My vote was for very easy, but sometimes it takes some doing. Our problem is that we have one classroom, with computers, dedicated to teaching comp. FYC gets first shot at the room, and after that, it's up to the chair who gets it for either advanced or developmental comp. The problem with just one room is demand outstrips supply. Sometimes all I have to do is ask, other times I have to wrangle my schedule a bit to get in. This fall, one faculty member was reassigned to a grant project so the room opened up and I have it for a developmental comp class, which is as important, and maybe more so, than having it for teaching fyc. It's when I ask for OpenOffice that they honk my nose.

bradley || bleckblog.org

That sounds very similar to my experience here, though our lab isn't dedicated to comp. The demand seems much heavier for smart classrooms than computer classrooms, but I still have to work the system a bit to try to get them.

One irksome thing here is that one of the computer classrooms is really hard (at least for me) to teach in. It's located in the foyer of the library and an open lab during non-class room hours (with no lab monitor, I might add). The problem is that you have to shoo everyone out of the room to have your class, and people barge in. Plus, the room is arranged as a series of hives, with students facing in all directions. It's too easy for them to hide from you (or, worse, THINK they are hiding from you).

I still haven't mastered the art of teaching in that room...It'd probably be easier if the silly supervisor software actually worked!

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Check out Barton's gaming blog at Armchair Arcade.

I don't like rooms of the sort you describe. Thankfully, out main room, and the one I sometimes use in the library, has computers around the periphery with tables in the middle of the room. We also have a new building coming along in a couple of years and we'll have two or three classrooms designed similarly. I think the hive/pod/collective was developed by some borg-like office furniture supply store.

On a happier note, Weird Al is playing the Spokane County Fair this weekend. You should drop by. Tickets are cheap.

bradley || bleckblog.org

It used to be easy to get a computer classroom and it still may be. I wavered between "easy" and "some doing" because if one requests a "smart" classroom at our institution one may find oneself teaching on the other side of the vast campus in the science buildings, which is what happened to me last semester. I have to admit that the facilities were nicer because the buildings are newer than the crumbling Cooper Hall (remember Cooper Hall, Matt?) where the equipment may or may not be working or even present. Then there's the issue with the furniture and classrooms built to hold twenty students. Don't get me started.

Ha, yes, I remember Cooper Hall. While I was teaching at USF I didn't ask for computer classrooms because I hadn't worked out my pedagogy for using them, but now I "insist." They're so perfect for doing peer reviews and workshops, and I think my productivity has shot up 200-300% since switching to my current practice. I really got nowhere using printouts or photocopies.

The only problem is whether or not you can see the students' monitors at all times. If you're in a room where they think they can "hide" behind their monitors, the computers become a hindrance rather than an asset. Strangely, there are actually very few computer classrooms I've seen where the design makes sense: a "horseshoe" with a table in the middle. The table is very nice because you can say, "Okay, let's come AWAY from the computers and to the table for discussion."

Things would be great here if they didn't keep trying to cram so many students into the classes. I know that's a problem everywhere, but there seems to be a "sweet spot" where adding extra butts just ruins the dynamic. If it were up to me, I'd set the cap at 18 and live happily ever after.

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Check out Barton's gaming blog at Armchair Arcade.

"If it were up to me, I'd set the cap at 18 and live happily ever after."

Matt. I suddenly realized that you would make the best WPA ever, not just because of this comment (because who doesn't want to reduce caps?), but for so many other reasons, too. Probably after about two weeks, for example, the textbook representatives would stop even bothering to visit you.

CultureCat

I put "it's very easy," and I'm surprised that it would be different elsewhere. The one time I asked to teach in a computer classroom was in the spring of 1992, at Southern Illinois University. My request was granted. I'm not sure that everyone who wanted one got one--but that was a long time ago.

Since then, everywhere I've taught, it's just been assumed that I would teach in a computer classroom. Sometimes the class has been split, meeting only once or twice a week in the computer classroom, but that hasn't created much of a problem.

I suppose that when I look for my next job, this will be something to ask about.