Page 39 - School Planning & Management, May 2017

How Active Learning Classrooms Work
Today technology can supercharge class- rooms and make active learning possible.
For example, at the Tampa Preparatory School in Tampa, Fla., director of Technol- ogy Chad Lewis has designed and imple- mented an active learning environment.
“We adopted the active learning envi- ronment concept four years ago,” Lewis says. “This isn’t something that can be done in isolation. In coming up with an active learning concept that fit our school’s culture, we talked to teachers, students and administrators.
“We found that teachers and students don’t think about technology per se; they think about what is important in their classrooms. The teachers told us that they wanted collaborative environments that were flexible enough to change easily.
“Both teachers and students also want- ed to tear down the traditional concept of neatly positioned rows of desks where some students sat in the front and others sat in the back. They wanted classrooms where every student had an equal audio and visual experience.”
Moreover, teachers wanted the ability to transform their classrooms on the fly, moving from a lecture environment (rows of desks facing front) to a collaborative environment (desks gathered into several small groupings for project work).
When students alter their positions in the classroom in this way, they will often lose site of the front of the room where the teacher generally stands or sits. Two large projectors and wall monitors positioned around the perimeter combined with a video distribu- tion amplifier can ensure that students who cannot see the front of the room can still see the teacher on the wall monitors. And when the teacher moves to the back of the room, students up front can use the monitors to stay focused on the teacher.
In rooms equipped like this, teachers generally wear microphones that channel their voices through the rooms audio am- plification system, ensuring that everyone
can hear the teacher when he or she speaks. “There is a huge benefit to using two
projectors in each classroom, Lewis adds. “With one projector, you can see a student asking a question or a teacher answering the question. With two projectors, both the teacher and student can be seen.”
In addition, two projectors enable teachers to move around the room without losing video coverage.
The Four C’s
“Comments from teachers and students led us to conceive of today’s active learning
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MAY 2017 / SCHOOL PLANNING & MANAGEMENT 39
Photo Credit: Ema Peter