The first tool that I looked at from this week’s tool evaluations is the website “Classroom Architect.” On this website, users can create a floor plan/map for their classroom. You can put in the dimensions of the room and then add as many different objects to it as you would like. The website has every object you could think of from desks to tables to beanbag chairs. I tried using the website to create my own example floor plan and I now have a few mixed opinions about the site. I do really like that the website offers so many objects to put into the floor plan and that you can pretty much put them wherever you would like. However, there are only a few ways to rotate the objects so I was not able to do everything that I wanted to. I also wish that I could make up my own objects to put into the floor plan. I personally do not think that I would use this website in my classroom. I would prefer to physically move objects around my classroom so that I could see them in place for real and not on the computer screen. Maybe I would use this to make a vague outline of my classroom but I do not think I would spend too much time with it. I also was unable to copy or take a screenshot of the floor plan that I made so I could not post it into here. I’m not sure if that has to do with the website or not but it I found myself getting frustrated trying to arrange some of the objects and I wonder what I would do if the classroom wasn’t in the shape of a rectangle. There is no way to change the shape of the room only the dimensions of the rectangle so I think that could be a challenge for some people. I think I would rather map my room out on paper or on a different site if there is one because I did not find this to be as easy as I thought it might be going into it.
The second tool that I looked at from the tool evaluations was “Scholastic: Tools.” This is another site where users can make an floor plan or design for their classroom so I thought that it would be interesting to look at it compared to Classroom Architect. I liked this website more than the other one. While trying to make a floor plan on Scholastic, I found that there was a lot more flexibility in moving the different objects and arranging them the way that I wanted to. There was not much difference in the ability to rotate the objects but there was a lot more flexibility in placing the objects where I wanted them in relation to each other. I wanted to have certain objects closer to each other and the Classroom Architect site just did not always allow that. The Scholastic site also had more variety of objects such as windows and doors which really helped me to get the full picture of the room in my head. The Scholastic site also had the ability to put in a list of students names and then place them around the room. I love this feature because it allows for not just a classroom floor plan but for a seating chart as well. The down side of the Scholastic site was that, like Classroom Architect, there was only one shape for the room, just different sizes. However, on the Scholastic site you can’t input specific dimensions you can only pick between a square, a tall rectangle, or a wide rectangle. I also was unable to figure out how to take a screenshot or make a copy of this floor plan. I wish both of the sites made that more clear. I think I would definitely use the Scholastic site over the Classroom Architect site when designing a plan for my own classroom.
EDU 222: Technology Integration 