NOTE: Further renovations are planned in the space and are due to be completed in Spring 2022.
Location
Capacity
92 students
Alignment with Principles for Designing Teaching and Learning Spaces
Academic Challenge
- Layout: Oversized tablet work surfaces attached to chairs provide ample space for classroom materials (e.g., notebooks, laptops, textbooks). Mobile furniture permits rapid room reconfiguration for different learning activities.
- Furniture: Chairs on wheels permit students to work individually or in groups.
- Technologies: Access to resources: Learning Management System, internet (via student laptops).
- Lighting/colour: Natural and overhead lighting supports individual work during or outside of class time.
Learning with Peers
- Layout: A flexible layout permits students to collaborate with one another and configure the space in multiple ways, moving easily from small group (groups of 2-4 students where the chairs’ tablets together make a table surface) to larger group activities.
- Furniture: Comfortable chairs on wheels permit students to turn to discuss and work with those next to or behind them, and allow for reconfiguration of the classroom to support a variety of collaborative learning approaches.
- Technologies: Shared workspaces include blackboards.
- Lighting/colour: Natural and overhead lighting gives ample light for group work; blue chairs bring an energizing accent colour to this space.
Experiences with Faculty
- Layout: Instructor is not limited to the “front of the room” and instead has access to all students due to easily mobile furniture.
- Furniture: The adjustable-height podium provides space for all instructional materials. Mobile furniture for students supports different teaching strategies.
- Technologies: A data projector permits display of different learning materials.
- Lighting/colour: Brightly coloured chairs help to provide a welcoming ambiance in the room.
Campus Environment
- University standards have been applied: IT is consistent with teaching and learning needs, and durable furniture contributes to sustainability efforts.
- Designed for all populations using the space: well-lit, with a standardized room control panel that simplifies instructors’ use of equipment in classrooms across campus. Integrated storage under each tablet chair allows students to store personal belongings within easy reach.
- Classrooms that incorporate elements of active and collaborative learning are part of a vision for a variety of flexible campus learning spaces.
High-Impact Practices
- Both physical and virtual affordances help maximize HIPs for student learning within and beyond this classroom.
