How to Design a School Technology Lab
A technology lab can provide a school with much more than just computers. The many kinds of technology that are included in the lab, along with the different kinds of software, can provide students, teachers and others at the school with a variety of dynamic ways to study and learn.
Instructions
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Consider who will use the technology lab. The setup of the room will be affected by whether the lab is intended to serve individual students and teachers who are using the space for separate projects and will come and go or classes that will come together as a group and work together. The number of potential users of the lab will also shape how many the space will accommodate working at one time.
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Talk to teachers about what kinds of technology would be useful in teaching their subject areas. Science teachers may want equipment and table space for experiments. Art teachers may be interested in a resource area for the electronic arts--like filmmaking, animation or graphic design--that requires specialized software. You may also be surprised at the ways others, like drama and gym teachers, use technology for their classes. Determine who would use more general items like scanners and cameras if they were available.
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Determine how students will work in the space. If students are going to be instructed in the lab, there should be space for a teacher to stand and a large screen or projector where students can see a demonstration. If students are going to work on their own computers while following the teacher's lesson, the desks will need to be positioned so students can look easily between their own screen and the teacher. Desks might also be arranged in groups so that students can work together.
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Think about special needs and how you can make your technology lab accessible and comfortable to all those who will use it. In addition to making sure the space is accessible to someone in a wheelchair, you can also make it easy to increase the size of text on monitors and provide speech-to-text software for those who have difficulty typing (see link in Resources).
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Take a hard look at your budget. Be reasonable about what you can do with limited funding, balancing the different uses of your technology lab and choosing the ones that will do the most for as many as possible.
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