Learning Resources

Regionalism, Ecology, and Field-Based Learning

Partnerships Broaden Study Opportunities

By: Josh Harrold, BArch, BFA, AIA

In the rural and remote heart of the Ozark Mountains, Missouri State University and its Ozarks Education Center leverage the unique characteristics of the region to create a setting that supports hands-on active learning.

From Volume 51 Number 4 | July–September 2023

Abstract: Missouri State University’s Ozarks Education Center, in the heart of the Ozark Mountains, provides a case study for outdoor, field-based, and architectural regionalism education. It offers unparalleled student opportunities for tailored regional learning experiences and research options, while fostering partnerships with external organizations outside of the main campus environment. In this article, we share how being true to the region’s historical architecture and ecology, especially in undervalued and isolated locations, and incorporating site-specific approaches in a remote setting support off-the-grid learning in the post-COVID academic landscape.

Institutions Mentioned: Missouri State University
Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: Active Learning Environments, External Collaboration / Partnerships, Facilities Design, Facilities Planning, Landscape / Open Space, Learning Environments, Placemaking, Rural Campus, Science / Engineering Facility

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What Is Your Crisis ‘What If’?

Create a Sustainable Approach to Emergency Response Planning

By: Jessica A. Luedtke, PhD, and Mary M. Reinke, MBA, MS

The Medical College of Wisconsin planned strategically, engaged executive leadership, and operationalized an Administrative Response Team to navigate critical incidents impacting the university.

From Volume 51 Number 3 | April–June 2023

Institutions Mentioned: Medical College of Wisconsin
Planning Types: Continuity Planning
Tags: Building (or Writing) the Plan, Communication, Crisis and Disaster Management, External Collaboration / Partnerships, Leadership, Medical / Allied Health Education, Modifying the Plan, Recovery Planning, Response Planning, Risk Management, Scenario Planning, Security

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Partnerships Promote Inclusion

A university and a secondary school collaborate to decrease dropout rates and increase college enrollment

By: Vibhavari Jani, MA, and Tim Murrell, EdD

Intentional planning and a competency-based, personalized learning model empowers graduate students from the architecture discipline to assist secondary students in becoming knowledge seekers and design professionals.

From Volume 50 Number 2 | January–March 2022

Abstract: American industries, professional organizations, individual companies, and higher education institutions continue to struggle to attract employees from underrepresented populations. Future-forward thinking is required to ensure a multicultural workforce. The authors, a design educator at a predominantly white, Midwestern university, and a high school principal at a multicultural urban school district, developed an intentional collaboration—partnerships between secondary and postsecondary institutions—to bridge the gap. In this article, they share strategies they developed for recruiting and retaining underrepresented students through intentional planning and design of competency-based, personalized learning models.

Institutions Mentioned: Kansas State University
Planning Types: Academic Planning, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Planning
Tags: Active Learning, Attracting and Retaining Underrepresented Students, Collaborative Design, Design Thinking, Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Experiential Learning, External Collaboration / Partnerships, Fine and Performing Arts Education, K–12, Student Success, Teaching and Learning, Workforce Development

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De-Densifying Classrooms in the COVID-19 Era

A Scalable and Accurate Non-Linear Model Projects New Distanced Space Capacities

By: Kimberly S. Koverman and Ann P. Kalayil

Columbia College Chicago’s “logistic growth model,” a mathematical model that is adaptable to highly variable campus spaces, gives priority to human-centered solutions while also promoting physical and emotional well-being. It can flexibly accommodate instructors, teaching assistants, and students for different pedagogical uses and within different types of facilities.

From Volume 48 Number 4 | July–September 2020

Abstract: Campus space planning generally involves the use of linear models that apply a simple square-foot-per-person calculation to determine capacities for different room sizes. Most return-to-campus strategies following the easing of COVID-19 shelter-in-place restrictions involve modification of these models, increasing square-footage-per-person to accommodate six feet of distancing. This provides reasonable upper and lower capacity estimates, but it does not yield accurate estimates across different room sizes and room types. Columbia College Chicago has developed a non-linear model that is both scalable and accurate, resulting in estimates that match test fits across all observed spaces.

Institutions Mentioned: Columbia College-Chicago
Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: COVID-19, Facilities Planning, Flexible Learning Spaces, Learning Environments

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Planning for Higher Education Journal

Published
July 1, 2019

Toward Commercializing University Research in the Caribbean

Creating a Science and Technology Park Model

By: Indrani Bachan-Persad

STPs can boost declining economies by reaping profits from innovations and products created through university research. Yet given the capital and time investment for a project to be viable, The University of the West Indies should gain commitment from all constituents—especially regional governments and the private sector—prior to beginning development.

From Volume 47 Number 4 | July–September 2019

Abstract: This article explores whether the development of science and technology parks by The University of the West Indies (UWI) is the best solution for commercializing university research through academic spin-off businesses and as a means to supporting dwindling regional economies.

The article discusses two international best-practice technology parks in the United Kingdom and a study of the only technology park in the Caribbean. Further, a gap analysis was conducted of all existing functions/institutes/centers across three main campuses in the countries of Jamaica, Barbados, and Trinidad and Tobago, which perform similar types of functions as technology parks.

Institutions Mentioned: The University of the West Indies, The University of the West Indies-St Augustine Campus, The University of the West Indies-Mona Campus, The University of the West Indies-Cave Hill Campus
Planning Types: Resource Planning
Tags: External Collaboration / Partnerships, Public-Private Partnerships (P3), Science / Engineering Facility, Technology Transfer

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Planning for Higher Education Journal

Published
July 1, 2019

Middle Skills Education

Planners Are Reimagining Ways to Meld Instruction and Industry

By: Carl Knutson

Many jobs of the future will require more than a high school diploma but less than a four-year degree. How should we prepare the next generation of employees?

From Volume 47 Number 4 | July–September 2019

Abstract: Middle skills education, personalized curriculum, and student-directed training are playing an increasingly integral role in higher education. A new generation of students is already likely to hold different educational expectations and desires than their predecessors. Accommodating those trends means planners, architects, and higher education administrators will need to think differently about how they train skilled workers for the most needed professions.

Institutions Mentioned: Fleming College
Planning Types: Academic Planning
Tags: External Collaboration / Partnerships, Teaching and Learning, Workforce Development

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Collaborating for Our Future

Multistakeholder Partnerships for Solving Complex Problems

By: Nali Kim

From Volume 46 Number 4 | July–September 2018

Tags: Engaging Stakeholders, External Collaboration / Partnerships

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Teaching, Learning, Doing in Collaborative Spaces

By: David Moos,Kimberly Miller,Adam Fontecchio

The intermingling of undergraduate students with grad students, post-docs, faculty, and commercial interests in one innovative facility results in better academic experiences.

From Volume 45 Number 4 | July–September 2017

Abstract: Makerspaces designed for collaborative learning are appearing on campuses throughout the United States, including at Drexel University. These spaces succeed because they permit students to collaborate, observe, and learn from professors and peers. Unique to the Drexel project is the intermingling of engineering undergraduates, graduate students, post-docs, faculty, and commercial interests in one facility with laboratories, machine-shop equipment, and informal study areas. Facilities that give students great visibility into nearby research, contain areas where they can take breaks without leaving the building, and lend themselves to informal encounters with peers, faculty, and others result in better academic experiences for undergraduates.

Institutions Mentioned: Drexel University
Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: Adaptive Reuse, Facilities Design, Flexible Learning Spaces, Innovation Center, Learning Environments, Maker Space, Science / Engineering Facility

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Collaborative Spaces Transform Teaching, Amplify Learning, and Maximize Resources

By: Andrea Leers

A wide range of interactive, hands-on, and socially enhanced settings provide space for the most effective and dynamic teaching and learning in higher education today.

From Volume 45 Number 4 | July–September 2017

Abstract: Leers Weinzapfel Associates recently talked with campus planners and facilities directors nationwide about the big issues driving campus planning. Rapidly evolving pedagogies are demanding radical rethinking of effective teaching and learning spaces. Better use and optimal configuration of these venues is key as the stereotypical “sage on the stage” mode of instruction rapidly expands through a wide range of interactive, hands-on, and socially enhanced settings. Several examples of the firm’s work—the University of Massachusetts Amherst John W. Olver Design Building, the University of Arkansas (Fayetteville) Stadium Drive Residence Hall, and the Wentworth Institute of Technology (Boston) Multipurpose Academic Building—substantiate these findings in practice.

Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: Facilities Design, Fine and Performing Arts Facility, Flexible Learning Spaces, Informal Learning Environments, Interdisciplinary Learning Environments, Learning Environments, Student Housing

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Enhancing the Student Experience in the Sciences

The Pennsylvania State University Creates a Nucleus for Student Education and Advising

By: Nicole M. Dress

Science education and science student retention are improved by transforming an underutilized campus space into an Academic Support Center that colocates critical undergraduate academic services.

From Volume 45 Number 4 | July–September 2017

Abstract: A critical concern of universities today is ensuring that students remain in their selected major and graduate promptly. In addition, there has been a renewed emphasis on scientific education presented to non-science majors. Through the renovation of the Ritenour Building, Penn State’s Eberly College of Science created an Academic Support Center as a hub of advising and assistance for prospective students, science majors, and science education. The center’s layout provides opportunities to share knowledge of science teaching with advising staff and the online learning department. The design of this space has been crafted to enhance these retention and educational goals.

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