Institutional Culture & Informal Space Design, An Interview with Lori Gee &Terry Hajduk

Lori Gee, Learning Environments Strategist for Herman Miller, Inc., and Terry Hajduk, Principal at ARX Design, conducted the general session presentation The Importance of Informal Spaces for Learning, Collaboration, and Socialization at ELI's 2005 Fall Focus Session in Sept. Recently, they joined me to discuss two sets of participant questions stemming from their presentation.

In the first interview, which is attached as an MP3 file, Gee and Hajduk discuss some of the cultural issues related to the design of informal learning spaces. In particular, focus session participants were interested in getting their views on:

• Integrating a student-centered design philosophy into research-centric institutional environments
• Guidelines for piloting informal space design approaches;
• Strategies for getting student input into the design process, and
• Whether assessment findings establish the effectiveness of informal space design approaches in enhancing learning.

As you listen to the interview, you may find it useful to review Gee and Hajduk's original presentation, which is available from the focus session proceedings.