Campus Technology Magazine’s May 2013 edition has an article on Designing Collaborative Spaces from an architect’s perspective. There are some very good insights here on designing both formal and informal spaces.
[PDF Version of article]
-LKH
Category Archives: News
Annual Report on Informal Group on Learning Spaces Now Available
The Annual Report on the Informal Group on Learning Spaces covering Summer 2012 through Spring 2013 has been posted. This report summarizes the activities of the group for the past year. Our membership has grown by about 10% over the last year (having counted this very informally — based on how many names I remember adding to the mailing group). Most folks learn about the group through word-of-mouth and are really excited to be joining. That sure helps keep the group energetic and always adding new perspectives, just the way we like it!
And now is your chance to provide feedback on the Informal Group on Learning Spaces! For the first time in our 3-year history, I am conducting a small survey to gather feedback to help make this group even better!! Please go to the Survey right now to send in your thoughts. This group is a great community, and I hope to keep moving it in the right direction so that we maintain the incredible enthusiasm for learning that everyone brings. Thanks for another great year!
And let me remind you that meeting notes and archives are available for anyone who wants to review where we’ve been how we got here.
-Leslie Hammersmith
125 Classrooms Getting Comprehensive Renovation Over Next 5 Years
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The Instructional Space Improvement initiative is a $70M, 5-year project that will bring some substantial improvements to learning spaces on the Illinois campus. A recent article in Inside Illinois shares the details of the huge project and features photos from the flexible learning pilot spaces in Henry Administration Building. The HAB classrooms are used as examples of some of the innovation the campus hopes results from this kind of comprehensive renovation.
If you’ve been keeping up with this blog, you are well aware that this project on flexible learning classrooms is near-and-dear to my heart. Based on the CITES Faculty Development Lab I designed in 2006 to showcase a flexible learning environment and conduct a pilot study on student engagement, faculty support and learning space design, the HAB rooms were funded by the Library IT Fee Committee to increase support of the highly collaborative pedagogy and increasing dependence on digital educational resources, such as etexts, that the Rhetoric Program required.
A snapshot of the article teaser on the Inside Illinois website. This photo shows one of the renovated Henry Administration Building rooms.
I am thrilled to see that learning spaces and innovation in our classrooms are becoming top speaking points at the highest levels of our administration, and I am even more thrilled to offer a place for every interested person to gather to learn and share a vision of learning spaces for our campus’ future. Join the Informal Group on Learning Spaces every other week to get in the conversation.
Announcing Fall Series of Informal Group on Learning Spaces
The purpose of the informal group on learning spaces is to provide a friendly, informal place for stakeholders at any level in the university to share projects, ideas, needs, dreams, etc about learning spaces. Come to build your network of colleagues who are interested and involved in many aspects of planning, supporting, and using formal and informal learning spaces. Share your projects that are currently in progress, brainstorm ideas for the future, and get to know people who can help you be successful. The informal group may lead to more formal interactions elsewhere, but the more significant idea with the informal group is that we start developing relationships and networks, and share ideas.
The group meets bi-weekly on Thursdays at 9 AM in 23 Illini Hall. Not on the list? Contact Leslie Hammersmith, lkhammer at illinois dot edu to be added to the invitation and receive reminders and topic announcements. Fall 2011 dates are:
September 8
September 22
October 6
October 20
November 3
We look forward to seeing you!
CIC Learning Technology Peer Group
The Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) is a consortium of the Big Ten member universities plus the University of Chicago. Made up of peer groups, typically self-organizing groups from member universities who get together to share ideas and best practices, the CIC gives our campus a place to network with colleagues and to collaborate across institutions. The E-Learning Team staff in the Office of the CIO participate in the Learning Technology (CIC-LT) Peer Group. Our focus in the CIC-LT group is on emerging technologies related primarily to teaching and learning. For example, with lecture capture, the CIC-LT group would tend to discuss the value and the needs from a teaching, learning and faculty support focus. We are pleased to share that Leslie Hammersmith is the Chair-Elect for the CIC-LT group and will serve as Chair from April 2012-April 2013.
Interested in learning more about the CIC? Visit their site at http://www.cic.net.
“Seeking Evidence of Impact” — ELI Online Spring Focus Session open to campus team
CITES Academic Technology Services has teamed up with the Library to offer our campus the opportunity to participate in “Seeking Evidence of Impact,” ELI Online Spring Focus Session, April 13–14. The ELI Online Spring Focus Session will engage the teaching and learning community in exploring initial questions around seeking evidence: do our innovations accomplish our desired outcomes, how do we define “impact,” and how do we measure it?
Through plenary sessions and various institutional case studies, participants and speakers will attempt to answer these questions. Our local team, which will be meeting on the days of the Online Focus Session in Room 314 Library, has access to resources and guided activities to make the local meeting interactive and engaging.
Highlights include:
- “Are We Making a Difference?” —Trudy Banta, Professor of Higher Education, Senior Advisor to the Chancellor for Academic Planning and Evaluation, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis
- “Launching Evidence of Impact Projects” —Susan Grajek, Vice President for Data, Research, and Analytics, EDUCAUSE
- “Making Change: Using Evidence to Improve Student Learning and Success” —Jillian Kinzie, Associate Director, Center for Postsecondary Research & National Survey for Student Engagement (NSSE) Institute, Associate Research Scientist, Indiana University
View the program agenda for more details. Stay tuned, or watch the Educational Technologist’s Forum listserv (EForum@listserv.illinois.edu) for information about signing up for the local team. The online sessions on both days (April 13 & 14) meet from 11 AM – 5:15 PM.
Submit your proposal for FSI 2011 today!
On behalf of the Faculty Summer Institute (FSI) Steering Committee, we would like to invite you to submit a proposal for this year’s conference, to be held May 16-19, 2011 on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Please mark your calendars now!
The conference theme is “Big-Better-Best: Big Ideas, Better Ways, Best Practices.” The conference will offer Presentations, Headliner Workshops, Learning Teams, Discovery Labs, and of course, plenty of networking opportunities!
For more information and to submit a proposal, please visit the conference website @ www.regonline.com/fsi2011. Follow @FSI or #fsi2011 on Twitter.
Important Dates:
- Call for Proposals Opens: Tuesday, March 1, 2011
- Call for Proposals Closes: Wednesday, March 23, 2011
- Proposals Approved & Presenters Notified by: Friday, April 1, 2011
- Conference Registration Opens: Friday, April 1, 2011
- Acceptance by Presenters/Facilitators: Friday, April 8, 2011
- FSI Conference: May 16-19, 2011
Don’t Delay – Submit a Proposal TODAY!