The Capacity Question

There is no doubt that when attempting to re-design learning and teaching environments in older buildings the capacity of the room is a major obstacle. I do not refer to large raked lecture theatres in this post.

These rooms are generally several decades old and were designed for a pedagogy of the 60s and 70s when it was simply a case of getting as many bums on seats as possible. They have  not kept up with developments in teaching style, advances in technology or the expectations of staff and particularly students in these days of £9000 per annum fees.

If a university has plenty of  excess rooms, of an appropriate size, the problem is easily solved. However the reality is usually that there are not enough spare rooms and the ones that are being redesigned need to reduce the existing capacity if an improvement is to be achieved. If the existing capacity of the rooms is still required to achieve the needs of the time table the designer is presented with a very difficult dilemma to resolve.

In my experience most rooms designed more than 10 yrs ago, and sadly sometimes later than that, are 30 % over capacity to deliver what most learning space designers would consider adequate environments.

Here is a typical example of classrooms I have seen at dozens of universities :


I have discussed this problem with several colleagues involved in learning space design in the HE sector across the UK and internationally and this is a recurring theme.

If anyone has any solutions for this dilemma I would be pleased to hear them.

 

Interactive Technology and International Students

I had an interesting conversation with a lecturer and  some students today in a teaching space I had designed.
They all liked the layout which is 4 plectrum tables that seat 6 and divide and fold for greater reconfiguration.
One question that I found interesting was from a student who asked why there was no interactive technology installed.
This was a bit disappointing on one level as the room has a Smart Podium installed but the lecturer was not aware of it, a job for our e-learning team to get to grips with.

On another level I enquired of the student where she came fro, it was Hong Kong and she told me that interactive technology is everywhere.

It then occurred to me that my university, as are many others,are trying to increase recruitment of international students. If we are to do this we need to provide the types of environments and technology they have come to expect. Of course this is not true for all international students but the trend is growing especially for students from the far east.

Oh and one other thing. Another student made the exact same remark about the shape of the table as a student at MLC in Melbourne which I visited 2 years ago with Peter Jamison who had designed some classrooms there. It was that she liked not having someone sitting directly behind her looking at the back of her head. I think this is a hard wired instinctive defensive thing, but that is just my take on it.

 

Too Narrow, too Low and too Distant

I was observing a lecture in a room today where 6 students were crammed into a row 3mtrs wide so 500mm wide, this was obviously too narrow a space for each student especially as they are getting bigger.

I also noticed that the students from halfway back were bobbing around in an attempt to see the projection screen, i even saw three students sat on the top of the backrest of their seats at the back of the room. This is because the room is a flat floor and the furniture is all the same height. I think I can improve this with different height furniture. A raked floor is not possible.

The last observation was that the back 3 rows were too distant from the projection screen, or put another way, the projection screen is too small for the distance of the furthest seats.

I will be sorting this room soon and will blog with the solution.