Learning Space Design

We will discuss the academic and IT perspectives on a collaborative project to transform an abandoned swimming pool into a "sandbox classroom," where faculty and students are encouraged to approach teaching and learning with an adventurous and curious spirit. The driving design goal for this experimental, interactive classroom was flexibility to allow room configuration changes and integration of new or unexplored technology in support of different teaching and learning styles.

Second Life is a virtual world with tens of millions of square meters of virtual lands, more than 13 million “residents,” and a thriving economy. Large numbers of colleges and universities—or, in some cases, individual departments or faculty—are active in Second Life, not only for academic purposes but also for campus visits, recruiting activities for prospective students, and fundraising. Second Life lets educators easily build and modify learning spaces to test how different strategies for a physical space affect learning, and a similar approach can be taken toward educational activities in those spaces.

The "7 Things You Should Know About..." series from the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) provides concise information on emerging learning technologies. Each brief focuses on a single technology and describes what it is, where it is going, and why it matters to teaching and learning. Use these briefs for a no-jargon, quick overview of a topic and share them with time-pressed colleagues.

Come learn about innovative work being done in the Midwest region at this brisk, lively showcase of five-minute presentations from ten of your peer institutions. Time will be allotted for Q&A, and informal interest groups may be formed on the spot at the end of the session.

This session will present the planning, use, and assessment of our first flexible technology-enhanced classroom or learning "studio"—an immediately useful yet also provocative and experimental space. We will show how the completed space itself challenged our faculty and students to redefine what learning at UMSL could mean.

This session will use the InfoCommons at Northwestern Library as a case study to examine a very successful partnership in technology application and space planning between two high-profile campus entities.

The Student Technology Center at Oakland University developed a state-of-the-art technology learning facility that combines innovative learning philosophies with a collaborative work environment. This presentation will demonstrate the vision for this unique center as well as the operational and financial strategies employed to service 56,000 visits annually.

In evaluating student computing, Computing Services discovered that many students found campus computer labs inadequate for collaborative work. This presentation will cover the redefinition of one lab from assessment of student needs to space redesign, implementation, and initial follow-up assessment.