One of my favorite training bloggers, Andrea Mercado, has posted some exciting news over on LibraryTechtonics. The trustees at her place of employment have approved spending $12,000 to improve the library’s computer lab. New computers, new furniture, a SMART Board, and more are in the works!
I’ve spent a lot of my library technology training life taking my show on the road and adapting to various rooms and environments. I have set up and torn down computer labs so many times that I go into a sort of Zen zone every time I do it (I actually enjoy it for that reason). When I did a lot of team-training (and therefore, team lab set-up), it seemed there were always an initial few minutes of struggle between the trainers… in which we tried to determine the best arrangement for a particular space.
When my place of employment moved into a new building recently, I was really able to be very specific about the training lab I wanted to have. It was a little overwhelming. I think that because I have always focused so much on adapting to not-ideal settings, trying to envision the ideal was a new thing. I’m happy with how things turned out.
A few of the things I like when doing technology training:
- U-shape set-up (horseshoe) so that learners are facing one another (I dislike when they have their backs to one another)
- Printer availability (handy to be able to print things on the fly)
- Speakers for the presenter computer (show quick videos, etc)
- White board for writing notes/reminders (I like this in addition to the SMART board)
- Telephone w/speaker phone (we seem to be doing more and more webinar type things – where it’s handy to be able to have someone on speaker phone in the lab)
- Comfortable chairs
- Empty desktop space at each computer (enough room to write, set a folder, etc)
People have started bringing their own laptops to training now and then, so we’ve created workspaces in the training lab for them, too. I would guess the number of people doing that will increase.
Those are a few things off the top of my head. I’m going to try to think of more and would love to hear from other trainers. What’s on your list?
