If your school is in a position to replace the current set-up, I would highly recommend you return to traditional monitors (raised up on a vertical plane).
Looking forward (5-10 years): Once technology allows (and the pricepoint drops dramatically) truly intuitive touch-screen usage where it makes sense to 'manipulate' data by hands (etc) on a horizontal surface, there is little value to the imbedded screens (by today's standards) and there are also sight-line issues that are different than comparing to writing on a flat surface.
Overall, the anecodal evidence I gathered while working with schools and architects around the world does not suggest a strong compulsion to go with horizontal screens based on a keyboard-centric application.
Best of luck.
Cheers,
Christian Long
The Oakridge School
(previously with DesignShare.com)
Deirdre Hoey <deirdre@HOEY.ORG> wrote:
A school I'm working with has a student computing lab with the monitors
beneath the desks (the kind where students look through a piece of glass on
the top of the desk). This is a PreK-8 school and was concerned about
whether there was a usability issue with these types of desks. Or are these
desks more conducive to learning since it limits the distraction of a
neighbor's monitor? Are there any ISED members who use these types of desks?
Thanks. -frank
Baltimore, MD
[ For info on ISED-L see http://www.gds.org/ISED-L ]
Submissions to ISED-L are released under a Creative Commons license.
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[ For info on ISED-L see http://www.gds.org/ISED-L ]
Submissions to ISED-L are released under a Creative Commons license.
