Dive Brief:
- Purdue University has figured out how to make an on-campus classroom work simultaneously as a production studio for online course content.
- Campus Technology reports that designing the space and getting it functional proved challenging, but the classroom makeover included new acoustics and mic placement, a more interactive classroom layout, and the need for an active production worker — in their case, a student employee.
- The new multifunction classroom seats 75 students with overflow space for almost 100 more, who would participate in the class like their distance-learning peers, according to the article.
Dive Insight:
According to Campus Technology, Purdue undertook the classroom makeover aiming for maximum flexibility. The goal was to make the classroom as resilient to the changing needs of classrooms as possible. The prior iteration of bolted down tables and chairs with desk monitors for every student didn’t work to engage those taking the class in person, and it wasn’t providing the optimal environment for distance learners either.
Besides making classrooms more flexible for the two key learning platforms of today, institutions are also experimenting with design for student engagement more generally. Oregon State University now has a Learning Innovation Center with parliament style and “in-the-round” classrooms that get students closer to their instructors, as well as collaboration and study spaces for after-class use.