a bank of laptops.
Where there is no computer room, it might be harder to find any ICT going on in the school to show visitors...

[Alfonso Gonzalez]

In my career as a classroom teacher I've had to use computer labs with one computer for each student. I've also had a few computers in my classroom so I was able to use them as learning centers. Then I got a few more computers so that every three to four students had access to one computer. Then I was able to get some more computers to have two to three kids per computer. I found that four kids to a computer was too many. Two per computer was pretty good but students would get frustrated when their partner was absent. With three students per computer they could get work done collaboratively and one was absent the team wasn't crippled. Now I have computers, tablets and netbooks and it just so happens to be 1:1.

Here's what I have learned from the above experiences. Of all those scenarios the one that worked least well for me and for my students was the computer lab model. Why? Simply because it was a shared space. I have my students complete projects and they use computers for research to learn something new and for content creation to make something out of what they learned to share. That takes a long time so either I was hogging the lab so that other teachers didn't get t use it or I had to cut my projects short or only do one project a year. I wouldn't wish that on anybody. The teachers in my school who like the computer lab are those who either don't use it that often or do not run into scheduling problems and get to use it all they want.

I've found that having computers in my classroom makes it so that we can do any project anytime and that students can decide what they want to learn and when. We can do that without computers but I would rather have computers available. Does that mean that all my students create tech products? No, some choose to make posters or poster-type products to show and share what they've learned. The thing is that it is their choice. If I had to schedule time in a computer lab when a team wanted to create say a prezi they might not be done by the deadline depending on the lab's availability. This is my first year with a 1:1 configuration so I don't have enough data to determine if this is better than my 2:1 or 3:1. My goal is still to have my students collaborate, connect and communicate. To that end we blog often. I cannot do that well by going once a week to the computer lab. Sure students could write their blog on paper then type it once a week. I wouldn't like that for myself so I can imagine many students wouldn't like that either. End of the world? No, just my preference.

From your tone here it seems that you'll peg me as an either, or, person or as a zealot. It sounds like you've had some unpleasant arguments with anti-computer lab folks. I hope that doesn't keep you from taking my side into consideration.

[AngryTechnician]

Overall I absolutely agree that the days of IT labs are not over; until you can afford 1:1 provision of portable devices they will always have a place, and perhaps even after that. However, I do have some feedback on a couple of your points in favour.

The first is on the "sit up straight" argument. Why is it that we worry so much about ergonomics in the computer lab, but in most other lessons we're happy for students to be hunched over desks on hard chairs writing on a horizontal surface? Shouldn't the tops of their exercise books be at eye level just like the VDUs? I understand the ergonomics are different for different activities, but I think a lot of people get carried away by the relatively short time students spend in front of a computer screen.

As for power use, I can categorically say that leaving them on all day uses MUCH more power than turning them on and off throughout the day. I did a lot of testing with a power meter last year, and found that the power usage of both modern and older desktops when starting up/shutting down was within 10% of their idle consumption. Turning them off for just 20 minutes during the day easily offsets that increased power consumption. Of course, as you say, hibernate is also an option, as is standby mode from which computers wake within seconds, and uses only fractionally more power that hibernate on modern computers (example: a 2009 model Dell OptiPlex 360 uses 1.2W in hibernate, and 1.7W in standby).

[Terry Freedman, Educational ICT Consultant]

@David Thx, I agree with you non the whole -- although an empty computer room is like an advert declaring that NO ICT is going on!

[Terry Freedman, Educational ICT Consultant]

@Alfonso Thnaks, your observations and classroom research are very interesting; I hadn't considered 3 to a computer before. When I was teaching I ran projects, and I had areas in the computer labs where students could work away from the computers, which freed them up for students from another class, or for teachers. I also used to book myself into ordinary classrooms so as to not tie up the computer room.
What I get from what you've said is not that computer labs are no good, but that they have to be used and managed sensitively and sensibly.

[Terry Freedman, Educational ICT Consultant]

@angry technician Thanks foir commenting. Re: exercise books: OK, fair enough! Thanks for the information on power consumption. I hadn't realised there was such a difference between hibernate and stand-by modes, so thanks very much for that.