Learning Resources

Abstract: Campuses are increasingly interested in “greening” as a response to climate change, in recognition of a resource-challenged future, and based on a desire to prepare current and future generations for a world faced with new environmental, social, and economic threats. But where to start? We often look to our facilities personnel to lead the charge with energy efficiency measures and LEED-certified buildings, but how do we institutionalize sustainability and make it part of the fabric of the university? A useful tool for beginning this process or coordinating existing efforts is the creation of a campus sustainability plan that can serve as both a strategic planning document and an implementation guide with specific action items, benchmarks, and accountability strategies. This article provides a script for anyone looking to take on this task and includes a case study from a large public institution with the aim of assisting others in this endeavor and easing their transitions to more sustainable campuses.

Abstract: The Glendale Community College integrated strategic planning model represents a significant paradigm shift at the institution. Rather than focus exclusively on the production of a strategic plan, the college now seeks to vertically integrate planning at the departmental, divisional, and college levels and horizontally integrate planning with resource allocation and assessment across the organization. This disruptive innovation allows the college to remain true to its mission and ensures the allocation of resources to strategic priorities linked to student success.

Abstract: The focus on information exchange and collaboration is defining a sea change in the evolution of the campus into a technology-rich virtual learning environment. The rapid advances of technology in the last decade, the rise of cohort-oriented inquiry-based pedagogies, and the future of virtual learning are redefining the planning issues for learning space. Near-term and future technologies offer the potential for education to become a continuous, interconnected, and integrated process that allows students to succeed in a perpetually changing world. The themes of upcoming SCUP conference events make it clear that the society is again focusing on advances in collaboration and educational processes that will have an immediate impact on our members who are planning for the inevitable ongoing learning space evolution.

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.

Abstract: The mission of Instruction Matters Purdue Academic Course Transformation (IMPACT) is to redesign foundational courses using student-centered learning as a basis. The libraries' advancement of this campus-wide change will be discussed from three perspectives—administrative, space planning, and curriculum redesign. Discussion will focus on the changing expectations for librarians, especially as instructional partners, the redesigning of library learning spaces to support instructional innovation, and elements necessary for developing a faculty learning community focused on enhancing student-centered learning.

Abstract: All universities need an integrated plan to chart their path through these turbulent times and amidst the changing expectations of higher education. This is especially true for universities in developing countries. Such universities operate with very scarce resources and limited depths of expertise, but still seek to respond to surging demand. The result is a strain on these universities and a threat to quality. This article introduces the processes and concepts of planning and development for universities in developing countries, focusing mostly on the African context. Our premise is that the basic planning processes and concepts that work in North America and Europe are still valid for universities in developing countries, even if the nature, content, and resulting strategies are very different. Therefore, this article draws from published work in planning applied in the context of the authors’ experience in higher education in East Africa. We conclude that good strategic planning is necessary for universities in developing countries, as is operational planning for programs, resources, and capital. The information in this article is more fully explored and explained in the authors’ book Planning and Resource Guide for Higher Education in Africa.

Abstract: This report was produced by the research team awarded the inaugural M. Perry Chapman Prize in 2012.

This collection summarizes and evaluates how far the field of learning space design has come in identifying the elements that will allow us to thoughtfully design learning spaces and evaluate their impact. Although several hundred articles and a number of books on these topics had been written by the fall of 2012, the field is still at an early stage of development. A first step in creating value from this existing body of work is to gather, summarize and evaluate how far the field has come in identifying the elements that will allow us to thoughtfully design learning spaces and evaluate their impact.

Abstract: While universities recognize the need for change, establishing an environment conducive to change requires time and movement through stages. In this article, I examine different tools and processes that can pave the way for innovation or change. These processes became evident in my research on the emergence of an interdisciplinary policy school jointly established on two campuses where previous models did not exist. The change came about because there was a confluence of forces that promoted it; these factors were strong enough to negate the barriers. There were key actions undertaken by the universities that promoted the change, including systematic program review, university-wide integrated planning, the appointment of an executive sponsor who had social and political capital, and the establishment of a “grassroots” working committee comprising faculty who were passionate about the initiative. However, there were equally important practices and policies that hindered the movement forward; these included institutional procedures that required multiple levels of approval in a lock-step process and the many facets of resistance to change. For universities contemplating a change agenda, the implementation of some of these processes and tools could potentially be beneficial in moving forward.