The Ideal Study Space?

The designers and other stakeholders in the construction of Auburn University's new classroom facility, which is now going to be structurally connected to our existing library, have been soliciting feedback from teachers who use active learning here at Auburn. Last Thursday, Nancy Foster, one of the design team collecting this information came to my office with questions about what goes on in my classroom, what kind of individual and group assignments I might use, and what kinds of space and technology help me achieve our class results. Now that the designers have decided to join the new building to the existing library, the connecting space will be used for rooms where students can gather or work independently on course material outside of class, in effect, a complementary space to the many new active learning classrooms in the new facility.

Asked what I would like to see in this new space to make it more conducive to learning, either individual or collaborative, I gave answers that seem rather standard, though no less important, to me by now. I talked about having more color; noise dampening walls and carpeted floors; lots of horizontal space for books, papers, and laptops; lots of whiteboard or glass board space; an area large enough for students to perform, or to rehearse for skits or presentations; sufficient lighting without fluorescent glare; high ceilings to help avoid feeling hemmed in; and different sized tables and spaces for group and for individual study. As to that last point, I specified that spaces for individual students should promote a sense of privacy, but not isolation, or, in other words, students should feel safe and in reach of assistance anywhere they are in our new building.