Ocotillo Spotlight on Instructional Technology
Note: The Ocotillo Spotlight is no longer published, but all previous issues will remain on this site.
spotlight for March 2002
The March 2002 Ocotillo Spotlight shines on Paradise Valley Community College where mobile computer labs are becoming an essential teaching tool for some teachers in the classrooms. The mobile computer labs are designed to meet the increasing needs of the faculty and students for hands-on technology in the classroom. Students are able to do research and receive real-time information without ever having to leave the classroom.
Doug Sawyer
Ocotillo Faculty Chair
doug.sawyer@scmail.maricopa.edu
Mobile Computer Labs Meets the Demands for Hands-On Technology
by Tatum Osteff, Paradise Valley Community College
The mobile computing lab at Paradise Valley Community College (PVCC) allows students to use laptops which are rolled around on a cart to different classrooms on campus when needed.
"The mobile computing lab has changed teaching," said Kurt Hill, Chair of Human Development and a physical geography professor at PVCC.
Hill began using the laptops three years ago when the lab first began. He uses the computers to show physical landforms and real-time data on meteorological phenomena such as hurricanes, earthquakes, and volcanoes or to search the Internet for other information.
"We used to have to go over to the computer lab or do book searches," Hill said. "This adds immediacy."
Other classes find the laptops beneficial for group English composition projects, discussion board access and other programs. Education professor Eileen Shiff uses the mobile computer lab for in-class journaling. "We often have very heated discussions in class on controversial topics.
Students continue their discussions online using Blackboard software. It adds a level of anonymity that allows a freer exchange of viewpoints. We also do in-class research on, say, multiple intelligences or school lesson plans."
The mobile computing lab uses a combination of wired and wireless technology. The professors simply reserve the laptops ahead of time and the computers are taken to the classrooms so that the students have immediate access. This saves classtime and is more convenient for the students. Associate Dean Cathy Hart notes that the mobile system allows us to meet the increasing needs of the faculty and of the students for hands-on technology in the classroom and enhances the learning environment.
Loretta Mondragon (loretta.mondragon@pvmail.maricopa.edu), coordinator for mobile computing lab, said PVCC is looking at the next phase to replace many of these laptops. PVCC currently has 132 laptop computers that are split up between four separate cars with a printer on each.
"It's a lot of work getting it set up," said Mondragon. "We are breaking through a lot of barriers and making up solutions as we go along. Manufacturers are just now realizing the value of these systems as we are using them."
The content for this article was prepared for the web by Vanessa Warburton (nessawarbu@yahoo.com), PVCC Student and intern at MCLI.
More Information
Unwired. Wired. Wireless.
An MCLI Forum article (Spring 2001) on the use of wireless networking at three other Maricopa colleges
http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/forum/spr01/tech.html
Going Wireless- Network as Mobile as the Students Who Use Them
An Intel@Education case study on schools that use wireless networking.
http://www.intel.com/education/teachtech/learning/casestudies/going_wireless.htm
Learning Unplugged
Apple highlights the use of its Airport wireless technology in schools.
http://www.apple.com/education/k12/imagine/0202/unplugged/
Campus Computing Report 2001
This annual study of technology in higher education reveals that "wireless networks are an increasingly important issue for all sectors of higher education. One-fourth (24.3 percent) of the campuses report that they have a strategic plan for wireless networks; another third (32.1 percent) report the strategic plan for going wireless is currently in development."
http://www.campuscomputing.net/summaries/2001/index.html
|
