Learning Resources

Abstract: Innovation centers, maker spaces, incubators, and idea factories get a lot of buzz, but what are they really and how can they be designed most effectively? This session is all about these innovation buildings—their design, use, and operations. We'll explore strategies and best practices, then roll up our sleeves and start designing! After we review the range of innovation buildings universities are creating, you will be asked to tackle a specific case study design problem within a small group.

Abstract: After participating in this session, you will be able to identify and distinguish formal from informal learning spaces, recognize active learning behaviors and describe elements of space and design that enable such behaviors, and identify and choose appropriate assessment methods to generate evidence of specific informal environments for self-directed active learning.

Abstract: The range of potential STEM careers is growing rapidly, yet people of color are underrepresented in STEM professions. New academic facilities can promote these careers through recruiting, retaining, and connecting with undergraduate talent. This session will explore an integrated approach to planning, design, and branding an HBCU's new STEM facility, including carefully developed digital messaging, to encourage student awareness of STEM academic pathways and professional opportunities. Come hear about strategies and lessons learned in working with architects, graphic designers, and digital content providers to develop this environment.

Abstract: The demand for graduates and technicians in the academic fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is influencing the design of specialized educational facilities in community colleges. Community colleges are increasingly aligning their academic programs to the specific economic development priorities and projected demand for skilled labor in the geographic regions they serve. It is expected that partnerships with local industry will increasingly shape curriculum development and facilities design. This trend is rapidly developing in California, where community colleges are incorporating sophisticated simulation laboratories, makerspaces, and innovation centers outfitted with advanced infrastructure and equipment, along with spaces that support the full spectrum of competencies required for graduates to succeed in the STEM labor market.

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.

Abstract: Colleges and universities are increasingly planning interdisciplinary, inter-college STEM facilities and need tools to address the special challenges that arise when dealing with a diverse set of users. This article discusses the importance of articulating a STEM vision as a means to prioritize building program components while maintaining project goals. It describes effective strategies for organizing diverse user groups, anticipating potentially challenging group dynamics, in a programming process that yields consensus about common goals and shared resources. It discusses layout strategies that support the mission of the building and an approach to STEM building governance that is independent of a particular college or department. The University of Mississippi is used as a case study.

Abstract: The forms and layouts of classrooms reflect the societies and economies that students will face when they graduate. As happened in the previous two industrial revolutions, classrooms today need to respond to an emerging “third industrial revolution,” with its demand for innovation and creativity and its provision of information on demand. Active learning classrooms represent a transition to a future in which most learning will no longer happen in what we call a “classroom” today. Instead, students and teachers will be able to move to a variety of spaces, on demand, in order to accommodate different kinds of intelligences and pedagogies.

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: This article describes the planning process undertaken at a large, regional comprehensive university to create a space within existing buildings aimed at improving student success in introductory mathematics. It demonstrates the need for integrated planning grounded in academic priorities and student success models.