design-spaces-campus

Interactive learning spaces new campus must-have


Universities invest in innovative furniture, space design concepts for building “soft skills”

design-spaces-campusAccording to innovative universities, it’s not the mobile devices and software that are key to building the “soft skills” so valued by today’s workforce—it’s the interactive learning spaces part of building design.

And it’s a transformative trend that more universities across the country are seeking to implement in traditional classroom environments; the idea behind the redesign being that interactive learning spaces promote discussion and interaction between students and the lecturer or professor.

According to Jason Meneely, an associate professor of interior design at the University of Florida, today’s students are driving the trend, with many seeking a more interactive learning environment instead of the traditional lecture hall model that universities often rely on.

“It’s really about solving problems,” said Meneely. “A lot of the soft skills students learn are what companies look for. How to work collaboratively and creatively, and remain comfortable even when they do not have all of the answers, is important.”

Part of redesigning the space, explained Meneely, is how the furniture in the room is arranged, which directly affects how students learn. Traditional lecture halls do not facilitate discussion between students well, which in turn can cause a class to become one-sided with only the professor contributing ideas to the classroom, he said.

Furniture companies, such as Steelcase and KI, are already starting to partner with universities to change the way the typical college classroom looks. The goal isn’t to find a way to pack more students into a class, but to figure out a way to make the education experience more interactive.

(Next page: How to design interactive spaces; furniture of the future)

The idea of designing new spaces began by listening to students, say innovative universities, who today often complain that the lecture hall is not conducive to collaboration.

In a study conducted by Steelcase at four U.S. universities, in collaboration with academic researchers from the U.S. and Canada, students who took classes in an active learning environment felt “that the new classrooms contributed to higher engagement, the expectation of better grades, more motivation and more creativity.”

Researchers observed twelve different factors during their study of students in traditional classrooms versus students in active learning classrooms arranged by Steelcase, which included collaboration, active involvement, opportunity to engage and physical movement.

According to the report “a large majority of students self-reported a moderate to exceptional increase in their engagement (84 percent), ability to achieve a higher grade (72 percent), motivation to attend class (72 percent), and ability to be creative (77 percent).”

“I prefer to work in groups while in class instead of only being lectured because you can get input on problems from a diverse group of people,” said Trevor Lazicky, a freshman majoring in early childhood education at Rowan University, New Jersey.

Students like Lazicky are not uncommon, according to Meneely, who said the majority of his students have embraced the new spaces designed by Steelcase at the University of Florida.

“Static or fixed furniture — where it is all lined up in rows,” does not facilitate active learning said Sean Corcorran, General Manager of Education Solutions at Steelcase . “If a teacher really wants to employ multiple pedagogies it becomes very difficult to switch teaching modes. We found that the traditional classroom really gets in the way of all of those different modes.”

One chair developed by Steelcase, called Node, features a built-in desk surface, wheels and a swivel seat, which allows instructors to rearrange their classroom for group discussions or collaborative learning. The chair, which is a popular product according to Corcorran, allows students to maintain sightlines with the instructor, white board, and other students no matter how the room is arranged.

“Normally in standard lecture hall, people just recline back” Meneely said. “In the new environment people are paying more attention. The other thing I see is you don’t have students checking out and reading Facebook as much because the teacher is out on the floor with the students.”

(Next page: Tangible results)

Meneely’s experience with active learning classrooms has been “overwhelmingly positive,” when compared to the time he has spent in traditional lecture halls. He has noticed more students participating and less students using their phones or computers to browse the internet during class.

Vice President of Education Markets for KI Furniture, Amy Kiefer  said KI is working with schools like MIT and the University of Minnesota to come up with new ways to optimize classroom space. While she emphasized that there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to creating dynamic spaces, she said the company’s aim is to make it easy for students to break into groups in order to discuss problems, and then rejoin the rest of the class for a larger discussion.

“Our approach is that the product and solution we bring will fulfill the mindset of the school,” said Kiefer. When planning new classrooms KI tended to draw idea from areas of campus where students congregated such as student unions or dining halls.

Both KI and Steelcase also aim to make classrooms multifunctional. Universities wanted classrooms to become multipurpose rooms that students could to study or work on group projects use during hours when class was not in session, which can make students more comfortable interacting with each other when they are in class, said Meneely.

Using furniture with wheels that can be easily moved, and include access ports built into the desks, students can rearrange classrooms to fit their study needs when class is not in session, said Meneely.

One room designed by Steelcase at the University of Florida can be turned into an impromptu coffee house. The room which features a kitchen, and includes tables and chairs of varying heights that can be easily moved depending on the student needs, is just one of many ways Steelcase and KI are using furniture to transform old rooms into multipurpose study spaces.

“If I can make a classroom that serves other purposes it becomes multifunctional,” Meneely said. “If you don’t think of classrooms as line items you get out of the mindset of the classroom being a separate space,” only to be used during class sessions.

One barrier Meneely has noticed is professors not using the equipment provided to them the right way, noting that some instructors need to be taught to break away from the traditional lecture model. However, he said after becoming more comfortable facilitating discussion professors seem to enjoy teaching more.

“Information technology has broken down the barriers to learning,” Meneely said. “A lot of times student have better access to research during a traditional lecture mode than the professor,” but students may not feel comfortable pausing a lecture to give the professor new information or bring up a new idea in class, the active learning model is a way to change that.

Peter Sclafani is an education freelance writer for eCampus News.

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