Computers are everywhere, in the classroom, in the library, in the labs and even in the hallways. The assumption is that if you provide your school with the appropriate hardware, software and training, you are keeping up with the technological requirements of the modern age. But what has been too often taken for granted is what you put the computers on. The seemingly mundane subject of systems furniture and workstations raises many issues of ergonomics, cable management, flexibility, multipurpose use and space requirements. These issues, too often inadequately dealt with, must be addressed fully to ensure that computers fulfill their potential in education.“The first thing that must be pointed out to school administrators is that what we call tablet armchairs — the integrated desk and chair — does not mix with technology,” says Glenn Meeks, CEO of Meeks Technology Group of Cary, N.C.

Yet, continues Meeks, there is considerable pressure to maintain this traditional furniture. First of all, it’s already there, paid for and has been universally accepted because it has worked so well in the past. Manufacturers have long perfected the design and mass produced these units, so when new furniture is needed, these are the most inexpensive. They put each student in his or her own space at once giving him or her autonomy yet providing a separation that aids classroom discipline.

Not only the furniture, but also the schoolrooms themselves were built for a different era.“Ninety percent of existing rooms have been built without sufficient power for technology,” Meeks says. How do you get sufficient alternating current (A.C.) power out into the middle of the room? A power pole can be put into the center of the room, but this is a permanent and ugly solution. Electrical codes do not allow you to plug one multi-outlet strip into another. But there are solutions. One is a power extender that falls under different UL listings that can be plugged into a multi-outlet strip. There are also available battery-size mouse pads that will fit under a portable PC and provide eight to 10 hours of power.

Tables need wire cables that are not permanent to allow for flexibility in moving them around.“The trend is toward kids bringing portable computers with wireless access, so here you don’t need data cables, just A.C. power,” Meeks says. “But even for students bringing in portable laptops, the tablet armchairs are horrible desks for computer use.”

Moreover, Meeks explains, learning research has shown that students in K-5th grade learn best by working in collaboration, feeding off of and teaching each other. Therefore, this involves, for these grades, computers that are larger than laptops.

For elementary schools, Meeks recommends a desk of at least five ft. by two ft. to accommodate monitor, keyboard, books and two students, which breaks down to 30 in. by 24 in. per student. Typically there should be two ft. in front of and two ft. in back of the desk, and the fire aisles to the side are usually about four ft. wide. One simplification that Meeks points out with this suggested size is that “the same desk can be used in both the computer lab and the classroom, so you don’t need a different size for each.”

If providing one basic workstation size, along with laptops, solves much of the furniture problem, another challenge, says Elizabeth (Betts) Barrett, nation director of the Instructional Division of Meeks Technology Group, in Glendale, Ariz., “is that of the moveability and flexibility of computer furniture. That’s what we hear the most concern about from schools.”

Barrett explains that at one time there was a separation between classrooms, which didn’t have computers, and the computer lab, which did. The architecture of the latter was such that the tables and chairs were not moveable, which was acceptable in that setting. However, once computers moved into the classroom, with their concealed wire options, the furniture that was previously flexible and arrangeable was forced to adjust to the network and became immovable.

However, a solution has come about through a company called Synsor, Inc., which Barrett recommends. Here the cabling, as well as the furniture, is modular and is capable of being rearranged. Once in place, each station locks down for security purposes. And, says Barrett, “It’s a fairly robust construction designed to hold up to high school kids sitting at it and beating at it.”

Basically, all that has to be done is start with all of the basic configurations possible in any given room. Establish this in terms of whether it’s going to be science, art, a multipurpose room or a standard classroom that might want to be configured in different ways. Get all of the possibilities down, even to the wire cases running along the back of the furniture. What results is that the teacher can then change the furniture around any way he or she likes and does not need maintenance people to do the job.

“We designed one school and came back a couple years later to find that everything had changed,” Barrett says. “No room was alike. The teachers had traded furniture around, inventory ended up in different places and teachers had the flexibility to shape their classrooms pretty much the way they wanted to.”

The arrival of wireless laptops, Barrett says, “means teachers have the options of moving either the kids or the furniture.” On one level, it might appear that all you had to do is give every student a laptop and you could do away with the cabling problems altogether. But, explains Barrett, “You can’t have 30 kids with lap tops doing a high-end multimedia production.”

A combination of the two is necessary. There should be a hardwired corner of the room for shared and high-end projects. On the other hand, in terms of minimizing expenses, there can be special project rooms, electronic cafés or the library for big and shared projects, cutting down on the number of big workstations. Although these workstations are not in the classrooms, the laptops, once they’ve been downloaded from these workshops, can be brought into the classrooms.

In terms of ergonomics, Lorraine Maxwell, Ph.D., associate professor at Cornell University, says her work has not been focused on high schools, “which may be doing a better job, but I do know that elementary and middle schools have not caught up with adult computers, and this can have serious health consequences for students.”

Maxwell points out that there is strong evidence pointing to the adverse affects of poor workstation design on the musculoskeletal system in adults, and this is likely to be true for children as well.

There are several problems affecting health in adults, Maxwell says. For instance, the criteria for good-seated posture includes back support, leg support, neck angle, elbow flexion, arm abduction and wrist angle. Keyboard heights and mouse pad positions are important. Carpal tunnel syndrome can result from the wrists and fingers not being in the right position.

“There are presently no comprehensive standards from which school administrators, educational facility managers or product designers can base their decisions about the design of computer environments for children,” Maxwell says.

A problem Maxwell has found, she says, when speaking to furniture manufacturers, “is that of the chicken or the egg. They say they can’t mass produce it to the point where schools can afford to buy it. Yet, schools can’t buy this furniture because the manufactures don’t make it. Schools may say the furniture is adjustable, but it’s not as adjustable as it is at the office. The school janitor has to come up or the teacher has to have a wrench.”

As Maxwell points out, adults come in different sizes, but children come in a greater range of sizes. Through- out the course of a day, computer furniture should be able to be adjusted constantly and easily. But this is not the case. “One of the issues is the fear that kids will abuse this furniture,” Maxwell says.

“And, it’s true that in the Sunday school we attend, where we did encourage adjustable chairs, the kids do play with them and spin them around. So durability and cost are issues. But these are problems that have to be addressed.”

In other words, computers cannot provide all of the solutions. Some of them have to be found in the furniture that supports them.