TheLearning Station™ is a patented product of The Summerland Group The Desk that becomes a Workstation This practical, rugged, feature-filled model converts instantly from a student desk to a mobile computer workstation. The electrically powered monitor lift provides a desk top that is instantly power adjustable to fit a student of literally any size. Left/Right Keyboard tray is also height adjustable. This logical, ergonomic solution is ideal for for K-12 classrooms, computer labs, library or home use. Above & top right animation: Model K-4 for Kindergarten thru 4th grade. At right: Model LS-512 for older students and adults. Just touch a switch to summon your concealed computer system.

School furniture requirements have remained basically the same (give or take a little cosmetic updating) for about the last century. Suddenly, personal computers became commonplace, and in the blink of an eye.....things changed.

As recently as yesterday, schools could have easily made do with a simple particleboard/melamine and metal tubing style desk. After all, how complicated was a place to use a three-ring binder, a crayon and a coloring book?

But literally overnight, here are second-graders! using stuff like Paint Shop Pro™ and Alchemy Mindworks™, busily animating .GIF's to illustrate stories for their creative writing class.

Touch-typing classes used to be reserved for aspiring secretaries, but now, computer-using students without that training quickly find themselves at a practical as well as a competitive disadvantage. And along with computer use, comes responsibility to ensure proper ergonomics for computer-using students.

It's a whole new world out there, in more ways than one.

Yesterday's tools are not appropriately responsive to the educational demands of today's students. That's because today's students are different than the students of 1968. Times have changed. So have the practical requirements for school furniture. There will be more, not less use of computers in schools from here on out.

The engineers of school furniture are changing too. Summerland is an engineering firm whose product team includes aerospace, automotive, and NASA mechanical, electrical and systems engineers, woodworking craftspeople, metal fabrication, material experts, and motor specialists. We manufacture innovative, award-winning computer furnishings as well as superior LIFT mechanisms.

We build what your students need. And we keep your school from having to budget for two separate sets of furniture. That's because ours is convertable. Just touch the button and there's the desk with the computer. Touch the button again, there's the same desk without the computer. Sensible, isn't it? That's the whole idea. Expensive? No, as a matter of fact, it's not. But if your school needs help with your computer and computer furniture budget, let us know. You'd be surprised what we can accomplish when we work together.

The OFFICE Learning Station™ is;

1. Ideally suited for wireless network classroom computing.

2. Compact footprint. The LS-512 model for older students and adults takes up only 24" x 28" of valuable classroom space.

3. It's Mobile. A definite advantage. Cluster them or arrange them anywhere you like, according to classroom demands.

4. The ultimate Double-duty unit. The patented Learning Station™ is the only one of its kind.

• Model ranges to fit any size, any age user.
• Any task, computing or non-computing.

When computers are newly introduced into a classroom, more often than not, they're simply dropped on a tabletop, without any further thought being given to ergonomic safety, proper computer learning conditions, age-restricted classroom use, or the potential for damage to expensive computer equipment left out in the open.

Typical classroom with computers Use-limited, and non-ergonomic Click on photo to enlarge.

Ever go to a parent-teacher conference and try to sit in one of those little desks with your knees up around your ears? Those desks limit the functional utility of a classroom. Because of that single-use desk selection, the classroom can't be used for anything else but little kids. With The Learning Station, you can take the exact same room and use desks and computers for older kids or continuing education night classes. That's because The Learning Station is convertable and adjustable. Of equal importance is the fact that expensive computer equipment is safely secured, out of harm's way when it's not in use.

 

In K-12 classrooms, kids come in all shapes and sizes. They also experience growth spurts of up to six inches in a single school year. Equate that to your own size. For example, think about going from 5'8" to 6'2" in the blink of an eye. In universities, the physical characteristics of the student body can run the gamut from a petite gymnast to an oversized sports jock, to a student in a wheelchair. The Learning Station is designed to accommodate each of them. Shown at right: Model K-4 LS-512 model of The Learning Station is adjustable to fit a range of users starting with 4th and 5th graders and going all the way up to the University's tallest basketball player. Honest.

The monitor and keyboard height can be instantly adjusted to best suit each user's physical requirements, complying with ergonomic recommendations for safe computing.

Additionally, with the touch of a switch, the monitor can be made to immediately disappear from the desktop altogether, completely freeing the work surface for non-computing tasks. Thus, the former "computer-lab" room can now function as a regular classroom, and the regular classroom can become instantly computer-enabled.

This unit will accept either tower or desktop CPU's, with full utility. Our engineers have made certain that the ergonomic health of these growing children is not compromised.  

The Learning Station is mobile on demand, and the monitor promptly disappears below desk, leaving a smooth, rugged, kid-proof (and we DO mean kid-proof!) work surface for non-computing class tasks.

The monitor, when lowered to clear the desktop for non-computing tasks, is safely protected little feet. Or big feet, for that matter. No worry about little fingers getting pinched either. Everything we design is engineered to make sense. Logical? You bet!

Courtesy Colorado State Univ. "Preventing Computer Injuries"

A BRIEF WORD ABOUT ERGONOMICS: (and common sense). Ergonomics professionals do know what they're talking about. Eyes should be a proper distance from the monitor, and the keyboard needs to be at a comfortable working height. More importantly, however, computer users need a comfortably straight line of sight to a screen. For growing children, this requirement is particularly important. Below-desk fixed-mount monitors can be quite helpful to those users for whom they were originally designed. (i.e. - the older, bifocal wearer.) But a comfortably straight line of site cannot be accomplished with a monitor permanently affixed below desk, and often separated from the viewer by a clear or tinted glass screen. You don't have your TV sitting on it's back on the floor, do you?---no, of course not. Still, there are circumstances when a below-desk VDT or "paralax"-style desk can be helpful. So we do make both. But our version, the LS-512P is the only one in the world that's adjustable. And just for good measure, we also made it convertible. (So that if you do change your mind about your preferred viewing style, you don't have to go out and buy all new computer furniture). That's more common sense engineering. From kindergarten to college, kids come in all shapes and sizes. We've engineered a unit which provides what's needed for each of them, regardless of size, to work safely, and ergonomically. We've also provided the ability to make the monitor go away when there's non-computing work* to be done. (*Hey...textbooks, notebooks, crayons, clay, and construction paper are still part of the curriculum, right?)

 

The Learning Station™ At right: K-4 model for Kindergarten thru 4th graders Height-adjustable desktop, standard models fit most any age user! Handicapped accessible. K-4 converts for Left or Right handed kids. Height adjustable monitor & keyboard K-4 accepts up to 19" monitor Monitor disappears to provide standard desktop Wired and MOBILE ! The Learning Station Model K-4 has been specifically designed to expand safe computing use to even the the tiniest of tots. Shown above: The Learning Station Model K-4 for Kindergarden and Primary School Students.

READY TO ROLL! - No need to remove computer equipment. The Learning Station's LS-Lift & Roll handle simply slides into upper keyboard tray slot, creating a light-weight, wheeled cart type mobility for this unit. Arrange classrooms with desired desk layout, rearrange at will !

Secure, SILENT, Key-lock controlled Power Monitor Lift (12 v.) adjusts at any height from 24" to 30" desk top height. Monitor Lift Capacity greater than 150 Lbs. Safety travel cycle - 16 Seconds. Full mobility with lift & roll Requires only a single 110v cord to wall. Hard-wire or wireless network ready Available in wood or high pressure laminate. WANT TO KNOW MORE ? ADDITIONAL PHOTOS & DETAILED INFORMATION FOR SCHOOLS

Above: The OFFICE™ CEO Model Winner: International Grand Prize at NeoCon, the World's Trade Fair for Interior Design, Facilities Management & Communications

Our goal is to make the highest quality product available to you at the lowest possible price. You may order either The OFFICE™, The Learning Station™, Summerlift™ or Lift & Roll™ products by simply picking up the phone. Interior Designers, Architects, Telecommuting, Ergonomics Specialists, Facilities Managers, Furniture Retailers and OEM are also invited to contact us . Call us at 561-219-0455 or send e-mail to The OFFICE™

Take a peek inside The OFFICE™ R & D Shop. Click on the ladder to get inside. Watch where you step. it's probably dark in there.

Reader's Digest Editor's Choice

Fortune Magazine "Product-to-Watch"

International Grand-Prize Award NeoCon The World's Trade Fair for Interior Design, Facilities Management & Communications

Featured live on the NBC TODAY Show

The OFFICE™ is the only self-contained, fully wired product of its kind, anywhere in the world. It is exactly what you have been searching for.