Strategic Planning, Design, and Assessment with the Learning Space Rating System

Start with a shared understanding of what makes learning environments effective. This session introduces the Learning Space Rating System (LSRS), including its structure, intent, and real-world applications across campuses. Participants will explore case studies that demonstrate how LSRS supports planning, evaluation, and strategic alignment. You’ll leave with a clear sense of how this tool can support your campus goals and where to focus next.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Explain the structure and purpose of the Learning Space Rating System (LSRS) and how it applies to the programming, design, and analysis of learning environments.
2. Describe how a learning space’s environmental quality (daylight, acoustics, thermal comfort) promotes health by supporting concentration, reducing stress, and enhancing well-being.
3. Identify LSRS inclusion criteria that advance student and faculty welfare by ensuring equitable access and enhancing the human experience.
4. Analyze case study examples to understand how the LSRS has been applied in real projects to guide planning, renovation, and design decisions to improve safety, promote adaptability, and align with institutional priorities.

Session submitted for AIA CES approval.

This session is tailored for facilities planners, designers, IT/AV professionals, and instructional technologists. Participants will walk through the LSRS scoring process, explore how to evaluate individual spaces, and connect those assessments to capital planning, renovations, and long-term strategy. You’ll gain practical tools for interpreting results and advocating for design improvements grounded in learning outcomes.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Outline the LSRS scoring process that evaluates how well classroom conditions support occupant safety and well-being.
2. Use LSRS results to determine how to improve lighting, acoustics, and indoor environmental quality in classrooms and learning environments.
3. Integrate room-level LSRS assessments into campus-wide planning and design strategies to ensure alignment with institutional and student community goals while also ensuring a comparable classroom-based learning experience across the student population.
4. Use LSRS data to advocate renovations and design interventions that prioritize inclusive, healthy, and sustainable learning environments.

Session submitted for AIA CES approval.

Designed for academic planners, diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging leaders, and instructional designers, this session explores how LSRS can surface equity gaps and support inclusive, student-centered learning environments. Learn how to use the rating system as a strategic tool to guide cross-campus conversations and connect space decisions to pedagogical and institutional priorities. You’ll leave better equipped to advocate for change that supports student success and belonging.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Apply LSRS inclusion credits to create spaces that improve welfare through equitable access, cultural representation, and identity safety.
2. Evaluate how the design of physical learning spaces can impact student health, safety, and well-being, particularly for historically underserved populations.
3. Recognize the role of physical environments in supporting diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging commitments and student success strategies that improve retention for all student populations.
4. Integrate LSRS findings into broader planning frameworks that connect space design decisions to institutional goals for learning, inclusion, and community impact.

Session submitted for AIA CES approval.

This session focuses on using LSRS data to inform big-picture planning. Ideal for institutional researchers, strategic planners, and academic leaders, it explores how data from classroom inventories can uncover trends, guide investment, and support long-term decision-making. You’ll gain skills to build evidence-based cases for improvements and integrate space data into institutional strategy.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Analyze LSRS and utilization data to identify design and operational improvements that enhance health, safety, and welfare such as improved lighting, acoustics and seating density.
2. Evaluate classroom fleet performance metrics to ensure spaces support equitable access, occupant comfort, and effective learning.
3. Use evidence-based data trends to prioritize renovations and upgrades that improve environmental quality, inclusivity, and long-term adaptability.
4. Integrate classroom performance findings into campus planning processes to guide resource allocation and future project prioritization.

Session submitted for AIA CES approval.

Bring it all together in this final session, where participants synthesize what they’ve learned and build an action plan tailored to their campus context. Through peer feedback and collaborative exercises, you’ll shape a strategy for applying LSRS insights to upcoming projects, initiatives, or planning processes. You’ll leave with next steps, talking points, and tools to move from insight to implementation.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Evaluate how applying LSRS criteria across projects can improve health by enhancing physical and social well-being.
2. Apply LSRS strategies to ensure safety through circulation planning, visibility, and protective design features.
3. Develop a campuswide action plan that advances welfare by improving equity, adaptability, and long-term sustainability.
4. Integrate peer feedback and case study lessons to refine approaches for aligning LSRS with institutional goals.

Session submitted for AIA CES approval.