Decision-making process in creating a handheld lesson plan

The lesson plan I created was a lesson in copying, by means of a scanner, a simple floor plan from a house design magazine and importing the image into AutoCAD. Teaching experience has taught me over the years that if I assign students to lay out a simple floor plan of a house to be used in AutoCAD, I get one of three results: 1) the student has no idea how to start laying out a floor plan, 2) the plan is too simple, or 3) the plan would never get built because of impracticality or ridiculous expense. The need is for each student to quickly and efficiently have a basic floor plan that can be easily manipulated in AutoCAD, and at the same time not have every student working on the same floor plan. By allowing students to pick a plan out of a magazine, I give them a choice and input into the lesson while assuring each student begins with a viable floor plan. Using a handheld scanner is the most convenient, easiest way to get all students up and productive.

I have several house plan magazines available for students in the classroom. The plans are not very large so that a handheld scanner can easily scan the image and download the file onto their computers. The decision was made to use a handheld scanner over a stationary flat bed because students could take the handheld scanner to their workstation once they have found a floor layout.

The handheld scanners cost $100 to $200 depending on specifications, quality, and available options. Hammacher Schlemmer sells a handheld scanner for $99 with the option of purchasing 4GB SD card for $29.95. Because of the relatively low cost, multiple scanners can be made available so that scanning is not limited to one student at a time. This seemed more efficient than having students stand in line to use a flatbed scanner.