IH02-UrvashiGupta

From IEOR 170 Spring 2007

Background and Problems

Currently the problems that students face in the classrooms in Etcheverry Hall are

•people sitting in the back can’t see the board clearly

•the chairs are not convenient for students to take notes on their laptop as the tables attached to the chairs are small

•there are never enough power outlets so that people have a supply while they are working on their laptops or taking notes

•people who bring in drinks set them on the desk and floor and they end up getting knocked over and dirtying the classroom

•there is a health hazard involved as the human body is not meant to be placed in a 90 degrees upright position and students generally use these chairs for a large part of the day

Target Group

My target group is obviously the students who spent a big part of the day in these classrooms and hence need to have a comfortable and well equipped classroom that can meet their needs such that they can learn effectively in their surroundings.

Solutions

To solve all these problems, I propose redesigning the chair in the classroom, as I feel this is the one item in the classroom that students use the most and redesigning it should hence enable us to solve a lot of the problems faced in the classroom in general. I propose that a few things should be added and changed to achieve this. One of them is definitely the angle at which the chair is tilted. (See Figure 1) Health studies have shown that the human body should not be in an upright sitting position at 90 degrees which is what the chairs in typical classrooms force us into. It should instead be tilted at a greater angle so it will be more ergonomic and healthier for the students to use.

Also the students at the back in a classroom always have a hard time getting a clear view of the blackboard as all the chairs are at the same level. Hence I would redesign the chairs in the back few rows so that their height is adjustable and students at the back can elevate themselves and get a clear view as well. (See Figure 2) A lot of students carry drinks like coffee into class to help them keep awake and I think that a collapsible cup holder should be built into the leg of the chair so that students no longer have to worry about knocking over cups of beverages and dirtying the classroom. (See Figure 3)

I feel that the desk attached to the chair also has a lot of room for improvement. (See Figure 4) Right now it’s too small to balance a laptop on, and hence it should have a wider surface so students can use their laptops in class and have space for a notebook as well. Another problem is that there are only a few power outlets near the walls in the classrooms, so only a limited number of people have access to the powere supply. I recommend that there should be power supplies on the floor, spaced roughly 2 feet apart each so all students can plug in their laptops and take notes effectively. Lastly, there is always too much clutter on the floor when people put their bags and extra books on the floor space next to them so people coming in later have to pick their way through the mess. I reccomend attching small wire baskets to the bottom of each chair so that it would keep the classroom floor clutter free and make it easy to move around. (See Figure 1)

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4