IUPUI"s efforts to support student retention and success through academic program-based initiatives and the development of co-curricular opportunities have been accompanied by a series of long-term building and renovation projects intended to create more welcoming and "learner-friendly" physical facilities and environments on the campus. These projects have been among the campus"s highest planning and budgeting priorities over the past decade. The changes and improvements underway and planned for the next few years are motivated, in large part, by our focus on engaging students more deeply with learning and with the campus: for commuter students, especially, an environment conducive to spending time on campus before and after classes and engaging in activities outside the formal classroom is likely to strengthen their connection with the institution and with faculty and fellow students.
Redesigning Existing Learning Spaces
Some of the renovations are meant to support changes in instructional approaches, which are placing increased emphasis on the pursuit of active, experiential, and group learning, as well as on the use of instructional technologies. Such approaches call for new ways of conceiving learning spaces originally designed to accommodate lecture/presentation-based pedagogies. As an August 2000 concept paper of the IUPUI Learning Environments Committee explains,
No longer is the traditional classroom space, most suited to a presentational format, the only kind of facility we need to pursue our goals of better learning and affiliation; many other kinds of spaces are required to achieve these goals. We need to support spaces that enable interchange between students and students as well as between students and faculty, spaces that allow students to stay engaged between class meetings, spaces that encourage use of instructional technology in learning. The campus must be rich in instructional spaces of many kinds.
Among IUPUI"s first experiments with creating new kinds of learning spaces and facilities was the construction of the new University Library and the renovation of the old library building for University College. UL marked the first of these efforts, providing approximately 1,800 comfortable study spaces and technology resources that are especially important for commuting students and students who do not have access to technology at home. All carrels and study rooms are wired and IUPUI"s wireless network is available in the building. UL"s gate count was over 1,000,000 in 2001-2002 and continues to rise, counter to national trends toward declining library use.
UC was envisioned as an academic "home" for entering students. Accordingly, the UC building includes a variety of areas designed to support group learning and technology-assisted learning, as well as spaces where students can relax, study, and socialize. A redesign and upgrade of the UC food services area this year is intended to make the building an even more inviting environment for students to spend time in.
Similar upgrades are underway or planned throughout the campus, with the Learning Environments Committee, launched in 1999, playing a central role in conceptualizing the redesigned spaces, prioritizing spaces for renovation, and developing standards for both classroom and informal learning spaces. Working with task groups of students, faculty, and architectural planners to analyze needs and generate ideas for specific campus locations, the committee has developed a concept paper calling for "the creation of clustered seating, work tables, outdoor benches, additional pocket cafes, stand-up Internet kiosks or wireless clusters throughout connectors, in lobbies, and other public spaces" to make visible "the culture of learning that we are promoting at IUPUI." When plans are fully implemented, all classrooms will be wired for voice, data, and video connectivity, and many will include temporary or permanent partitions, work surfaces for use by groups of eight or fewer people, and moveable furniture to facilitate small-group learning.
To date, a redesign of several informal learning spaces in the Lecture Hall has been completed. Plans for the future call for classroom upgrades and the development of informal learning spaces in the Business/SPEA Building, Cavanaugh Hall, the Education/Social Work Building, the School of Nursing, and the Science, Engineering and Technology Building. Tentative locations for wireless computing environments include the Lecture Hall, the Education/Social Work connector, and Cavanaugh Hall.
New Buildings to Foster Student Engagement with Campus Life
Even more ambitious plans call for the development of a 173,000 square foot Campus Center by 2005 and for staged completion of student residences, which will increase our total student housing capacity from 350 to 3,000 students. Construction of Phase I of the residences has been, with completion expected as early as 2007. The Campus Center, which will be centrally located at the southwest corner of Michigan Street and University Boulevard, is slated to include student gathering places and lounges, food services, meeting and event spaces, student academic assistance services and resources, performance space, a computer lab, and a range of auxiliary services. The Center, which will begin construction in 2003 with completion anticipated in 2005, is a cornerstone of IUPUI"s plan to create a welcoming campus environment and encourage stronger academic and social connections to the campus among students.
Equally important, the student residences, which will house approximately 3,000 students, are being carefully planned as learning communities for students able to devote full attention to their educational experience at IUPUI. It is anticipated that adding a core group of residential students to IUPUI will strongly influence the student culture on campus, encouraging deeper engagement in learning among all students and, with the help of the Campus Center, strengthening and expanding co-curricular activities and student life. Planning for the residences is geared to accomplishing these key objectives for the campus. The residences will include an Honors House, an International House, first-year only student housing, and other special interest housing. UC is working closely with the Office of Student Life and Diversity to develop programming that will bring residential students together in UC first-year seminars, involve them in service learning projects and campus organizations, and create opportunities for student-faculty interaction outside class.
As part of its strategic planning (PDF) process, SLD is developing approaches to assessing the impact and success of the student residences and Campus Center through surveys, a student advisory council, and benchmarking of best practices at peer urban institutions. (Click here to view an interactive timeline of IUPUI building projects, past and future.)
Go on to: Planning and Assessing for Effective Learning
