THE EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT SEATING ARRANGEMENTS IN HIGHER EDUCATION COMPUTER LAB CLASSROOMS ON STUDENT LEARNING, TEACHING STYLE, AND CLASSROOM APPRAISAL  

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the physical arrangement of workstations, seating and equipment in computer lab classrooms and its effect on the social and physical settings of the classroom. The literature suggests that information technology (IT) encourages students to "learn by doing" and therefore affects student learning and teaching style within the technology-rich classroom environment. Zandervliet and Straker believe that the physical design of the seating, computer placement, and arrangement of space is often overlooked when IT is integrated into classrooms. However, no current research was found to support whether or not the physical design of higher education computer lab classrooms affects student learning, teaching style, and student and teacher appraisal of the classroom.

This study compared two differently arranged computer lab classrooms on the University of Florida campus. One computer lab classroom was configured in straight rows with a center aisle, while the other computer lab classroom was arranged in pods cross-shaped desks with a computer workstation at each end of the desk. Workstations and room arrangements were evaluated using measurements of the physical settings from the Computerized Classroom Environment Inventory (CCEI) instrument. A survey was conducted with 72 students and 5 teachers to appraise both the social and physical classroom settings.

The CCEI measures revealed deficiencies in the Computer, Workspace, and Visual environments in the straight row computer lab classroom, while the pod-arranged computer lab classroom only had a deficiency in the Computer workstation environment.

Observations and student/teacher survey responses revealed that the students in the straight row computer lab classroom were off task more often, had fewer student-to-­teacher interactions, helped other students more often, and were distracted more often than the students in the pod arrangement. The frequency of student-to-student and student-to-teacher interactions indicated that the pod arrangement supported more collaboration than the straight row classroom. Nevertheless, over half of the students in both computer labs liked their classroom.

Further research is required to clarify the interactions between students and teachers in higher education IT classrooms. This study recommends that designers of IT classrooms (1), first, identify social intentions of the users and (2), second, design facilities to support student learning and teaching styles with appropriate equipment, furniture and physical layout.

 

 

BUY THIS TOPIC ON WHATSAPP

Related Project Materials

ABSTRACT

This study is meant to examine the effect of external debt on gross domestic product using econometric analysis. The research re...

ABSTRACT

This study appraised the relevance of radio broadcast towards sport development in Nigeria.