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The 21st Century Classroom
Incubating Next-Gen.Edu
6/1/2008
8 Incubator Tips from the Trenches
JACQUELINE GILBERT, Middle Tennessee State University professor in the Jennings A. Jones College of Business Department of Management and Marketing, recently published an article describing her campus's process in creating the Advanced Computer Technology laboratory, an incubator classroom. Faculty participants, surveyed about their experiences in using the lab, provided the following suggestions for improvements, many of which are applicable to any incubator setting. See the complete article here.
- Use the same brand of equipment already in use on campus, to enable in-house IT staff to both repair and maintain the equipment.
- Make sure chairs are light enough to be moved and have multidirectional wheels.
- Make available a dedicated IT staff member who can help faculty when needed, and train them on equipment.
- Have a backup whiteboard, for times when electronics fail.
- Include flipcharts for brainstorming.
- Make sure tablet computers provide sufficient performance and are placed back into the recharging system by default.
- To keep clutter off the floor, make available a closet with a set of wall hooks for coats and backpacks.
- Consider which hours the building will be open and what technical support will be available-- particularly after regular school hours.
Still, Schouest doesn't recommend the Studio for hour-long class sessions. "You need blocks of time," he says: two or three hours apiece.
Professors at UCR have three ways to gain access to the Studio: 1) via a formal application process (proposals are submitted to the vice provost for undergraduate education; funding is provided to cover additional expenses); 2) via ad hoc use for workshops or seminars that can exploit the physical and technological resources of the room; or 3) for use as a computer-assisted instruction lab.
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