Abstract:
An education carrel for instruction and testing environments. The carrel includes a non-transparent first panel, a second non-transparent panel, a first-and-second panel retention member, a non-transparent privacy panel, and a non-transparent privacy panel retention member which detachably engages the aforementioned components.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    None. 
       STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
       [0002]    Not Applicable. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0003]    1. Field 
         [0004]    The present disclosure provides an education carrel for instruction and testing environments. More particularly, the disclosure provides an educational carrel which may, during instruction, be used to provide separate workspaces and, during testing, to provide privacy to the test-taker while providing the opportunity for monitoring by the test proctor, accomplished by an educational carrel with a rear panel which provides an unobstructed view during instruction and which includes a privacy panel for which during testing which blocks the forward view of the test-taker while affording the ability to monitor to the test-taker&#39;s work surface to the monitoring test proctor. 
         [0005]    2. Description of the Related Art 
         [0006]    Educational carrels are well known. Whether incorporating a table or designed to sit atop a work surface, educational carrels include two non-transparent side walls and a non-transparent rear wall affixed to one another to provide a semi-enclosed area where the student may work without external distraction. These may be found in library environments for studying and may be found in classroom environments, for focused work or for test-taking. The use of carrels has been extended to provide students from physically interacting with one another, providing a measure of separateness, to encourage focus. 
         [0007]    While useful, these carrels cannot be easily deployed in a classroom setting due to the non-transparent nature of the rear panel as students cannot see the instructor nor can the instructor easily see the students absent a raised dais for the instructor, which provides only limited benefit. As a result, portable carrels are often deployed only for testing conditions, requiring storage, consuming time for deployment, and creating a distracting in the testing area. 
         [0008]    Alternatively, eliminating the rear panel eliminates the desires privacy in a test-taking environmental. Additionally, during testing conditions, the test proctor can observe test-takers only from the rear or from above, which reduces the effectiveness of the proctor. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0009]    The present disclosure therefore, overcomes one or more deficiencies in the prior art by providing an education carrel for instruction and testing environments. The present disclosure provides for an educational carrel which may, during instruction, be used to provide separate workspaces and, during testing, to provide privacy to the test-taker while providing the opportunity for monitoring by the test proctor, accomplished by an educational carrel with a rear panel which provides an unobstructed view during instruction and which includes a privacy panel for which during testing which blocks the forward view of the test-taker while affording the ability to monitor to the test-taker&#39;s work surface to the monitoring test proctor. 
         [0010]    The disclosure includes a carrel for education purposes, comprising: i) a non-transparent first panel, said non-transparent first panel having first panel height, first panel depth, and a first panel rear edge; ii) a non-transparent second panel, said non-transparent second panel having second panel height, second panel depth, and a second panel rear edge said second panel height equivalent to said first panel height; said second panel depth equivalent to said first panel depth; iii) a first-and-second panel retention member, said first-and-second panel retention member affixed substantially perpendicular to said non-transparent first panel near said first panel rear edge, said first panel extending forwardly from said first-and-second panel retention member, said first-and-second panel retention member affixed substantially perpendicular to said non-transparent second panel near said second panel rear edge, said second panel extending forwardly from said first-and-second panel retention member, said first-and-second panel retention member separating said non-transparent first panel and said non-transparent second panel by a separation width; iv) a non-transparent privacy panel, said non-transparent privacy panel having a non-transparent privacy panel width and a non-transparent privacy panel height said non-transparent privacy panel width equivalent to said separation width. said non-transparent privacy panel height no more than ⅔ said first panel height and no less than ½ said first panel height; and v) a privacy panel retention member, said privacy panel retention member affixed to said non-transparent privacy panel or to said first-and-second panel retention member or to said first panel and said second panel and providing detachable attachment of said non-transparent privacy panel to said first-and-second panel retention member or to said first panel and said second panel or to said non-transparent privacy panel. 
         [0011]    The foregoing and other objectives, features and advantages of the disclosure will be more readily understood upon consideration of the following detailed description of the disclosure, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0012]    So that the manner in which the described features, advantages and objects of the disclosure, as well as others which will become apparent, are attained and can be understood in detail, more particular description of the disclosure briefly summarized above may be had by reference to the embodiments thereof that are illustrated in the drawings, which drawings form a part of this specification. It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate only a typical preferred embodiment of the disclosure and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope as the disclosure may admit to other equally effective embodiments. 
           [0013]      FIG. 1  illustrates a perspective view of one embodiment of the present disclosure. 
           [0014]      FIG. 2  illustrates a view of the embodiment of  FIG. 1  from below. 
           [0015]      FIG. 3  illustrates a perspective view of another embodiment of the present disclosure with a different first-and-second panel retention member  1300 . 
           [0016]      FIG. 4  illustrates a view of the embodiment of  FIG. 3  from below. 
           [0017]      FIG. 5  illustrates another embodiment of the first-and-second panel retention member  1300  incorporating a non-transparent privacy panel retention member  1500 . 
           [0018]      FIG. 6  illustrates a perspective view of another embodiment of the present disclosure with incorporating a table. 
           [0019]      FIG. 7  illustrates a perspective view of another embodiment of the present disclosure with incorporating a table. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0020]    Referring first to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , an embodiment of the present disclosure is provided as viewed in perspective and from below, respectively. The educational carrel  1000  includes a non-transparent first panel  1100 , a non-transparent second panel  1200 , a first-and-second panel retention member  1300 , a non-transparent privacy panel  1400 , and a non-transparent privacy panel retention member  1500  which detachably engages the first panel  1100  and the second panel  1200  or the first-and-second panel retention member  1300  or the non-transparent privacy panel  1400 . 
         [0021]    In one embodiment, the non-transparent first panel  1100  includes a first panel front side  1102 , a first panel rear side  1104 , a first panel interior side  1106 , a first panel exterior side  1108 , a first panel top side  1110 , and a first panel bottom side  1112 , a first panel depth  1140 , and has a first panel height  1114 . Similarly, the non-transparent second panel  1200  includes a second panel second side  1202 , a second panel rear side  1204 , a second panel interior side  1206 , a second panel exterior side  1208 , a second panel top side  1210 , a second panel depth  1240  and a second panel bottom side  1212  and has a second panel height  1214 . The first panel  1100  and the second panel  1200  are equivalent in dimensions and may be translucent or opaque as desired, and are both non-transparent. 
         [0022]    A first-and-second panel retention member  1300  maintains the first panel  1100  and the second panel  1200  in relation to one another. The first-and-second panel retention member  1300  may be any structural member which maintains the first panel  1100  and the second panel  1200  in position, such as, for example, the open framework, such as depicted in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , a transparent panel, such as depicted in  FIGS. 3 and 4  or in  FIG. 5 , or  FIG. 6 , or a bracket as depicted in  FIG. 7 , or a collection of members. Additionally, a work surface panel may be provided to which the first panel bottom side  1112  and the second panel bottom side  1212  may be affixed to provide further rigidity and structure. 
         [0023]    Referring to  FIGS. 3 and 4 , where the first-and-second panel retention member  1300  is a transparent third panel, it further includes a first-and-second panel retention member interior side  1306 , a first-and-second panel retention member exterior side  1308 , a first-and-second panel retention member top side  1310 , a first-and-second panel retention member bottom side  1312 , a first-and-second panel retention member first side  1316  and a first-and-second panel retention member second side  1318  and has a first-and-second panel retention member height  1314  and a first-and-second panel retention member width  1320 . The first-and-second panel retention member  1300  is joined or affixed at or near the first-and-second panel retention member first end  1316  to the first panel  1100  at near first panel rear side  1104  so that the first-and-second panel retention member  1300  and the first panel  1100  are substantially perpendicular to one another at an end of each panel. This may be accomplished by nails, screws, bolts, or any other attachment known in the art. Similarly, the first-and-second panel retention member  1300  is joined or affixed at or near the first-and-second panel retention member first end  1316  to the second panel  1200  at near second panel rear side  1204  so that the first-and-second panel retention member  1300  and the second panel  1200  are substantially perpendicular to one another at an end of each panel, and so that the first panel  1100  and the second panel  1200  are parallel and extend forwardly from the rear panel  1300 . The first panel top side  1110 , the second panel top side  1210  and the third panel top side  1310  are generally aligned and co-planar. The first-and-second panel retention member  1300 , however, in addition to being transparent, need not have a third panel height  1314  equivalent to that of first panel height  1114  and second panel height  1214  and so may not extend to meet the first panel bottom side  1112  and/or the second panel bottom side  1212 . In such a case, the shorter first-and-second panel retention member height  1314  of the first-and-second panel retention member  1300  provides a glare-free opening for observation by the test proctor of student work. Additionally, where the first-and-second panel retention member  1300  is a transparent panel with a first-and-second panel retention member height  1314  equivalent to a first panel height  1114  a work surface panel may be provided to which the first panel bottom side  1112 , the second panel bottom side  1212 , the first-and-second panel retention member height bottom side  1312  may be affixed to provide further rigidity and structure. 
         [0024]    The non-transparent privacy panel  1400  includes a non-transparent privacy panel interior side  1406 , a non-transparent privacy panel top side  1410 , a non-transparent privacy panel bottom side  1412 , a non-transparent privacy panel first end  1416  and a non-transparent privacy panel second side  1418  and has a non-transparent privacy panel height  1414  and a non-transparent privacy panel width  1420 . The non-transparent privacy panel width  1420  is equivalent to the third panel width  1320  while the non-transparent privacy panel height  1414  is less than, preferably 5-7 inches less, than the first panel height  1114  and/or second panel height  1214 . The non-transparent privacy panel height  1414  is sufficiently less than than the first panel height  1114  and/or second panel height  1214  to block the student&#39;s view of the test proctor and of any student work on the other side of the non-transparent privacy panel  1400  while sufficiently high to permit observation of the student&#39;s work. 
         [0025]    A non-transparent privacy panel retention device  1500  is provided in connection with the assembled first panel  1100 , second panel  1200  and first-and-second panel retention member  1300 , to retain the non-transparent privacy panel  1400  adjacent, or within, rear panel  1300 , such that the non-transparent privacy panel top side  1410  may be aligned with, or proximate to the first panel top side  1110  and/or the second panel top side  1210 . The non-transparent privacy panel retention device  1500  may be a set of hooks, such as depicted in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , or a ledge affixed to the non-transparent privacy panel  1400  to engage the top side  1310  of the first-and-second panel retention member  1300 , such as depicted in  FIGS. 3 and 4 , or in  FIG. 6 , or the first panel top side  1110  and/or the second panel top side  1210 . Alternatively, the non-transparent privacy panel retention device  1500  may be a shelf affixed to the first-and-second panel retention member interior side  1306 . In another alternative, the non-transparent privacy panel retention device  1500  may be a set of brackets or hangers, such as illustrated in  FIG. 7 . Where the first-and-second panel retention member  1300  is a transparent panel, the non-transparent privacy panel retention device  1500  may comprise an interior sleeve  1510  into which the non-transparent privacy panel  1400  may be deposited, such as illustrated in  FIG. 5 . 
         [0026]    Thus, in operation, the instructor may view all students prior to engagement of the non-transparent privacy panel  1400 . Thereafter, the students may engage the non-transparent privacy panel  1400  to preclude any vision by students of those in front of them, while permitting the test proctor to view the work of the students. 
         [0027]    Referring to  FIG. 6 , in a further embodiment, the educational carrel  1000  may further include a work platform  6102  on which the first panel  1100  and second panel  1200  are adjacent and to which the first panel  1100  and second panel  1200  may be affixed so as to provide an integral whole. The first-and-second panel retention member  1300  may comprise a rear panel which does not extend to the first panel bottom side  1112  which maintains the positions of the first panel  1100  and second panel  1200 . The non-transparent privacy panel retention device  1500  may comprise a pair of open-topped hangers or brackets affixed at the first panel interior side  1106  and the second panel interior side  1206  near the first panel rear side  1104  and the second panel rear side  1204 , respectively, proximate to the first panel top side  1110  and the second panel top side  1210 , respectively, thereby capturing the non-transparent privacy panel  1400  and retaining it in position. 
         [0028]    Referring to  FIG. 7 , the first-and-second panel retention member  1300  may comprise a wide u-shaped bracket which maintains the positions of the first panel  1100  and second panel  1200 . The non-transparent privacy panel retention device  1500  may comprise a pair of open-topped hangers or brackets affixed at the first panel interior side  1106  and the second panel interior side  1206  near the first panel rear side  1104  and the second panel rear side  1204 , respectively, proximate to the first panel top side  1110  and the second panel top side  1210 , respectively, thereby capturing the non-transparent privacy panel  1400  and retaining it in position. As can be appreciated, multiple educational carrels  1000  may be affixed to a single work surface  6102 . 
         [0029]    While the present disclosure has been described in connection with presently preferred embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that it is not intended to limit the disclosure to those embodiments. It is therefore, contemplated that various alternative embodiments and modifications may be made to the disclosed embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure defined by the appended claims and equivalents thereof.