Mobile Classrooms

Bick Data

Management Systems, Inc.

Reinventing Today's Classrooms With Wireless Technology

Convert any room into a computer lab!

See detailed specifications on Metal Cart

An Educators Perspective

The real "treasure" that educators seek comes from the effective use of technology to help students learn and perform better in the classroom. They seek to engage children in their learning experience and get them active, excited and involved every day.

Today, children aren't learning as they sit rigidly at their desks, they want to be engaged, interested and active.

As we listen to our children, we hear them pleading to take learning beyond the four walls of a classroom, out into the real world where they can be actively engaged in authentic learning experiences relevant to life.

What our children are telling us is in complete agreement with research by experts in brain based learning. This research states that traditional instruction is at odds with how the brain learns, and that a typical classroom environment actually inhibits the brain from learning.

Engaged Learning

Engaged learning is based on the simple belief that students of all ages learn better when they are active participants in what they are studying.

	The teacher is a facilitator in learning. (Helping rather than controlling)
	Learning tasks are authentic, challenging, and multidisciplinary. (Just like the 'real world.')
	Students participate in interactive modes of instruction. (Doing, exchanging ideas, working together)
	Students learn through exploration. (Freedom from structure)
	Students work collaboratively. (Learning from each other in the classroom or across the world)
	Assessments are based on students' performance of real tasks. (We are moving from theory to practice)

Recent advances in technology have shifted classroom learning from a passive mode to this new active, engaged model in which students are doers as well as thinkers.

We remember:
10% of what we read
20% of what we hear
30% of what we see
50% of what we hear and see
70% of what we discuss with others
80% of what we experience by doing
95% of what we teach to others

What role does the Web play in Engaged Learning?

	The Web provides access to information that may be more current or more extensive than students are likely to find at their school site.
	The Web supports communication and links students to experts and to other students.
	Finally, it makes global student authoring and publishing possible, so students can contribute to others' learning.

These characteristics relate directly to the principles of Engaged Learning. Teachers can use the web to introduce a class to a topic or involve them in a group activity.

With wireless technology, educators can create anytime, anywhere learning opportunities without the need for extensive cable networks or new computer labs.

Laptop and desktop computers with wireless networking receivers can 'roam' at will through hard-to-cable school buildings, temporary classrooms, and those areas outside the walls of traditional learning centers. Wireless technology can make accessing servers, researching the Internet, and sending electronic messages a more painless process.