PS 130

This large capacity active learning classroom (Occupancy 146; COVID Occupancy 55) is designed to foster effective teaching and to support initiatives on campus that encourage collaboration, pedagogical innovation, and the use of technology to improve student learning outcomes. Objectives include experimenting with technologies that support alternative models of organizing, teaching, and managing a class; promote use of educational multimedia; encourage interactive, cooperative learning; use mobile and wireless technologies for teaching; and assist with the formative student assessment of instructional approaches. ITS encourages faculty to take a scholarly approach to this endeavor, and ITS may also request permission to gather data from faculty and/or students who are using these spaces through observations, interviews, surveys, and focus groups. Assessments are evidence-based, using the built-in video cameras and microphones available to capture classroom interactions for analysis. Confidentiality is always maintained, and data is never used to evaluate faculty, courses or students. Assessments serve dual purposes. They inform the planning of future campus learning spaces and/or improvements to current spaces. They also facilitate faculty connections with ITS professionals who can assist them in a variety of areas, including instructional design and redesign; optimization of technology use to enhance student learning; pedagogical resources; class observations and student feedback collection; planning and participation in activities designed to promote scholarly, evidence-based teaching, including workshops and special events; and sharing of effective practices and lessons learned through diverse use cases and professional learning communities. Lessons learned in these spaces are helping ITS to provide support and leadership to the university in the effective uses of technologies for enhancing learning as well as facilitating research and strategic initiatives. The classroom is fostering collaboration and innovation with faculty and university stakeholders in the design, development, effective use and evaluation of learning environments and emerging educational technology. As we redesign and upgrade our older classrooms and increase and diversify the use of the newer rooms, we will grow our presence on campus and beyond, creating a venue for faculty to explore dynamic new ways to design their courses and for students to engage in a more contemporary learning milieu.