I recently graduated from Bowling Green State University with a Master’s of Education in Classroom Technology along with a K-12 Online Teaching and Learning Certificate. There will be a post later summarizing this experience as I did it all online. As a graduation gift for myself, it was decided I needed a desk and would turn my spare bedroom into a home office. I didn’t want the regular run of the mill desk and went out searching for a standing desk. The price points for entry into a standing desk were a bit high until I found a site that gave directions and a kit for building a standing desk that was under $200.
The materials were bought and I started building the desk. The desk was from Ikea built with directions found via DIYStandingDeskKit.com. The directions from IKEA are similar to the directions you would find in a Lego kit. The directions are all in pictures with no words. This style of learning is great for those who can process a visual but for the rest of us it is a challenge. I am the type of learner who needs words and pictures. I cobbled my learning style together for this project by utilizing the Internet and finding others who had done this project. It was a reminder for me as an educator to create projects that utilize aspects of both styles.
While I enjoyed the design from DIYStandingDeskKit.com, I wasn’t satisfied with my desk at that point. While browsing the Internet I found the site IKEAHackers.net. The site is a great resource and led me to the hardware store so I could purchase a piece of white tile board. I had the tile board cut so it fit the desk surface and then was left over with two additional pieces. The white tile board has allowed for me to create a desk with a writable surface! I can scribble down notes, ideas and more on the desk and then take a picture of the creation. I can then take the picture and throw it into Evernote and it will become searchable. The two pieces of white tile board that were left over after cutting the desk surface have also been put in use. One piece is hung just off to my left and can be another surface for writing or anything else that comes to mind. The other piece has been divided into five sections, one for each day of the week. It is hanging on the wall across from my desk and will be used to track major projects or milestones that are do that week.
The white tile board cost a whopping $14.00 and comes in 96″ x 32″. If I was in the classroom or had influence in a school over the design of a classroom, I would strongly recommend that the white tile board be adhered to the desk surface and a pack of dry erase markers be required. You will also want multiple bottles of expo white board care cleaner on hand. The ability to quickly take a note, draw an idea or diagram and capture it with a phone or camera is beyond valuable. I quickly drew the water cycle on my desk and threw it into Evernote.
Pictures of the setup are below:
