The philosophy driving the space was that I wanted a room that was imminently flexible: with a mobile teaching space, movable desks and chairs, and extremely versatile surfaces.
My rationale was: if there was a defined 'front of the room', then the teacher would be there. Which means the students would naturally align themselves in front of the teacher, creating that "Sage on the Stage" arrangement. So the first thing I did was remove any evidence of a "front", by taking down the projector and board, and by making all the walls writable surfaces.
We looked at different products, but ended up using formica countertop material glued to plywood backing. There is also a spacer behind each board, leaving a little 'breather space' between the board and the wall. In the steamy season, the walls sweat and we felt that having the board mounted against the plaster walls would have been too fragile.
I installed folding tables and chairs, all mobile, in the room. My first intent was to make the policy that after each class, the room had to be returned to a 'neutral state' so incoming classes had no implied set-up, but teachers found that it was easier to rearrange the room if the tables and chairs were deployed, so the policy was suspended.
In order or provide for projection, I tried two different setups. The first was for a self-contained mobile projection platform. I started with an Ergotron Teachwell adjustable lecturn, mounted a flat surface and strapped a projector to it, added a USB document camera, and mounted an amp and speakers to the base. There were some issues in cabling: it would have been nice if some sort of docking station was available for the computers, but in the end each device had its own plug that had to be plugged in (projector, audio, document camera, power). The resulting product could be moved around the room, plugged into any floor outlet, adjusted for height, and projected onto the walls.
Overall, this experiment was not quite successful; the projector was far too sensitive to any motion on the stand (even typing on the computer), and the focal length meant that the user had to endlessly mess with keystone settings. Also, the reflected glare from the projector was hard to manage. After some time, this station was abandoned and disassembled.
The next (and eminently more successful) projection system was a portable SMART board with a short throw projector. I found a big screen TV mount (also made by Ergotron), and working with some engineers we built a mounting bracket that could hold a SMART board and also a projector while maintaining stability.
The signal was sent to the projector wirelessly from the computer using an Imation LINK device. This worked very well (better than Apple TV, in terms of signal stability) except that there was some small visible 'chop' while watching videos. The best feature was that kids could project their computer screens merely by passing around the USB dongle.
Connection to the SMART board was via a proprietary bluetooth link (since discontinued by SMART). The board had some issues with maintaining connectivity, but with practice, all users were able to troubleshoot when necessary, or else bypass with a Thunderbolt-VGA cable.
For audio, we mounted an amplifier and speaker system to the legs of the mobile board, which also added to the stability of the board. It took the audio feed from the Imation LINK device. If teachers chose to use the VGA cable, then they could either connect to the audio with a bluetooth device, or else use an audio cable backup.
When we switched to Macbook Airs (with no DVD drive), we also mounted a DVD/CD player on the legs of the portable board, and wired the audio to the speakers via a separate channel, so the amplifier could receive feed from the computer or the DVD player.
The teacher's workstation was also wireless. I used an Ergotron adjustable lectern and mounted a USB expansion hub. In the hub I plugged in a USB Document Camera, the dongle for the SMARTboard, and the dongle for the Imation LINK. Teachers connected to the audio track via a bluetooth audio hookup...the result was a truly wireless portable teaching station with only one USB plug to attach. If their computers were charged, the teachers did not even need to plug in the power cable, and could roll the workstation anywhere in the room and still maintain audio, video, projection and SMART connectivity.
Together, the portable SMART board and Mobile Teaching Station only needed one power plug on the SMART board to run the projector and amplifier. Other than that, they are a very versatile and mobile presentation platform pair...although in truth, most teachers tend to use the cable connection to the projector rather than the Imation LINK.
The classroom space took some time for teachers to start to want to use. The math department eventually became the prime users, being very excited about the multiple whiteboard spaces and as they are some of our most prolific SMART users, they found the SMARTboard very useful. Other classes used it and made extensive use of the mobile project surface...the board could be moved anywhere in the room and seating arrangements could be adjusted as needed.
All in all, a lot was learned about this space. I found that teachers were not as creative about manipulating the workspace as I hoped they would be, and eventually the board ended up residing at one end of the room with the teacher workdesk occupying the traditional 'front of the room' setting. However, the room does get used almost every period now, mostly by math teachers, but also for meetings with Admin and student groups. Maybe one of the best outcomes was that people who wanted to use the space had to learn to manage some basic troubleshooting, and this skill ended up spreading around the departments.
One notable thing happened: when the school had to absorb the Language Department space for the SW Admin as we built our new campus, extensive renovations occurred to the entire wing. However, the Admin universally agreed to preserve the Experimental Classroom, as it served as such a versatile, useful and important learning space in the HS.
