Learning Resources

Abstract: FLEXSpace—The Flexible Learning Environments eXchange—and the Learning Space Rating System (LSRS) are tools that can help you plan, design, assess, and improve learning spaces on your campus. In this session, you will learn about the newly released FLEXspace 2.0 along with the LSRS. We'll cover the features and benefits of both tools and how they can be incorporated into the planning process. Come learn how to use these tools to inform designs and support end users from planning through post occupancy.

Abstract: This session will discuss how we used the Living Community Challenge (LCC) to frame master planning for San Francisco State University's Romberg Tiburon Campus. LCC is a next-generation approach to sustainable and resilient planning and design, with aggressive energy and water goals. We will demonstrate how we used an LCC-focused master planning process for a bayfront site to integrate facilities conditions, programming, site analyses, impacts of climate change and sea level rise, and net-positive energy and water for more healthy and productive research and learning environment.

Abstract: Institutions must work across silos to meet students’ needs through innovation and creativity. With a focus on integrating planning and student success, this session will explore Monroe Community College's (MCC) framework for reaching the overarching goal of improving student outcomes. We will share replicable examples of tactics for aligning strategies, allocating resources, and selecting relevant metrics to measure success. Through the implementation of a strategic plan, learn from MCC's example to optimize integrated planning, strategy development, resource allocation, assessment metrics, and accountability at your institution.

Abstract: FLEXSpace—The Flexible Learning Environments eXchange—and the Learning Space Rating System (LSRS) are tools that can help you plan, design, assess, and improve learning spaces on your campus. In this session, you will learn about the newly released FLEXspace 2.0 along with the LSRS. We'll cover the features and benefits of both tools and how they can be incorporated into the planning process. Come learn how to use these tools to inform designs and support end users from planning through post occupancy.

Abstract: Designing equitable spaces is an important part of closing the achievement gap between white students and students of color. Using Critical Race Theory (CRT) in facilities planning is a way to step back, reflect, and look for ways our current environments—and the processes used to create them—hinder or discourage students of color. Students leaders and the project coordinator will share how Portland Community College (PCC) has applied CRT and participatory action research to foreground the leadership and insights of students in campus planning and design.

Abstract: Post-occupancy evaluation (POE) of learning space is now an essential tool for institutions to align capital decisions with student performance. We will explore exemplary active-learning environments and the evaluation methodology we used to measure how these environments have elicited learning behaviors that foster student engagement. You will learn which aspects of the learning environment are important to measure, how to measure them, and how the collected data connects to metrics that matter to institutions.

Abstract: Course schedules are often "rolled over" without understanding their impact on instructional budgets. Real-time scheduling and budget data allows for strategic decisions that balance student needs with institutional capacity. This session will demonstrate a process to develop a strategic scheduling and budget plan and make real-time, data-informed schedule adjustments that support institutional, departmental, and program budget goals. You will learn how to develop planning strategies that align scheduling with budget goals and how to make day-to-day decisions that maximize your ability to meet student needs.

Abstract: Higher education’s resource situation is not good and is not expected to get better in the foreseeable future. Elite and wealthy institutions are relatively immune to these pressures, but the overwhelming majority of other institutions are continually struggling to match resources to mission. Several actions, though difficult and painful, would help reduce the gap between available resources and those needed to meet stakeholders’ needs. This session focuses on the need to employ a coordinated and aligned approach to planning, resource allocation, and assessment. It goes on to describe a proven practice for utilizing all three to match resources to mission—strategic resource allocation. Finally, it offers suggestions for initiating the conversation on your campus.

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.