At over 400 hectares in size, UBC’s Vancouver campus is one of the largest universities in Canada. But with nearly 50,000 students, space is precious, and there is a challenge to ensure it is used as effectively as possible. To contribute to conversations around spaces, CTLT hosted Reshaping the Campus Experience: Learning Environment Design Workshop. This five-day, intensive, hands-on workshop brought together participants from around the world to rethink learning space design and reimagine new learning spaces at UBC.
The workshop was led by Peter Jamieson, an educator and internationally recognized leader in learning environment design at the University of Melbourne, and Simon Bates, Senior Advisor, Teaching and Learning, and Academic Director at CTLT. Participants worked in small, multi-disciplinary teams, and learned about creating innovative learning environments for higher education by working on a realistic development project at UBC. Teams worked on conceptual redesigns of two spaces on campus: the ninth and tenth floors of Buchanan Tower and the fifth floor of Walter C. Koerner Library.
“We’ve been doing these workshops in a number of universities for the last few years, and it’s driven by the belief that to equally improve pedagogy and to improve the students’ experience on campus, then we need to rethink the campus environment and we need to find new ways of developing those spaces,” Peter explained.
To help participants begin to critically think about spaces, Simon facilitated a discussion on pedagogy-driven learning spaces design. When looking at how to engage students, space plays an undeniable role. Simon discussed how some classrooms are designed in a way that physically limits engagement, with one of the prime examples being large lecture hall auditoriums.
In the configuration of lecture halls, Simon noted how easy it is for students to be distracted, especially by devices used by students in front of them. “There’s this cone of distraction…if you’re seated two, three rows back, you can’t help but notice what someone else is doing,” he explained.
Further to competing with devices for attention, professors are also limited by the layout of classrooms. In a typical lecture hall, professors have little space for movement. They are usually restricted to standing at the front of the classroom, or they may choose to walk through the middle aisle leading up the lecture hall. In both cases, while the professor may be able to engage students in his/her proximity, Simon noted that there is often too much distance between a professor and the majority of the students, who are seated in the middle of the classroom. “You can’t get anywhere near fielding questions from people in the middle of the lecture theatre,” he said.
Peter, who last visited UBC in April, added that too often, there are what he refers to as “B-grade seats.” He explained that these are the seats in classrooms where “students are placed in a position where they’re compromised in terms of what they see, what they hear, or how they can participate in the room.” Peter noted that there is a complacency in allowing seats like these to remain in classrooms. For some institutions, there is a focus on maximizing seating, rather than engagement. Peter stressed that this focus needs to be shifted, and B-grade seats need to be eliminated.
“Everybody has to have an equitable opportunity to learn and to participate,” Peter said. “But until [the professor] comes to your zone, there’s no real connection.” Peter ties this to the concept of students feeling like they belong to a space – which is difficult when they are seated with limited access to the professor. “They don’t feel like they belong to much when they’re on the edge of a 300 seat lecture.”
While distance between a professor and students is a clear concern within space, Simon also noted that it isn’t just physical distance that can cause barriers to engagement. He explained that there are also other types of distances evident in a classroom, such as pedagogical distance, which requires that professors gauge student responses and acknowledge the feedback they are receiving. Another type of distance Simon discussed is instructional distance, which relates to whether or not students feel as though the professor cares about the students learning as individuals.
With space being so intricately linked to pedagogy, Simon emphasized the importance of creating innovative spaces, which can positively impact teaching and learning. “Experimental rooms can really drive pedagogical change. It opens up discussions about teaching and learning, and it provides a focus or catalyst.”
With this in mind, the workshop participants divided into three teams to work on the redesign of a UBC space, with the aim of creating a more functional learning environment. Participants came from a range of backgrounds and disciplines, including instructors, learning support staff, librarians, and architects from within and beyond UBC – and Peter was confident in what the groups would come up with. “Everybody has an innate ability to design and make sense of space if you’re given the opportunity to express that,” he said.
The first two groups presented their vision of redesigning two floors of Buchanan Tower, which currently houses the offices of professors across the Faculty of Arts. With its geometric shape and exposed concrete, the building is an example of brutalist architecture – a popular style in the 1950s, which emphasized strength and functionality. The groups similarly noted the main challenges the space presented: the building lacks an identity, and there is no connection or common space between the floors. But they also saw the opportunity the space provided to connect students across the Faculty.
The first group interviewed different professors currently located in the building. The professors noted that there are no common places to interact, and current office environments are not conducive to students having meaningful exchanges with professors.
The group envisioned transforming the tenth floor into a Humanities Hub – a space where people from any of the humanities disciplines can come together. Their plan was to move faculty offices to the ninth floor and reimagine the tenth floor as a communal space, which would consist of three zones. The “Intensive Learning Zone” would be an area for quiet reading, studying, and meetings. The “Discussion/Collaboration” space would allow students to work and chat, and give Teaching Assistants a place to meet with their students. Finally, the “Cultural House” would be a café where everyone in the Tower could go and socialize. The group also noted that it wasn’t just the ninth and tenth floors that should be redesigned; for the building to be more inviting, they suggested adding warmer finishes and reimagining the lobby with seating.
The second group saw a few different options to optimize space: moving faculty offices to the middle and student spaces to the perimeter, moving offices to the corner, or moving offices to one side. Similar to the first group, they imagined the space being comprised of a few different areas. They envisioned a reading room, a graduate student space, an open house with lounge seating and a food preparation area, and a “Create and Connect” space, with interactive screens, tables, and a digital creation studio. To unify the tower, the group proposed a vertical timeline – the first floor would explore UBC in the 1920s and each subsequent floor would represent a different time period at UBC. The top floor would be a blank slate, signalling the endless possibilities for what UBC might look like in the future.
The project was especially close to home for one of the participants, Florian Gassner, whose office is located in Buchanan Tower. Florian, an instructor and advisor in the Department of Central, Eastern and Northern European Studies, appreciated the different voices that each of his teammates brought to the project – and how they pushed boundaries. “I was focused on the parameters of what would and wouldn’t work…it was nice to see people not abide by that.” He found his teammates’ creativity inspiring, and enjoyed the opportunity to work with those he wouldn’t normally meet.
“It was a real treat to communicate with people who are running the physical university. I would applaud any initiative…where you can get faculty members with the people who [we] don’t see, but who we depend on to do our job well,” Florian said.
The final group took on another challenge: the fifth floor of Koerner library. The group envisioned the space designed specifically for graduate students. The space would be split into two sides: one half would be the Commons, a flexible workshop space with a kitchenette and bookable consultation space; the other half would be the Lounge, which would require swipe card access and have various unique forms of seating to accommodate different needs. The space would also display a range of student research and accomplishments, with the intention of inspiring other students. The space aims to be an area where graduate students, who are in the midst of one of the most stressful times in their schooling, can go and relax.
Jacqui Brinkman, one of the project’s designers, called the space “a nice blend of practical and creative.” As the Manager of Graduate Pathways to Success Program in the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, her office has been in discussions for a graduate student space since the idea first arose. For Jacqui, who describes herself as a “practical, logical person that likes to get things done,” the experience was a chance to broaden her perspectives.
“It was a great opportunity to be more creative in the way we were doing things,” Jacqui said. The experience has helped her approach learning spaces from a different lens and “focus more on learning than just on the practicality of space.”
Her teammate, Cyprien Lomas, similarly found the experience to be enlightening. Cyprien, who has long been interested in learning spaces, credited the workshop with renewing his interest in the topic. He appreciated how Peter encouraged participants to think broadly and creatively about different amenities and spaces.
“The process of collectively coming up with a learning space was quite amazing,” Cyprien says. Cyprien, who is the Director of the Learning Centre and Assistant Dean of Learning Technologies in the Faculty of Land and Food Systems, is now looking at learning spaces within his Faculty, and he is excited to share what he learned with his colleagues.
All final projects were presented to a panel of UBC staff and students, for comments and discussion. “It was wonderful to see all the people involved in space at UBC in the room – it helps build up the level of sophistication and quality of conversation around spaces,” Cyprien noted.
As the workshop came to a close, Angela Redish, UBC’s Vice Provost and Associate Vice President Enrolment and Academic Facilities, thanked the participants for their efforts and innovative ideas. She hoped they enjoyed the opportunity to think outside the box. “It was a luxury for UBC to have you here, and I hope it was luxury to spend five days thinking about learning space design,” she said.
The future remains bright for these projects. Outside the workshops, projects to redesign spaces at UBC have been emerging, and the aim is that elements and ideas from the workshop will be considered and incorporated into future plans. “Many of the participants have gone back to their institution and initiated real projects,” Peter explained. “We’ve been able to keep track of those, so there’s been some real concrete results from the workshop on multimillion dollar projects…it’s been a fabulous outcome.” He hopes that the participants, their respective institutions, and UBC benefit from this workshop. Simon added that this only marks the beginning of what’s to come. “The end of these five days is just the start of a conversation.”
This article was published in the January 2015 CTLT Newsletter, Dialogues. Below is a list of articles included in the issue:
- A Space to Learn: Reshaping the Campus Experience (currently viewing)
- Mechanisms to Enhance Teaching in Universities: An Interview with Michael Grove
- SOILx Receives Platinum MarCom Award
- Uncovering Indigenous Stories at this “Place of Mind”