"Radically Flexible" Classroom story - Learning Spaces Collaboratory

A RADICALLY FLEXIBLE CLASSROOM PROPOSAL FOR
PROJECT NEXT
Presented by
The Methods of Teaching History class (HIS 4330.01) Fall 2010
Methods of Teaching History (HIS 4330) is a course designed to prepare college
history majors for the special challenges they will face as history teachers in
secondary school. The fall 2010 course included five students: Gary Beam,
Cecelia Hill, Susan Alyse Hoffman, Tiffany Fitzhugh, and Janie Torres. It was
taught by Dr. Elizabeth Alexander, Master of Arts in Teaching (Vanderbilt
University) and Ph.D. in History (Texas Christian University). As part of this
course, the students observed in secondary schools (middle and high schools)
for 25 hours during the semester. One of the topics that arose in class
discussions of their observations was the arrangement of classroom space to
facilitate learning. Dr. Alexander challenged her class to design an ideal space
for history instruction and enter the Project Next competition.
Designing learning space for Net-Gen students
Although many Texas Wesleyan students come from earlier generational
cohorts, the majority of our students fit the age group known as The Millennials
or Net-Generation students (born 1982 or after). This age-group will furnish an
ever-growing number of college students both at Wesleyan and at other
universities. All of the student members of this design team are members of the
Millennial generation (while the instructor is a Baby Boomer).
The most commonly identified characteristic of the Millennials is their
unconscious integration of technology into their lives. 1 Most members of this
cohort group are so connected that they consider technology as simply a tool for
getting things done. Millennials live in a mobile world, which facilitates their
multi-tasking nature. Their electronic devices, which they bring into the
classroom, allow them to stay in constant contact with the world around them. 2
Technology is not the only attribute by which this generation is defined.
Millennials are team-oriented, preferring to study and socialize as a group. 3 They
are also achievement-oriented, meaning that they tend to become disengaged
where they do not see a path that leads them to their goal. Having grown up with
parents who are very active in their lives, they yearn for feedback and imput from
others. 4 The unique characteristics of this generation of college students are
colliding with how learning is conventionally implemented in the classroom.
Traditional classroom design dictates a learning style that fixes the roles of
students and teacher. With a single location for instruction—along the wall of the
chalkboard or digital projection screen—contact between teacher and students is
limited. Teachers are thus identified as the expert giver of knowledge, the
authoritative person who broadcasts information through a lecture-based
teaching style. Students are passive learners who sit in aligned rows facing the

instructor. Edgar Dale’s “cone of learning” suggests that students retain only 30
percent of course information when they are passive learners. 5
Traditional lecture formats are particularly unsuccessful with the
Millennials. They are demanding educational consumers who expect active
engagement in the learning process. With a desire to create and contribute to
course content through active discovery, the Millennials prefer to be knowledge
makers and not only knowledge receivers. A learning environment that does not
allow them to “learn through participation and experimentation” causes this
generation of students to feel disconnected. 6 Brought up on Nintendo games,
they are comfortable with a trial and error approach to solving challenging
problems. Millennials anticipate that their learning spaces will encourage an
exploratory, participatory, interactive, inductive, and social model of learning,
especially with eye-catching visuals.
Learning Theory and the Millennials
Contemporary learning theory has identified a shift in the teaching and
learning paradigm of the previous century. Moving away from a transmission
model with the teacher as “expert” and the student as “knowledge receiver,” the
new “constructivist” model emphasizes the active creation of knowledge by the
learner and suggests that students best construct knowledge when “they are
actively engaged in making some type of external artifact that they can reflect
upon and share with others.” 7 Constructivist learning theory implies that learning
is best when it is contextual (taking into account the student’s understanding),
active (engaging students in learning activities that use analysis, debate, and
criticism, as opposed to memorization), and social (using discussion, direct
interaction with experts and peers, and team-based projects).
Characteristics of Millennial students overlap practices that research has
shown encourage and strengthen learning. The Net-Gen student prefers social
learning, has a preference for group activity, and favors learning by doing rather
than by listening. Discovery, exploration, experimentation, criticism, and analysis
are the learning styles that suit the Millennial generation well.
Using learning spaces to engage the Millennial Generation
Texas Wesleyan University has adopted a plan for a Signature Student
Experience that will make Wesleyan the “premier student-centered teaching and
learning university in North Texas.” 8 Parts of this plan propose streamling
student access to financial aid, registration, and other student services; other
parts focus on improving the student life experience. Faculty have been offered
(and have attended in large numbers) presentations on student-centered
learning. Yet Wesleyan’s faculty still struggle to reach these Net-Gen students in
classrooms that are dominated by one type of design: teacher-focused, one-way
facing and presentational, with seating arranged in either a U shape or in straight
rows. Even when technology has been added—interactive whiteboards mounted
on the wall behind the teacher with ceiling-mounted projectors cabling to a wired
computer—these have rarely altered the dynamics of the design. Diana Oblinger
has identified what she calls the “built pedagogy” or the ability of space to define

how one teaches. 9 Reaching today’s students, who prefer active, participatory,
experiential learning, requires that Texas Wesleyan reconceptualize its learning
spaces to facilitate the learning styles of the Net-Gen student. Our proposal for
Project Next suggests a new paradigm for classroom design.
Learning Theory, Learning Spaces, and History Instruction
Active, social, and experiential learning are all facets of a new direction in
history instruction known as inquiry-based learning (also sometimes called
project-based learning). Inquiry-based learning facilitates student acquisition of
domain-specific skills such as evaluating, corroborating, and synthesizing
multiple and conflicting historical evidence. Inquiry-based instruction is a
student-centered and teacher-guided instructional approach that engages
students in investigating problems of the past. Students acquire and analyze
information, develop and support propositions, provide solutions, and design
products that demonstrate their thinking and make their learning visible. 10
Learning from multiple sources aids historical understanding more than
does reading one source. Students who explore a topic through paintings, diary
entries, newspaper articles, speeches, artifacts, and songs are more engaged
and develop a deeper understanding than just reading about it in a single
secondary source. Multiple sources allow for multiple perspectives;
corroborating these diverse viewpoints is challenging, but it is a skill students
need to participate in a democratic society. 11 Given this understanding that
factual knowledge emerges out of active engagement with learning rather than
out of textbook-driven curriculum, our design team asked how the history
classroom might become a site of active learning and critical thinking, and how
space planning and technology could foster those goals?
Most inquiry-based exercises in our discipline are rooted in the retrieval
and analysis of primary social and cultural documents and artifacts. These range
from simple Web exercises in which students must find a photo about “work” in
the 19 th century to elaborate assignments in which students carefully consider
how different photographers, artists, and writers have portrayed the subject of
“work” historically. Wesleyan students have used the WPA life histories from the
Library of Congress to reconstruct the world of immigrants and have scrutinized
the “Registers of Free Blacks” from the Valley of the Shadow Civil War site learn
about the lives of free African Americans in the Shenandoah Valley. 12 Obviously,
the use of primary sources and inquiry methods does not require students to
have immediate digital access. Teachers have long used documentary
anthologies and source books (often taking advantage of another somewhat less
recent technological advance, the copy machine). But the rise of new media and
new computer technology has encouraged and improved inquiry-based
instruction for three key reasons.
First is the greatly enhanced access to primary sources available on the
Internet. Vast depositories of documents and images are now available at the
touch of a computer key. Just the sixty different collections (containing about
one million primary documents) that the Library of Congress has made available
since the mid-1990s constitute a revolution in the resources available to those

who teach and study about American history, society, or culture. Almost weekly,
additional archives come online, including such diverse collections as the U.S.
Supreme Court Multimedia Database at Northwestern University, the U.S.
Holocaust Memorial Museum, and Exploring the French Revolution at George
Mason University. 13
A second appealing feature of this new distributed cultural archive is its
multimedia character. The teacher with a copy machine is limited to written texts
and static (and often poorly copied) images. Students who have access to the
web in their classrooms can analyze the hundreds of early motion pictures
placed online by the Library of Congress, the speeches and oral histories
available at the National Gallery of Recorded Sound assembled at Michigan
State University, and with literally thousands of historical photographs. 14
Third, the digitization of documents allows students to examine them with
supple electronic tools, conducting searches that facilitate and transform the
inquiry process. For example, the American Memory Collection provides search
engines that operate within and across collections: if one is researching
sharecropping in the thousands of interview transcripts held by the Federal
Writers’ Project archive, a search will quickly take the student to every mention of
sharecropping in every transcript. But searches for key words such as “race” or
“ethnicity” will also turn up interesting patterns and unexpected insights into the
language and assumptions of the 19 th and early 20 th centuries. 15 These kinds of
activities—searching, examining patterns, discovering connections among
artifacts—are all germane to the authentic thinking processes of historians.
Students are not just learning about history, they are learning to how to be
historians.
Although inquiry-based instruction can be implemented in a traditional
setting, the typical history classroom, with rows of seats facing forward and a
teacher at the front of the classroom, does not facilitate inquiry-based instruction.
Inquiry-based instruction in history classrooms (as well as other disciplines)
requires the use of multiple modes of presentation: lecture, whole class
discussion, small group discussion, and individualized instruction. Moving heavy
furniture (and the necessity of replacing it at the end of class) to accommodate
small group work is time-consuming and interrupts the flow of the lesson. With a
single computer access point at the front of the room, only the instructor can
actually perform web searches. Student participation in web searches and
analysis is limited to material provided by the teacher or to searches performed
outside of class. The student-centered, active learning that is at the center of
inquiry-based instruction is hindered by the “built pedagogy” of the traditional
classroom. Therefore, the students and instructor of HIS 4330 decided to design
a “radically flexible” 16 classroom that would maximize the inquiry-based method
of learning, using multiple delivery systems, such as whiteboards, SmartBoards,
video/film, sound recordings, and internet access (websites as well as UTube,
Twitter, and blogs), to maximize student engagement and allow multiple
interactions among students and between students and their instructor.

LEARNING SPACE DESIGN
The Center for Teaching Excellence (CETL) provided the HIS 4330 design team
with the basic floor plan for Project Next. The classroom that will house the
learning design is located in the basement of the E.J. West Library of Texas
Wesleyan University. The room is basically square, 31’ 6” wide and 29’6” deep,
with a small cut-out (7’ by 4) in the NE corner. A door and an interior window are
located on the NW side of the classroom (see floor plan). The classroom has
been used as both a computer lab and a classroom and contains twenty PCs, a
printer, one existing white board, a SmartBoard with overhead projector, and an
instructor’s station. The flooring is beige vinyl tile, the walls are white wallboard,
and all the lighting is overhead florescent. While the basic floor plan cannot be
altered, the design team decided that the interior space would be completely
redesigned to create a flexible learning space, in which the traditional classroom
expands to include virtual space alongside physical space.
Historically, Texas Wesleyan University (and other institutions at the college
level) has designed classrooms around teaching and to maximize the number of
students in a room. The presumption has been that good teaching results in
learning—a presumption that focuses on the instructor. Our design team
decided to shift the focus to the learner. Our research indicates that inquirybased
learning is best achieved in a collaborative setting. 17 A space that
harmonizes with learning theory, encourages inquiry-based instruction, and
responds to the needs of Net-Gen students reflects several principles:
Flexibility: A group of learners should be able to move from
listening to one speaker (traditional lecture or demonstration) to
working in groups (team or project-based activities) to working
independently (reading, writing, or accessing print or electronic
resources). While specialized spaces exist for each of these
activities (lecture classrooms, computer labs, and library carels), it
makes more sense to construct spaces capable of quick
reconfiguration to support different kinds of activities, using
moveable tables and chairs, for example.
Sensory Stimulation: Antiseptic environments consisting of white
rooms with bland tiled floors create a sense of boredom for their
inhabitants. Human beings yearn for color, interesting room
shapes or arrangements, and natural lighting. One study found that
the majority of students, both male and female, constantly
rearranged their living spaces to be more attractive. In evaluating a
model learning space, they noted paint colors, carpeting, and
lighting without prompting. 18 The students on this design team,
likewise, mentioned color and comfortable seating at the beginning
of the first design session.
Technology Support: Millennial students expect seamless
technological use. Their older teacher would also appreciate the

same capability. Our design team noted the need for a wireless
environment, the capacity to network with other devices and display
vehicles, and access to power. Rather than the cumbersome, fixed
ceiling-mounted projector systems, learning spaces of the future
will need more flexible capabilities.
Decenteredness: Following the principles of knowledge
constructivism, spaces should convey co-learning and coconstruction
of knowledge. Within the classroom, that means
avoiding the message that the room has a front or “privileged”
space. Flexible furniture arrangements decenter the room from
teacher to student activity and stress collaboration.
Our goal in designing a classroom for Project Next is to provide a physical space
that supports highly interactive learning unbound by traditional space constraints
within a social setting that engages students and faculty and enables rich
learning experiences. With this focus in mind, the following characteristics
guided our design. We agreed that a 21 st century learning space should:
Support both teacher-led and learner-led activities, including
discussion, collaborative project work, and information retrieval and
sharing;
Create multiple focal points in the classroom, not just a single focal
point at the front of the room;
Group or cluster students, rather than seating them in rows;
Establish informal group work spaces;
Provide movable furniture that allows reconfigurable space;
Integrate technology and learning;
Provide a visually appealing space with an inviting palate of colors
and clean, modern design in the furnishings and walls.
Our classroom design for Project Next provides a “radically flexible” space for
twenty-four students and the instructor that includes:
1. Flooring: medium blue carpet tiles (for their sound-deadening quality
and ability to be replaced if stained).
2. Walls: painted soft yellow (a welcoming color).
3. Furniture:
a. Twenty-four quarter-round tables on wheels, capable of being
moved together in groups of four to form six table areas. Each
quarter-round table is 2 ½ feet across, giving a large table space
with a diameter of 5 feet.
The presence of reconfigurable furniture and the absence of the traditional “front
of the room” allow active learning approaches that focus on student interactions
and involvement. 19
b. 25 rolling office chairs (for students and the instructor),
upholstered in red.

Selecting lightweight, wheeled chairs that permit easy reconfiguration of the
room’s seating encourage debate, discussion, and teamwork—essential
elements of inquiry-based learning. 20 Chairs whose height is adjustable with
cushioned seats and armrests also provide more flexibility for different body
types.
c. Ten portable white boards (also on wheels) that can be used to
divide the room space and provide workspace for student projects.
Ideally, the white boards should be 5’ long, 4’ wide, and 5’ high
(measured from the floor).
With no centralized, formal “front” to the classroom, these whiteboards provide
each work group with its own visual focal point and access to a mobile writing
surface. Some of the whiteboards we have researched have whiteboard space
on both sides; some have cork boards on one side and whiteboard on the other
(we believe this style would be most desirable, since it provides space for
students to display work).
d. 25 Dell Latitude laptops contained in a mobile technology cart.
Wireless Internet connection is essential for this classroom.
Laptops and other mobile devices have great potential to enhance and transform
instruction. Today’s students use their devices in class to take notes, access
materials and applications, and find relevant information. When all students in a
classroom can access networked tools simultaneously, many collaborative
learning opportunities emerge. In a traditional classroom, many students use
their networked devices to engage in activities unrelated to coursework. We
believe that when a classroom is no longer a place where information is delivered
to passive students, but an interactive, collaborative environment where
knowledge is actively created, those interactive devices can be an important part
of the learning process.
e. A mobile SmartBoard with a wireless Instructor Station.
Given that the instructor will be moving around the classroom in most
instructional configurations, a fixed station would be counterproductive. Visual
display is no longer confined to one wall but distributed around the classroom.
Moreover, students will also need to be able to utilize and control the room’s
technology, as much or more than the instructor.
Ideally, the room would contain several mobile SmartBoards that students could
use in small groups. We recognize that the expense of providing this kind of
connectivity may be prohibitive. However, we believe that the SmartBoard
provided in this classroom should be mobile and wireless, which would allow it to
be used by students as well as the instructor. (Please see the picture and specs

attached to this proposal.) An alternative to multiple mobile SmartBoards might
be data projectors located at several spots around the classroom. The
whiteboards can be obtained with surfaces that are suitable for projection. With
wireless access to student laptops, student work could be projected onto the
whiteboards and facilitate group knowledge construction
f. A 96 inch sofa with ottoman and two armless upholstered
chairs—all three covered in a dark blue twill fabric, chosen for
durability and stain resistance.
Provision of this “living room” furniture is intended to convey to the students using
the classroom that this is a different kind of space, in which a different kind of
learning will take place. This furniture also appeals to the Millennials’ need for
social spaces where informal learning occurs. Together with the moveable
tables and chairs, this furniture will allow students and the instructor to
personalize the learning space, making it comfortable in a variety of
arrangements and for a variety of people.
g. Large cork boards (ideally, floor to ceiling and at least 10’ wide)
on the east and south walls.
These walls provide more space for display of student work and for large posters
illustrating historical places/events and maps. The intent is to provide more
visual interest in the room.
. h. A classroom response system (“clickers”) to allow the instructor
to gather feedback and to stimulate class discussion.
i. A color printer and copier/scanner.
j. An overhead lighting system that allows for dimming and that
simulates daylight as much as possible.
With almost every item in the space on wheels, from the tables and chairs to the
SmartBoard and instructor control station, the room can be quickly and easily
reconfigured. This will allow the space to serve many different functions and
teaching styles. We have attached several room configurations to this proposal,
but many such arrangements are possible. The “radical flexibility” of this plan
allow both instructors and students to take ownership of this space and shape it
to their particular requirements.
STUDENT AND INSTRUCTOR PERSPECTIVES ON THE LEARNING SPACE
The members of this design team believe that the classroom we have
proposed will implement the three major trends in learning space design
identified by Malcolm Brown of Dartmouth University:

Design based on learning principles, resulting in intentional support
for social and active learning strategies.
o Students in this learning space can easily get to know each
other and engage in dialogue, since both their chairs and
tables are mobile.
o Students can easily work on group projects, given their
access to group work spaces, networked computers, and
display space for their group products.
o Students can present their work publicly, teach others, and
give each other feedback.
o Students can debate, research, inquire, and solve problems
by taking advantage of the communication and computer
technologies available in the classroom.
An emphasis on human-centered design.
o The classroom is designed to be a comfortable, welcoming
space with ergonomically designed furniture and lighting and
colorful floors and walls.
Our classroom creates a learning space that emphasizes active learning,
social engagement, mobility, and multiple paths through content. Its “radically
flexible” design allows space, furniture, and technology to be “changeable on the
fly,” not only making the room more adaptable and more engaging, but also
enabling experimentation and further refinement by the students and faculty
using the classroom.
A Student and a Professor Experience Classroom Next
This classroom reframes the relationship between faculty and students,
discouraging the instructor from being the focal point of the classroom. Instead,
the instructor is encouraged to take the role of a facilitator, coach, counselor, and
mentor, while the student becomes an active participant in the classroom.
Students are encouraged to discover, construct, and understand knowledge
rather than memorize and recall the information. In this next section, a student
and a professor imagine a lesson taught in Classroom Next.
An imaginary student encounter with the Learning Space (written by
Cecelia Hill):
It is a morning like any other—get up, brush teeth, throw on clothes, and
rush off to class. One thing is different—my history class has been moved to a
new type of classroom. Dr. Alexander says that our class will be the first to
experience this new type of what she calls a “learning space.” New things are
always a little scary, and I wonder what she means.
Whoa!! This place is seriously different! I really like the colors—Wesleyan
blue and gold. And a SOFA!!! I’m going to sit there. There are lots of little tables
on wheels—I wonder if I could move them around? Right now, they’re set up in

groups of four all around the class. As everyone comes in, they all seem to have
the same reaction as I did—something different is happening here.
Dr. Alexander has put a question up on the SmartBoard about leadership
qualities. She suggests that we all pull our chairs up to the SmartBoard and
brainstorm about leadership—she wants to know what qualities we think a leader
should have? For about 5 minutes we call out ideas and she writes them down
on a whiteboard she’s pull out from the wall. Now she’s telling us that we’re
going to investigate George Washington’s leadership over the next three days
using some material from the Library of Congress. 21 She points us to the website
on the L of C’s webpage that we’ll be using. Bobby asks if we’re going upstairs
into the library? Surprise! Dr. A pulls out laptops from a cabinet and hands them
out. We each have one! And they’re wireless—nothing to trip over.
She asks us to divide ourselves into five groups—four in each group.
There are only 20 in the class so some of the chairs are empty. We push those
against a wall. My group commandeers the sofa area! Others move their chairs
and tables together in the corners. We all pull up one of the whiteboards and
open our laptops. Each group has an assignment—to read one or more letters
by or to Washington. At first, we weren’t too sure what we were supposed to do,
but Dr. A gives each group a list of questions to consider. We’re supposed to
read the letter together and come up with answers that we will write on our
whiteboards. Dr. A wants us to also post our answers to a class “dropbox” site
so that all of us can read each groups’ work. She has to spend a few minutes
showing us how to do this, but it’s not hard. I want to write on the board, but
Kristin says she’s a fast typist and will post our answers.
My group will read Washington’s letter to his friend George Fitzhugh
(George Washington to William Fitzhugh, November 15, 1754) and think about these questions:
What was the tone of Washington's reply to the invitation to accept a commission under Governor
Sharpe's command?
What are the reasons Washington gives for rejecting the appointment?
To what extent would Washington's reply to Governor Sharpe's offer reflect negatively on his military
career?
What does this letter reveal about Washington's character?
Dr. A says we have about 20 minutes to read our letter and answer our
questions—the time goes by really quickly, mainly because we all have ideas
about what we should write on our board.
When she calls time, we all wheel our boards and chairs to the center, making
sort of a circle. Each group has a chance to tell the others about what we read
and found out. I’m surprised that Washington took so many risks to become a
leader in the militia. Seeing what the other groups wrote on their boards makes it
easy for me to understand what was happening in the French and Indian War. I
had no idea that Washington’s actions started that war!

We finish up by going back to the leadership qualities that we first came
up with. Some of the qualities really seem to fit Washington, but some don’t.
“Reckless” was not a leadership quality that we mentioned! Now we have
homework for the next class. We’re supposed to pretend to be a member of the
Virginia House of Burgesses and write a proposal “recognizing Washington’s
service to Virginia between 1754 and 1758.” We can use all the groups’
comments that they put on their boards and posts. She says we can also use
the BlackBoard system chat room to work together if we want. My group decides
that we’re going to meet up on the chat board at 7:00 p.m. tonight and get this
done! We’re going to read our proposals next class and vote on the best. Dr. A
says she has a neat new technique for voting that won’t make us have to tell our
vote out loud. It’s called a “clicker.” I’m glad I can really vote my opinion and not
worry about making someone mad.
Well, class is over for today—and I’m sorry! This has been fun. We’re all
asking if we can use this classroom again, and Dr. A says we’re going to use it
every day. Amazing! She says we won’t always do the same kind of stuff—
sometimes we’ll have regular lectures and sometimes we’ll watch films or other
things. I like using the laptops and working with my group. I want to do this
again.
A professor’s imaginary narrative of a lesson in Classroom Next:
Today’s the day. My class is going to start using the new classroom that
last fall’s Methods of Teaching History class. We had such hopes for this
classroom, and now I’ve got to make all this work. I’ve tried to use some of the
inquiry-method teaching strategies in my old classroom, but it was just too hard
to print out and copy all the materials the class needed and too hard to move all
the furniture around. There just wasn’t enough room for the groups to work.
AND, the noise level was so high! This should be better—I really hope so.
As I arrive in the classroom, several students are already here. They
seem a little stunned by what they see, and several have already claimed the
sofa! I remember my students telling me how much they wanted comfortable
furniture in the room we designed.
I’ve decided to use a lesson from the Library of Congress website on
George Washington. I want my students to understand the young Washington at
about their age and how he became the leader he did. I’m going to start by
asking about leadership qualities. The plan is to brainstorm for a few minutes
and then start the groups to work.
The students seem really excited about using the laptops—some have
their own, but I explain that in this class we’ll use the school laptops. I have to
explain how to post their work in “dropbox”—I didn’t plan for that, but it doesn’t
take long. It’s fun to see the students pulling the whiteboards around to close off
their spaces. I’m a little worried that they’re actually working, but when I walk
around I can see that they are really into this assignment. They’re writing on
their boards and arguing about what they’re finding out. Some have questions

about the language in the 18 th century documents, and we talk a little about how
word meanings have changed. Washington always signs his letters, “Your obd.
Servant,” and that puzzled several students. One thing I notice is that some of
my quieter students have really opened up in the smaller group.
I give them about 20 minutes, maybe a little more, and then we all pull our
chairs into a circle. Each group pulls its board up and talks about the letters they
read. Not everyone in each group talks in front of the whole class, but most do.
They’ve done some good work. I really want the students to recognize how
difficult it was for Washington to reach the prominent position in the British
colonies that he did, and how much his military leadership helped achieve that
position. The students seem really surprised at the responsibility that
Washington was given at a young age, and at the mistakes he made. We talk
about how he learned from those mistakes, and about how his experience might
influence his later attitude toward the British. When we pull out the board on
which I wrote down their ideas about leadership, we talk about what qualities
Washington exhibited. Most seemed surprised that Washington was not the
calm, cautious leader they had expected. “Brave, but reckless,” was one
comment.
Overall, I think this went well. Giving the students some questions to start
off their groups was a good idea. Everything I’ve read about inquiry-based
teaching says that students need scaffolding help as they learn to work in this
new environment. I know that my understanding of how this classroom can work
will improve as I use it more. But everyone seemed to be excited about using
this new room.
ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING OUTCOMES
An institution such as Texas Wesleyan, with an emphasis on teaching and
learning, measures its success through assessment of student learning
outcomes. Learning outcomes are observable and measurable indicators of
student learning. Direct measures of learning outcomes are the most valid and
reliable indicators of academic achievement, but such measures are difficult to
development when the subject involves learning spaces. Students who will use
this new learning space will also participate in courses and learning activities in
traditional classrooms; individual courses taught in Classroom Next may be
taught by multiple professors using a variety of teaching methods.
Sawyer Hunley and Molly Schaller of the University of Dayton argue that
an appropriate alternative measure for student learning in a learning space is
student engagement (defined as a measurement of active, social, and
experiential learning). 22 They note that “a general consensus in the literature
finds student engagement to be a valid indicator of educational effectiveness and
a good indicator of learning” and point to research based on the National Survey
of Student Engagement for support. 23
Hunley and Schaller conclude that evaluation of the effectiveness of
learning spaces should integrate evaluation of instruction and learning. Learning
is facilitated by the pedagogical efforts of the faculty, and both faculty and

students are supported by the learning space. Therefore, appropriate
assessment targets are academic engagement, teaching methods, and use of
the learning space. 24 Our team suggests focusing on these targets by the use of
four methods of assessment: blogs, focus groups and interviews, surveys, and
video observations.
Blogs
Both faculty and students will be asked to participate in blogs (one for the
teachers using the classroom) and one for the students) about their time in
Classroom Next. Both groups should understand that their posts will be read and
analyzed to assess the effect of Classroom Next on their teaching and learning.
Focus Groups and Interviews
Interviewing students and faculty who use Classroom Next allows us to
explore the users’ experience of the space. We hope to learn how faculty and
students respond to the space, how their views of each other change as a result
of their experience in Classroom Next, and how their ideas about learning are
related to their activities in the learning space. While this approach is anecdotal
and relies on individual memory and interpretation, it also allows for a deeper
understanding of individual reaction to the classroom.
Surveys
Focus groups and interviews can provide a rich understanding of an
individual’s reaction to the new classroom, but surveys can tap the perspectives
of a larger number of students. Moreover, administering the same survey to
successive classes can capture changes in perceptions about the classroom
over time, as students and faculty become comfortable with the new design. We
have attached two suggested surveys (each with two parts, one for faculty and
one for students) at the end of this proposal. 25 One survey is administered to
students and faculty at the beginning of a semester in Classroom Next, and the
second is administered to both groups at the end of the semester.
Video Observations
Video provides a direct observational method that can determine usage
patterns in Classroom Next and in traditional classrooms. Using video can
capture observational data across time and in multiple classes, determining both
student and faculty interactions with the physical and human environment. We
suggest that classes be filmed in both Classroom Next and a traditional
classroom. Such direct observation can also provide a validity check for
interpretations from the first two measures.
We hope that these assessment methods will provide data to support the
following learning outcomes:
1. Students will report that Classroom Next supports their ability to learn
effectively.

2. Students will engage in more interpersonal interaction in Classroom
Next as opposed to a traditional classroom.
3. Students will report that they feel comfortable in the new space and
they can focus more on academics in the new space.
4. Students will report that Classroom Next creates a supportive
environment that reflects Texas Wesleyan’s commitment to student learning.
.
5. Students will report that Classroom Next’s flexibility encourages them
to take more responsibility for their learning.
6. Faculty will report that Classroom Next encourages them to expand
their pedagogical options and adopt more learner-centered instructional
methods.
7. Faculty will report that teaching in Classroom Next promotes greater
interaction between faculty and students.
8. Faculty will report that Classroom Next is flexible enough to support
many different teaching styles.
9. Faculty will report that Classroom Next helps student collaborate with
each other in their in-class group work.
10. Faculty will report that Classroom Next makes them feel more valued
as a faculty member.
CONCLUSION:
The members of this team have thoroughly enjoyed the process of
creating our version of Classroom Next. The basic design was worked out during
the fall semester (2010). Student members of the team found the website that
allowed the creation of a web-based floor plan 26 , and team members spent much
of their February “snow days” (a rest from student teaching) manipulating the
template and experimenting with different room arrangements. Dr. Alexander is
responsible for most of the research into learning theory and learning space
design. Discovering that our perception of flexibility linked with integrated use of
technology is the new direction of learning space design proved exciting to our
entire team.
Learning spaces convey an image of a university’s philosophy of teaching
and learning. If Texas Wesleyan truly aspires to become the outstanding
teaching and learning institution in our area, it must recognize that space can
either enable, or inhibit, different styles of teaching and learning. The needs of
the Net-Gen students coincide with the new directions of learning theory that
indicate that competence is achieved in active, exploratory, and social settings.
We believe that the classroom we have designed for this project complements
the Millennials by being as adaptable and flexible as the students who occupy it.

1 Diana G. Oblinger, ed., Educating the Net Generation (EDUCAUSE, 2005), e-book available at
http://www.educause.edu/contentasp?PAGE_ID=5989&bhcp=1 .
2 Oblinger, op cit.; Don Tapscott, Growing Up Digital: The Rise of the Net Generation (New York:
McGraw-Hill, 1988).
3 Persis C. Ricks, “Make Way for Millennials! How Today’s Students are Shaping Higher Education
Space,” Planning for Higher Education 37 (2009): 10.
4 Ricks, 11.
5 Tapscott, op cit.; Oblinger, op cit.; Edgar Dale, “Cone of Learning,” Educational Media (1960).
6 Diana G. Oblinger, “Boomers, Gen-Xers, Millennials: Understanding the New Students,” EDUCAUSE
(July/August 2003).
7 Yasmin Kafai and Mitchel Resnick, Constructionism in Practice: Designing, Thinking, and Learning in a
Digital World
8 Vision Statement, University Strategic Plan, 2010-2015, Texas Wesleyan University, Aug. 2010.
9 Diana G. Oblinger, “Space as a Change Agent,” Learning Spaces: An EDUCAUSE E-Book, ed. Diana G.
Oblinger (2006), accessed online 11/23/10, http://www.educause.edu/LearningSpaces .
10 Bruce A. VanSledright, The Challenge of Rethinking History Education: On Practices, Theories, and
Policy (NY: Routledge, 2011; Buck Institute for Education, Project Based Learning Handbook: A Guide to
Standards-Focused Project-Based Learning for Middle and High School Teachers (2003), accessed online,
11/23/2010, http://www.bie.org/tools/handbook ; Jill Lane, “Inquiry-Based Learning,” Schreyer Institute
for Teaching Excellence (Pennsylvania State University, 2007), accessed online, 12/01/10,
www.schreyerinstitute.psu.edu .
11 Randy Bass, “Engines of Inquiry: Teaching, Technology, and Learner-Centered Approaches to Culture
and History,” in American Studies Crossroads Project, Engines of Inquiry: A Practical Guide for Using
Technology in Teaching American Culture (Washington D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 1997).
12 For WPA life histories, see http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/lessons/97/firsthand/main.html ; for
free black registers, see http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/16 .
13 The Oyez Project, Northwestern University, U.S. Supreme Court Multimedia Database,
http://www.oyez.org/oyez/frontpage ; the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, http://www.ushmm.org/ ;
Liberty, Equality, Fraternity: Exploring the French Revolution, http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution . For a
discussion of history Web sites, see Mike O’Malley and Roy Rosenzweig, “Brave New World or Blind
Alley? American History on the World Wide Web, Journal of American History (June 1997): 132-155.
14 Library of Congress, “Inventing Entertainment: the Early Motion Pictures and Sound Recordings of the
Edison Companies,” http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/edhtml/edhome.html ; The National Gallery of
Recorded Sound, http://www.h-net.msu.edu/about/press/ngsw.html .
15 Randy Bass, “Engines of Inquiry: Teaching, Technology, and Learner-Centered Approaches to Culture
and History,” in American Studies Crossroads Project, Engines of Inquiry: A Practical Guide for Using
Technology in Teaching American Culture (1997).
16 Our design team has adopting this description from the description of a “learning studio” created by
Estrella Mountain Community College. See Homero Lopez and Lori Gee, “The Learning Studios Project,”
Chapter Nineteen, Learning Spaces, op cit.
17 Kenneth A. Bruffee, Collaborative Learning: Higher Education, Interdependence, and the Authority of
Knowledge, 2 nd Ed. (Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999); John D. Bransford, Ann
L. Brown, and Rodney R. Cocking, eds., How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School:panded
Edition (Washington DC: National Academies Press, 2000).
18 Chism, Coles, and Associates, ES Informal Learning Spaces: A Study of Use, June 2, 2005, PowerPoint
presentation, http://www.opd.iupui.edu/uploads/library/APPD/APPD8980.ppt .
19 Deborah J. Bickford and David J. Wright, “Community: The Hidden Context for Learning,” Chapter
Four, Learning Spaces: An EDUCAUSE E-Book ed. Diana G. Oblinger (2006), accessed online 11/23/10,
http://www.educause.edu/LearningSpaces; Ernest L. Boyer and Lee D. Mitgang, Building Community: A
New Future for Architecture Education and Practice (Princeton, NJ: The Carnegie Foundation for the
Advancement of Teaching, 1996).
20 Malcolm Brown and Phillip D. Long, “Trends in Learning Space Design,” Chapter Nine, Learning
Spaces, op cit.
21 “Lesson One: Honor and Passion for Glory: George Washington in the Ohio Valley,” The Learning
Page, Library of Congress, http://lcweb2.loc.gov:8081/learn/lessons/gw/gw1.html .

22 Sawyer Hunley and Molly Schaller, “Assessing Learning Spaces,” Chapter Thirteen, Learning Spaces,
op cit.
23 Ibid., Herman Miller, “Engaging Students: Using Space as a Tool to Connect With Millennials,”
http://www.estrellamountain.edu/sites/estrellamountain.edu/files/docs/about/final-hm-reseach-articleengagement-2009.pdf
.
24 Hunley and Schaller, op cit.
25 These surveys are adapted from surveys created by Herman Miller for Butler Community College. They
are used here for information purposes only and should not be administered to Texas Wesleyan Students
without permission.
http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Quarterly/EDUCAUSEQuarterlyMagazineVolum/LearningSpaces
asaStrategicPrio/163856
26 CBT Supply: SMARTdesks, http://smartdesks.icovia.com/icovia.aspx .
FOUR FLEXIBLE CLASSROOM CONFIGURATIONS