Space Defines Destiny: Assessment of a Learning Studio

Created by Harriet Watkins (The University of Texas at Arlington) on February 21, 2008

This presentation was given by Chris Scheetz, Jim S.C. Tom, and Kenneth L. Voss all from University of MIssouri - St. Louis. They created the first flexible technology enhanced classroom (learning studio). They describe it as provocative and experimental. They wanted to do this project to increase enrollment and maintain retention.

They conducted a systematic upgrade of classrooms on campus. They did a survey of how faculty members taught their classes. Most of them used the lecture based methods. Most of the classrooms were very immobile. Computers locked down, tables/desks and seats immobile. They included faculty, staff and students, facilities & planning in the design of this classroom. It started with a working paper for planning this classroom. He emphasized the fact that it was not just an IT project. It required everyone's participation campus/department wide. 4 million dollar project.

Flexible, social, comfortable ambiance and accessible... these are the terms they used in the design of the room. They used two rooms and demolished the wall between them to create a large flexible classroom. He showed photos of the cdlassroom. Use of mounted flat panel TV's, couches, lightweight seating that's moveable, instructors using the classrooom found that the furniture makes them much more flexible and mobile. Touch panel controls (remotes) for lighting system (you can adjust lighting to set mood/theme), audio/visual controls, etc. Instructor podium, has smart board, overhead projector, etc., but due to the mobility of the controls, the instructor is not tied to the podium and can move around. All furniture can be reconfigured at will -- however the instructor wants.

Assessment Mechanisms:

They employed a number of factors to determine the viability of this flexible classroom, such as faculty observations, blogs about the classroom, video recordings, surveys of faculty and students, and a debriefing meeting with faculty. Funny responses from students, however overall the preliminary results were fairly positive. 100% of those surveyed said that the use of technology in the room enhanced their learning experience in the class. There was no obvious "back of the class" area and there was no "front of the room" area. They found that a comfortable space is less threatening and students are more wiling take risks.

Who uses the classroom? Dept. of Foreign Languages, math, english are taught in this classroom. Foreign language department has decided to build the use of this room into their curriculum.

They weren't pushing people to use these technologies, faculty were taking it upon themselves to adopt this type of classroom. Faculty said upon using this room, the university needs to improve the dismal physical condition of many of their existing classrooms. This project made it clear that the environment really does affect learning. They felt that this was a success and are building another one using lessons learned from this first classroom.

This would be a very cool thing to do at UTA ... (smile)

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		Space Defines Destiny: Assessment of a Learning Studio Created by Harriet Watkins (The University of Texas at Arlington) on February 21, 2008 This presentation was given by Chris Scheetz, Jim S.C. Tom, and Kenneth L. Voss all from University of MIssouri - St. Louis. They created the first flexible technology enhanced classroom (learning studio). They describe it as provocative and experimental. They wanted to do this project to increase enrollment and maintain retention. They conducted a systematic upgrade of classrooms on campus. They did a survey of how faculty members taught their classes. Most of them used the lecture based methods. Most of the classrooms were very immobile. Computers locked down, tables/desks and seats immobile. They included faculty, staff and students, facilities & planning in the design of this classroom. It started with a working paper for planning this classroom. He emphasized the fact that it was not just an IT project. It required everyone's participation campus/department wide. 4 million dollar project. Flexible, social, comfortable ambiance and accessible... these are the terms they used in the design of the room. They used two rooms and demolished the wall between them to create a large flexible classroom. He showed photos of the cdlassroom. Use of mounted flat panel TV's, couches, lightweight seating that's moveable, instructors using the classrooom found that the furniture makes them much more flexible and mobile. Touch panel controls (remotes) for lighting system (you can adjust lighting to set mood/theme), audio/visual controls, etc. Instructor podium, has smart board, overhead projector, etc., but due to the mobility of the controls, the instructor is not tied to the podium and can move around. All furniture can be reconfigured at will -- however the instructor wants. Assessment Mechanisms: They employed a number of factors to determine the viability of this flexible classroom, such as faculty observations, blogs about the classroom, video recordings, surveys of faculty and students, and a debriefing meeting with faculty. Funny responses from students, however overall the preliminary results were fairly positive. 100% of those surveyed said that the use of technology in the room enhanced their learning experience in the class. There was no obvious "back of the class" area and there was no "front of the room" area. They found that a comfortable space is less threatening and students are more wiling take risks. Who uses the classroom? Dept. of Foreign Languages, math, english are taught in this classroom. Foreign language department has decided to build the use of this room into their curriculum. They weren't pushing people to use these technologies, faculty were taking it upon themselves to adopt this type of classroom. Faculty said upon using this room, the university needs to improve the dismal physical condition of many of their existing classrooms. This project made it clear that the environment really does affect learning. They felt that this was a success and are building another one using lessons learned from this first classroom. This would be a very cool thing to do at UTA ... (smile) classroom \| EDUCAUSE_SWRC08 \| learning studio \| Technology Harriet's blog Login or register to post comments 152 reads
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