Computers In The Classroom: Are They A Help Or Hindrance To Learning-00-5355

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As well as the obvious benefits of supporting learning and keeping up-to-date with essential IT skills, they are also one of the criteria by which schools are judged today. The number of computers per student has become a measure of a school's status and a marketing tool that schools promote to prospective parents and pupils.

More and more frequently computers are not limited to the IT room but can be found in many different teaching environments. There is a downside to this prevalence of computers in the school classroom though and that is a reduction in line-of-sight between teachers and students. In some classrooms students are literally lost behind their computer monitors where often teachers and tutors can no longer see the students they are trying to teach.

Much of classroom learning is visual, whether from a blackboard, whiteboard or projected presentation and having to peer around a computer is not conducive to easily absorbing this information. Seeing the person who is delivering a class, lesson or workshop also aids concentration and increases attention span. The value for a teacher to be able ...
... to see the responses of his or her students is incalculable: to know when they are engaged, when they are being lost or when they are distracted is crucial. A good line-of-sight within a class helps to improve control of a class too. Many teachers report that the computer is used as a shield to conceal unacceptable or unruly behaviour or even napping!

Some school classroom furniture has begun to emerge which attempts to address these problems in a variety of ways. One solution is to use a computer stand: by replacing CRT monitors with streamline flat screens and attaching them to a desk using a flat screen monitor arm, line-of-vision is significantly less impaired. And as most of these stands are height adjustable this method also enables students to find a good ergonomic position at their school desk.

Another innovative and effective approach is to use a school desk into which a flat screen computer can completely retract. This leaves the desktop clear and views around the classroom entirely unimpeded. The added advantage here is that access to the computer is completely taken away, removing any temptation for students to be distracted and enabling them to completely focus on the teacher.

The use of laptops (which is becoming increasingly common in schools) provides an obvious, but effective, solution too: the lid of the laptop can simply be shut so that pupils are not able to hide behind their computers.

It's a problem that wasn't expected or planned for, in all the excitement at the addition of state-of-the-art machines that promised so much, the behavioural consequences were not taken into account until teachers encountered these issues first hand. It's not an insurmountable problem though and most teachers would still, on balance, prefer to have the option to use computers to support their students' learning - just so long as they can spirit them away easily when they become more of a distraction than an asset.

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