The simple fact is that the traditional computer lab is nearly extinct. There are still districts where computer labs can roam free, but the setup no longer connects students to the curriculum. If, by chance, your students still rely on a computer lab, let’s hope your district is planning a significant update, including mobile labs or even a 1:1 program. If your school stands by a traditional computer lab vision, I would love to know why.
Learning and creating should occur in your classroom, in small spaces, on comfy chairs, on a rug in the library, outside on the grass, in the comfort of the student’s home, on the bus, etc. The model has shifted away from a computer lab. Sure, labs can be necessary for specific editing software with older students, but dragging kindergarten students into an isolating and hollow room to learn for 40 minutes and log out until next week is where we were in 1998. We’ve come a long way since then.
Over the years, device and technology improvements have allowed learning to occur anywhere, so why would a school continue with a central lab location for digital learning? Faculty wouldn’t respond well to the learning constraints imposed by a computer lab, nor should the current generation of 21st-century students. The lab setting is artificial, and the technology-infused learning opportunities should happen naturally in the classroom with devices in students’ hands. This should occur throughout the day, not on a weekly schedule. Not all learning is linear, and sometimes it’s messy. The lab doesn’t lend well to this concept. Its time is over.
This past summer, we removed our aging computer lab with 25+ Windows XP desktops used sparingly. When the lab was in use, it was mainly used for printing and typing lessons. We replaced the computer lab with wireless devices like Google Chromebooks and Apple iPads, which can learn anytime and anywhere and are housed in mobile carts. We will never return to a computer lab model with the new model implemented. It is extinct. Devices are now used throughout the day when the task requires it. Stronger connections can be made with curriculum topics. Nothing is holding our staff back now.
If you are still limping to a computer lab with your students in tow, ask yourself: where are the learning opportunities taking place in your classroom? Is technology infused into your lessons? With those questions answered, how can you inform decision-makers to brave the new world with the necessary technology without a computer lab?
Please share your thoughts, hurdles, ideas, comments!