Learning Resources

Abstract: Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) started an engineering program when they purchased Daniel Webster College and inherited a strong aeronautics program, students, and faculty looking for a new educational home. SNHU, well-known for online education programs, continues to develop its traditional campus through its new College of Engineering, Technology and Aeronautics, which they planned to accommodate multiple modalities reflecting 2019 and beyond as well as exemplify academic rigor. We will demonstrate how SNHU benchmarked engineering schools, helping SNHU envision their idea for a new school and identify state-of-the-art learning environments.

Abstract: In this session, we will discuss a process that any campus can use for creating a place for students to generate ideas and solve problems such as researching needs, crafting vision, planning spaces and services, piloting programs, and designing spaces. You will learn how to identify student needs; make a case for purposeful programming, services, and space that support innovation and problem-solving; and possess greater comfort with risk-taking and ambiguity as well as deliver mission-critical activities.

Abstract: Pedagogies, study needs, and socialization habits are changing as student bodies become more diverse. Planners and architects must respond with new, more responsive spaces to create successful facilities. In this session, we will focus on both in-depth and high-level overviews of four new projects and how they specifically address STEM students' evolving space needs, including needs particular to first-generation and underrepresented minority students. Find out what's working at Amherst College’s newly opened Science Center and discover innovative designs for types and configurations of learning spaces at several new undergraduate STEM facilities.

Abstract: Higher education institutions, across nearly all socio-cultural cross-sections, are more diverse today than ever before. This evolution in campus demographics also coincides with the changing values, priorities, and needs of students. The bottom line for many of today’s students is clear: now more than ever, values matter when selecting a school. This article explores the programmatic and administrative responses as well as the physical planning and design opportunities associated with creating and sustaining more diverse and inclusive campus environments.

Abstract: The study described in this article investigated diversity in a unit within a postsecondary institution using the model described by Cox in Creating the Multicultural Organization by verifying the unit’s view of diversity, examining existing strategies used for diversity, evaluating consistencies, and identifying areas of improvement. The study included an analysis of unit employees to verify broad diversity by race and gender and an interview with senior leadership about the strategic plan for the unit on matters related to diversity. Overall analysis showed that the unit is doing better than most peer institutions in hiring female and minority candidates for positions. However, there are gaps in the unit’s approach to diversity that impact its ability to be an effective multicultural organization.

Abstract: College campus landscapes are touted as symbols of “greenness,” displaying trees, vegetation, and flowering bushes for aesthetic appeal. Features such as a lawn to sit on between classes or a tree to gather under for course sessions may collectively and purposefully enhance student capacity for cognitive functioning and information processing or, simply, “learning.” In a place of learning where virtual environments and campus landscapes coexist, attention is an essential element of perceptual and cognitive operations. A key goal of the study described in this article is to better understand how to leverage regular and purposeful interactions with campus landscapes to help restore student attentional capacity for learning.

Abstract: Over the last decade, many academic institutions, from elementary schools to universities, have added academic makerspaces to their campuses. This development has enabled students and faculty to come together and collaborate, design, fabricate, and learn in shared spaces. This article describes how the creation and incorporation of academic makerspaces in a university learning ecosystem can help achieve accreditation. Specific examples are drawn from ABET’s engineering accreditation criteria. The article also explores how academic makerspaces can enhance teaching objectives and student outcomes by providing a space for learning technological skills within social contexts in interdisciplinary communities of practice.

Abstract: Industry and academia are partnering like never before as entrepreneurship and maker culture become more important to our economy and a regular fixture in higher education curricula. With the influx of allied industry partnerships, evolving pedagogies, entrepreneurship programs, and a maker culture comes a pressing need for new spaces, ranging from fabrication and prototyping studios to innovation districts devoted to new kinds of research partnerships. Schools like the University of Washington, Babson College, and Arizona State University are leading the way on new collaborations. In this article, Sasaki planners and urban designers examine how design disruption will guide the development of campuses that enable 21st-century teaching, learning, and research paradigms.

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.