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2007 Campus Technology Innovators: High-Tech Learning Spaces
8/1/2007
TECHNOLOGY AREA: HIGH-TECH LEARNING SPACES
Innovator: San Jose State University
An incubator classroom offers the latest technology so that faculty may innovate new modes of instruction
The construction of a new library on the San Jose State University (CA) campus presented a question and an opportunity: What could be done with the old library building? The fortuitous decision to turn the abandoned library structure into a state-of-the-art, 10,000-square-foot Academic Success Center sent Associate VP for Academic Technology Mary Jo Gorney-Moreno and other campus leaders into high gear for two years, to determine which kinds of formal and informal learning spaces would best serve the university's unique population of commuter students.
Extensive research. The first step in planning the new Academic Success Center was to engage innovation and design firm Ideo to conduct an independent study of the campus, to find out what students, faculty, and staff thought about the types of spaces that were needed. Ideo performed focus groups; fly-on-the-wall observations; man-on-the-street interviews with faculty, staff, and students; as well as complete surveys of students and staff. For her part, Gorney-Moreno traveled to campuses across the country to research other high-tech learning spaces.
Key among the research findings was that learning spaces should foster collaboration among students and faculty, and that faculty members want teaching spaces that are flexible, accessible, and convenient. The Academic Success Center's final design features numerous informal, flexible spaces that support collaboration—but it's the Incubator Classroom that is the center's signature offering. It combines flexible classroom furniture and configurations with an array of audiovisual technologies designed to enable two-way, collaborative classroom interaction.
A variety of technologies. The Incubator Classroom scales to seat up to 50 students in different configurations and has numerous features designed to enhance faculty/student interactions in the classroom environment. Diverse vendors such as CompView, Oliver Worldclass Labs, and many others were consulted as a rich mix of software and equipment was integrated into the top-flight facility. Faculty quickly learned to use the environmental and instructional control system from AMX, and conferencing systems from
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