LITRE Infrastructure Work Group Committee

November 19, 2002

Roger Rohrbach, Michael Harwood, Stan North Martin, Nancy Margolis, and Yewande Robinson-Freeman

Infrastructure includes all kinds of learning environments, including classrooms, labs, computer labs, virtual environments, others

Student ownership of computers

Data from College of Engineering

Drivers of change

1. Availability of technology

2. Faculty

Question: Can we formulate a strategy to move technology into faculty hands?

Question: Can we set standards so that our use of technology is efficient?

For example, could we say that all e-mail attachments must be PDF files to deal with the persistent problem of viruses?

Question: How can we configure our resources to anticipate the changes that technological dependency will bring?

Classification of classroom space

HEGIS standards

110 classrooms – podium, black- or whiteboard, overhead projector, screen

210 classrooms – labs?

others

Issue: Departments are slow to accept a designation of their space as 110 classrooms, because the formal classroom designation brings with it a loss of control over the space.

Large lecture halls: do not provide an active learning environment. Nevertheless, another large lecture hall is called for in the facilities plan.

Question: How can we streamline R&R to channel resources to faculty in the way they wish to use them?

Issue: Faculty teaching online courses sometimes reserve rooms so that they will have reserved space and times for exams. They then use the rooms only once or twice a semester.

Issue: Faculty teaching in large lecture halls sometimes use the halls for only two hours per week, sending students to small group areas for the third hour. For that hour, the large hall is vacant.

Classroom mix

Where are the classrooms?

What kind of classrooms are they?

Most of our classroom accommodate under 40 students.

Ideally, classrooms will be filled to at least 65% capacity.

Ideally, classrooms will be occupied 35% of the time.

Question: Can the university look to industry for ideas on how we could develop flex space?

Caveat: Pedagogy should drive infrastructure planning. If we are not careful, infrastructure drives pedagogy.

Question: Is this an example of path dependency? We build classroom space speculating on the way we want to teach , but afterward we are stuck teaching in the same old ways because we are constrained by the space.

Who else is working on/influencing these issues?

Classroom Environment Committee (standing committee of university)

Classroom Improvement Committee (new committee)

Student-owned computer initiative

Individuals: Darryl McGraw (classroom technology standards)

Stan North Margin

Harry Nicholos

Debbie Carraway

Data needs

University-wide computer-ownership statistics like those we have for College of Engineering

Information on current facilities mix

Information on projected facilities mix