Learning Resources

Abstract: From 2015–2018, amidst a period of heightened activism on campuses and broader societal change, institutions of higher education renamed and de-named campus buildings with namesakes whose legacies were seen to conflict with institutional missions and community values and harmful to members of the campus and surrounding communities. In 2020, the push for addressing problematic namesakes grew exponentially, expanding beyond buildings and postsecondary education.

Effectively managing naming issues on campus and the expectations and interests of internal and external stakeholder groups is challenging, emotional, and time consuming work that has a lasting impact on the physical campus as well as institutional legacy. This research report summarizes the specific cases of US institutions that addressed a naming issue between 2014 and 2021 and what each of them chose to do when faced with this challenging decision.

Abstract: “Will innovative environments like a smart building expand STEM education and reach more underrepresented groups? If technology can support remote work, then why haven’t the previous proofs of concept become fully adopted?” The author pursued these questions through her SCUP Fellows research, exploring the hypothesis that user-centered design would better address STEM student needs and could increase the likelihood of a broader adoption of remote labs. Although the COVID-19 pandemic required a hard pivot in her research plan, she was able to leverage the world's new focus on remote activities and work with students to design a prototype mobile application for a digital, interactive twin of a STEM building on campus.

Abstract: Space is not neutral; we perceive physical environments differently based on our backgrounds, experiences, and abilities. Every student brings a unique perspective to campus, and therefore every campus will have individual needs.

This research project collected a body of evidence around student preferences for welcoming and inclusive physical campus environments, sourced from engagements with more than two dozen institutions and more than 200 students. The author used these findings to develop a playbook to guide institutions and design teams through key strategies and possible metrics relative to DEI to use when planning, designing, and assessing physical campus space. The playbook serves as a conversation starter—a way to get planners, designers, and institutional stakeholders to the table and move the needle toward a more supportive physical environment that embodies the strategic values of DEI.

Abstract: Higher education within the United States is in the midst of an evolutionary change. But colleges and universities were having their moment of reckoning long before COVID-19 disrupted life and accelerated change. In the fall of 2020, SCUP’s Pacific Region held five sessions over eight weeks to explore the core topics shaping higher education as colleges and universities adapted in response to the pandemic. This publication offers key insights, findings, and questions from this Virtual Pacific Region Fall Series.

Abstract: Historic separations that defined higher education are dissolving: research is more interdisciplinary, online and on-campus learning are converging, wet and dry labs are blending, teaching and research overlap, and academia forges relationships with corporate partners. Institutions, by improving how they connect what they offer, how they are organized, and how they operate, can build value and agility to better assist their people on campus. Real-world examples in this white paper from Knoll and brightspot strategy discuss how campus spaces support student success, including how to fully use the campus; creating spaces that sustain diverse and flexible ways of working; thinking phygitally; and creating environments where today’s purpose-driven and entrepreneurial students (Gen Z) will thrive as they prepare to enter the workforce.

Abstract: There is a growing interest in examining the relationship between active learning spaces and development of soft skills. The overall goal of this research was to evaluate the gains, if any, in the collaboration skill development of students who experienced part of their undergraduate or graduate learning within active learning spaces at Thomas Jefferson University, and to attempt to pinpoint the factors contributing to that.

To meet the goal, the researcher designed a study to assess perceived impact of use of active learning spaces, targeting alumni. Although many such studies rely on reflections from current students during or shortly after their use of learning spaces, the unique contribution of this research is that it gathered impact perceptions of learning spaces from persons after they experienced collaborative work activities in their career settings beyond academia.

Abstract: This report was produced by the research team awarded the M. Perry Chapman Prize for 2015–2016.

What will be the impact of rapidly developing online learning modalities on the campus face-to-face experience over the next decade? What might campus planners need to look out for over the next 10 years as they strive to align their institution’s virtual and physical infrastructure with its mission?

This study reviews the scholarly literature and the expert views of practitioners in campus planning (both virtual and physical) to forecast how campuses might evolve between now and 2030. It views the university as a “complex adaptive assemblage” made up of many component parts working not within a systematic framework but as separate assemblages coexisting on campus affected by uncontrollable outside forces. These separate assemblages and their interrelationships can be better understood in a campus context by using experts in the fields of learning sciences, teacher professional development, educational technologies, learning environment/campus design, and others to form a cohesive idea of how the separate parts might come together to inform the future of higher education.

Abstract: This report was produced by the researcher awarded the M. Perry Chapman Prize for 2014–2015.

While face-to-face collaboration has been theorized to be a key element in intellectual development and cognition, no formal method of quantitative measurement has been applied to understand collective face-to-face learning in academic institutions or how patterns of interaction and individual reflection may reveal information exchange among students within educational institutions. To address this gap, this study introduces a novel tool and framework to promote the systematic study of peer collaboration for general use in education.

Results of this applied research will be useful to architects, interior designers, librarians, educators, and researchers interested in obtaining empirical evidence and applying it to the design of learning environments and the assessment of how well spaces intentionally relate to learning. This research project introduces a common means for researchers in space design, education, and information science to develop principles and best practices to improve return on investment in the design of informal learning environments.

Abstract: Succeeding at integrated planning at colleges and universities is a challenge. Many planning models do not work in higher education because they are not designed for higher education. Planning processes designed for corporations or non-profits do not account for the complex environment of higher education nor its unique challenges.

Many institutions struggle to leverage planning into lasting change because they create plans in a vacuum. They do not grasp the institution’s strategic issues or create a sound value proposition. They are not prepared for good planning.

To provide guidance on where to prioritize efforts, SCUP partnered with the Baker Strategy Group in 2015 to conduct a study with more than 2,200 leaders who plan at colleges and universities, and ran quantitative analysis on their responses. Several themes emerged around planning challenges and how to respond, which are explored in this report.

Abstract: This report was produced by the research team awarded the M. Perry Chapman Prize for 2013–2014.

As the recipients of the 2012–2013 Perry Chapman Prize show in their report, Research on Learning Design: Present State, Future Directions, the study of learning spaces in tertiary education is an emerging field in which the key issues are to “establish a body of knowledge that will guide the design, remodel, and use of new and existing learning spaces” and “evaluate these learning spaces by developing research to determine whether and how they fulfill their purposes.”

This report aims to produce complementary work by addressing the larger context of the university campus and students’ perceptions and experiences of their learning at the tertiary level more generally. Rather than starting from environmental psychology or behaviorist models, it explores the value of applying contemporary approaches from the social sciences to learning space design, an approach increasingly being developed. This, however, is not just a matter of applying a different research method; it also concerns the underlying problem of how we conceptualize relationships between material space and its occupation both generally and specifically in relationship to learning. In fact, over the last few years, theorists across many disciplines that deal with material space—such as geography, anthropology, and science and technology studies—have been critically examining precisely this issue of rethinking how to conceptualize the interrelationships between space, people, artifacts, and activities.