Principles for Designing Teaching and Learning Spaces
The National Survey for Student Engagement (NSSE) is a respected indicator of student engagement used by over 800 universities across North America. Both first year and fourth year students are surveyed; results provide a sense of how a given university is perceived by both commencing and graduating students. Their five Benchmarks for Effective Educational Practice [1] are based upon extensive educational research. We have adopted four of these benchmarks as principles to be considered when designing or renovating learning spaces to support student learning.
1. Active and collaborative learning
Students learn more when they are intensely involved in their education and are asked to think about and apply what they are learning in different settings. Collaborating with others in solving problems or mastering difficult material prepares students to deal with the messy, unscripted problems they will encounter daily during and after college. Informal and formal learning environments should allow students to work together: learning by doing, reflecting and learning through conversation. Furniture should be easily moveable and sturdy enough to be moved often. Surfaces should be appropriate for student work and materials (may include writable walls). Acoustics should allow for productive interaction and collaboration: sound zones should support having multiple conversations without creating an unbearable din.
2. Student-faculty interaction
Students see first-hand how experts think about and solve practical problems by interacting with faculty members inside and outside the classroom. Learning spaces should allow students and faculty to meet and share ideas. In class, instructors should be able to move easily throughout the room, interact with students 1-1, in small groups or in a large group. Screen-sharing encourages student-driven learning, and further enables interaction. Professors and students should be able to hear one another.
3. Enriching educational experiences
Complementary learning opportunities inside and outside the classroom augment the academic program. Technological affordances such as document cameras, multiple sources/screens/surfaces, screen-sharing and writable walls substantially enrich the learning experience by allowing information to be shared or presented in multiple ways. Spaces outside of class can include offerings of informal computer stations and open access to computer labs.
4. Supportive campus environment
Students perform better and are more satisfied at colleges that are committed to their success. Teaching and learning spaces must support student ability to effectively engage in their studies as individuals as well as through engaging with faculty and with one another. This includes aspects of livability and sustainability.
5. Principles in the classroom:
Encourage active and collaborative learning
- In class –
- Flexible furniture promotes collaboration
- Work surfaces are adequate for laptops and papers
- Information sharing
- Acoustics are appropriate for interaction and collaboration
- Collaborative areas – writable walls
- Collaborative technologies – screen sharing to encourage student-driven learning
- Flexible computer access (laptops, desktops, internet)
- Outside class –
- Spaces support informal pair/group work
- Flexible study spaces
Encourage interaction between students and faculty
- In class –
- Diminish barriers
- Smaller podium to reduce separation and power relationship
- Professor not anchored to front of room
- Professor and students can move about easily
- Promote communication
- Screen sharing to promote shared accountability for learning
- Enhance acoustics so instructor can hear all students, and students can hear all other students
- Diminish barriers
- Outside class –
- Provide areas for informal interaction
Enrich educational experiences
- In class – technology affordances
- Document camera
- Multiple sources, multiple screens, multiple surfaces
- Internet access
- Power for laptops
- Networked computers
- Screen sharing
- Writable walls
- Outside class -
- Informal computer stations
- Open access for computer labs
Provide a supportive campus environment
- Livability
- Effective ventilation
- Appropriate temperature
- Natural and variable light
- Comfortable furnishings
- Storage for coats and bags
- Inviting, welcoming
- Sustainability
- Design space for life cycle of building
- Can be adapted to new uses at a reasonable cost
- Re-use and recycle
- Encourage use of sustainable materials, building practices, and technologies
- Design with operating costs in mind for service and maintenance
[1] These principles are freely adapted from: Benchmarks of effective educational practice. National Survey of Student Engagement. http://nsse.iub.edu/pdf/nsse_benchmarks.pdf [.pdf], Retrieved September 12, 2008.