Dive Brief:
- Trinity University in Texas opened a new Center for Sciences and Innovation in 2015, complete with a 10,000-square-foot area at its center that encourages interdisciplinary collaboration.
- Besides “The Cube,” which primarily serves as the engineering science and computer teaching lab, Campus Technology reports the $127 million, five-story, 280,000-square-foot building houses eight academic departments, a scholars program, and the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
- The Cube, or The Innovation Center as it is more formally known, has two teaching areas and a design studio with 10 mobile workstations, which have drawn the engineering students it was built for — as well as others from all over the university, contributing to a 20% spike in STEM interest in the last few years.
Dive Insight:
Colleges and universities across the country are turning to classroom design to help usher in the next generation of teaching and learning. Collaborative opportunities are being identified as critical to engage students in lessons and offer them ways to practice skills they’ll need in the workplace. While these projects are expensive, the boost they give institutions in recruitment material and student engagement can help justify the cost.
When it comes to deciding on a classroom or building design, industry leaders recommend visiting other sites and seeing how they look in action, rather than in still photos. And administrators should plan on offering some level of training to faculty who plan to use the new spaces. Flashy new tools can only have an impact if students get to experience them.