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Today is Thursday September 02, 2010
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Butler Learning Spaces Research Project
In April 2007 Butler Community College made learning spaces one of its five strategic priorities. The college had just completed a major renovation of the work spaces for the IT division and had started a project to build a student union and create informal learning spaces at the Andover campus. Butler pulled together a learning spaces design team with a dozen members representing students, faculty, instructional administration, facilities, student services, research and planning, and technology. BOA Student Union
The student union (SU) team committed to engaging students, faculty, and staff in planning the student union. In 2007 Butler's research and effectiveness office conducted a study to gather input from students and employees at Andover regarding the kind of union they wanted. The research office surveyed more than 4,100 students and more than 500 employees to identify their preferences for facilities, programs, and services in the proposed union space. Results from this survey were used by the SU team and our architect to design a first floorplan for the new union. In April of 2007, the Reseach Office presented this plan to four student focus groups in gen ed classes. Feedback from these sessions was discussed with the architect, who came up with a second iteration of the floorplan. After further discussion with two more student focus groups and one faculty/staff focus group, the final plan was created.
In fall 2008, another survey was conducted to establish a baseline for usage of facilities at the Andover campus. Followup surveys to track change in usage and behavior patterns will be administered beginning in late spring 2009. Moving from no gathering spaces (apart from a few chairs lining hallways) to a full-service student union has certainly made an impact on the students. It also begged some important questions:
Now that the union is open, the research office is investigating those questions. Research staff have started a long-term study to determine the union's impact on student satisfaction and engagement. We are interviewing students and conducting surveys but also stepping back and observing how students interact in the new spaces. Preliminary observations suggest students already think the new union will encourage greater collaboration and interaction; they also have a sense that the college is interested in their success.
Learning Studios As a first step, in spring 2008 the new learning spaces team investigated partnering with Herman Miller's Learning Studios project to pilot a general-education classroom as a studio and, at least initially, as a demonstration room. In fall 2008, and again in spring 2009, the focus of our research is on observing the experiences of students and teachers in the general education Learning Studios and Nursing classrooms. For this initial phase, we adapted a survey tool developed by Herman Miller. A pre-occupancy version of the survey was administered to instructors and students to gather their perceptions of the traditional classroom. Toward the end of the fall, a post-occupancy version of the survey was administered to gather their perceptions of the Learning Studios. Follow-up focus groups with faculty and students were conducted to clarify and deepen feedback. The same methodology is being applied this spring.
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