Learning Resources

Abstract: “Designing Innovative Campuses For Tomorrow’s Students” explores increasing investment by higher education institutions in new programs and facilities that boost on-campus innovation and entrepreneurship. This trend is a response, in part, to the changing expectations and demands of Millennial and Generation Z students and their future employers. The impact of this movement, though, goes far beyond those constituencies—changing everything from campus housing to the economic development role of higher education institutions. The examples of Clemson University’s Watt Family Innovation Center and the University of Florida’s Infinity Hall are provided to illustrate the scope of influence and success of these changes.

Abstract: Just when higher education thought it had Millennials figured out, along comes Generation Z. . . .
There are six extant generations presently represented in the U.S. populace. Millennials, or those born between 1982 and 2004, are the most studied generation in history, helping increase awareness of generational cohort theory as a unifying construct. As students, Millennials fueled more interactive pedagogical approaches while also triggering an “amenities war” on campuses across the country. This construction boom, curbed by the 2008 recession, has morphed into a call for institutional accountability and relevance. The characteristics of trailing Millennials are now providing insights into how the expectations of their successor generation, Generation Z, will differ—and how higher education spaces must continue to adapt.

Abstract: Although belonging is a key element of college student success, little is known about how campus spaces, particularly the residence hall, affect the development of student belonging. Through qualitative analysis of interviews and student-created photo journals and maps, two key findings were identified as particularly useful for campus designers to consider: (1) students need spaces for personalization and privacy, not in ways that isolate but rather in ways that promote individual well-being and belonging; and (2) residence hall design needs to be continuously assessed and aligned with residence hall programming to most effectively facilitate meaningful student interactions. When campus planners and architects, university administrators, and residence hall staff work collaboratively and feedback is solicited from students, residence halls can become spaces where students feel as if they belong.

Abstract: Student demographics, national trends, and technology have changed dramatically over the past 30 years to the point where colleges and universities must envision a future very different from the past and adjust their plans accordingly. Some of the most dramatic changes pertain to the kinds of students who now typify college-goers; the ways in which technology impacts pedagogy; and the political, financial, and regulatory landscape governing higher education. For campus planners, these developments can be daunting. In the modern university, libraries as physical places for research are less and less relevant; classrooms are being replaced by mobile devices; and dormitories, though fine for the most traditional of college-goers, no longer work for the new majority of students.

Abstract: This is a revised version of the article originally published in Planning for Higher Education 43 (4), Summer 2015.
We are seeing an emergent campus type driven by a desire around the world for economically accessible, community-focused—and community-grown—learning and knowledge creation in a networked digital age. While questions about the future of the traditional campus have been a central focus of higher education discussions, off to the side there is a groundswell of learning activities that is all about the “there” there while also being everywhere. Grounded in physical communities, these activities strive to connect home, school, and work in a continuous lifelong learning path nourished by open digital resources. This is the Networked Community (College) for the growing legions of Citizen Learners. While seemingly peripheral to traditional higher education, this new model represents an approach that increasingly will be central to learning and knowledge creation in the 21st century not only beyond a traditional institution’s boundaries but also at its very core.

Abstract: The earliest American colleges were designed with health in mind. Today, however, the importance of the relationship between the campus environment and student health has waned in favor of individually based evaluations and behavioral interventions, an approach that fails to consider the contexts in which behaviors occur and overlooks the fundamental role of place—and those who design it—in shaping human health. In this article I argue that, in fact, the college campus matters to student health and thus must be designed and evaluated accordingly. Using an ecological model of health to explore two burgeoning student health concerns—mental health and sedentary behavior—I identify health needs not currently addressed by standard assessments of student health, define a new method for evaluating the environmental contexts in which health-related behaviors occur, and offer recommendations for planning and designing campuses as healthy places.