(Approved by CTL on October 17, 2003; approved on February 3, 2004 as amended)
In Attendance: Adkison, Bunde, Devaud, Kunicki, Nuhfer, Reis, Smith, Squires
Chairperson Rosemary Smith called the meeting to order. Action: It was moved and seconded to approve the minutes of September 19, 2003. Passed unanimously. The committee approved the minutes of the past meeting. The minutes will be forwarded to Faculty Senate. Focus of this meeting is on "the ideal classroom" project assigned by Dr. Jonathan Lawson.
Discussions began with reporting on the resources that faculty had found. Ed Nuhfer had furnished copies via email of a compilation of internet responses returned to his query in mid April. By today, committee members had visited many recommended web sites there or had discovered some of these on their own and downloaded selected materials.
Nuhfer noted that Rosemary Smith is affiliated with Project Kaleidoscope (http://www.pkal.org/) and asked her to tell the committee a bit about it. Rosemary described that the original group when she was active in it was smaller (under 200) and its focus was on mathematics and science and building strong learning environments. Classroom design was one interest. Later, the group grew to about 700 and its emphasis has changed to educational leadership.
She noted that a study at Cal Poly had a nice condensation of what is good in classroom environments from the viewpoint of facility assessment several facets were important that included total control over the classroom environment, furnishings, flexibility, accessibility, security and life-costing.
Discussions then turned to some research findings on specifics of classrooms. The first addressed lighting and the importance of versatile controls and either natural lighting from windows or simulated natural lighting through certain kinds of illuminators such as halogen lights.
Next was a discussion led by Cathi Kunicki based on the ideas of William J. Mitchell (Dean of MIT's College of Architecture) on the importance of the overall plan being "human centered" rather than "technology centered", and that it allow for flexibility, interaction, and communication. David Squires noted that trapezoidal tables (usually found in the classrooms in schools of education) promoted varied arrangements that increased interaction. Steve Adkison stressed that "flexibility" should provide a link between planning of a classroom arrangement with particular student learning outcomes in mind.
Carolyn Bunde noted that some of the problems currently associated with some classrooms in use that included inflexibility, particularly crowding that prevented faculty access to individuals, discomfort to students and even to spaces that were conducive to promoting cheating. Rosemary noted that we should get current codes for student space requirements to inform our planning group.
Discussions next turned to furnishings (noting the aforementioned benefits of trapezoidal tables) and toward considerations such as color, durability and noise produced by certain kinds of furniture. Some of the problems with space and mobility have been alleviated with furnishings such as coat racks and spaces for backpacks, book bags, computers, etc. The committee also agreed that we should aim to use a research-based approach to finding solutions, as opposed to our personal preferences and experiences.
David noted with interest that some faculty expressed a liking for "tiered" classrooms. The tiers were probably not the steeply inclined seating of auditoriums but rather the level tiers often seen in classrooms purposely designed for case studies.
Leslie Devaud noted that in certain distance learning situations, the problem of sound attenuation limited real-time interactive learning. Part of the problem results when students do not activate microphones manually.
Closing discussions turned general with recognition of the need for considering learning as an important input into classroom design.
At end of the meeting, Nuhfer passed out the year's first Nutshell Note that carried a schedule of workshop activities. He noted that a second group (College of Technology) wants to study deployment of uniform technology into ISU classrooms, and that possibly we should have a liaison between the two groups.
Committee members agreed that the topic for discussion at the next meeting would be to focus on the types of learning environments that we want to create in the rooms and how we can demonstrate the links between learning and a specific classroom environment.
Next meeting scheduled for Friday October 17th, 2003 at 9:00 AM.
Meeting adjourned at 9:55.
(Minutes taken by Ed Nuhfer)