7:30am – 9:00am Registration and Coffee

9:00am – 9:10am Introduction, Welcome and Overview
Speakers:
Philip Lombardi, Director, Academic Computing & Media Services, Bryant University
David Blezard, Manager Academic Computing Systems, University of New Hampshire

9:10am – 9:55am Sailing through rough waters . . . with agility, patience, and teamwork
Speakers:
Linda Bruenjes, EdD, Associate Director, Technology Innovation in Learning & Teaching, Suffolk University
Brian McDermott, Director, University Media Services, Suffolk University

Will you be renovating or building new teaching spaces in the future? Will spaces that promote collaboration be part of that plan? Our experience was unique as we built new classrooms focused on student centric learning for the first time. We worked through a series of project communication challenges that limited our stakeholders voice in the design process. We faced budget challenges that placed heavy restrictions on our technology choices. We encountered design impediments that challenged us to think about these spaces differently than our peers. The construction schedule resulted in the rooms being completed just hours before the first class of the semester and as a result, we had a very limited opportunity to orient faculty to teach in these new spaces. Do these types of challenges sound familiar? These difficulties are not, individually, uncommon. However, the convergence of all of them created our perfect storm. Come join us as we discuss how we weathered our storm, and consider how we will avoid stormy waters in the future.

9:55am - 10:05am Break

10:05am – 11:05am Leveraging a High-Technology Classroom to Enhance Active Teaching and Learning:
Speakers:
Phillip Lombardi, Director of Academic Computing & Media Services, Bryant University
Jack Trifts, Ph.D., Professor of Finance, Bryant University

In the fall of 2014, our University introduced a prototype high-technology active teaching and learning classroom, moving the focus away from lecture style to active style learning. Consequently, there is no longer a “classroom front” with an instructor podium and student row seating, but a series of interactive student pods with a “classroom center” and no instructor podium. Each student pod provides seating for up to 5 students and contains wireless display capability so that students can project, from any device, for group collaboration. The student displays are also controllable by the instructor, via a mobile device, to share their work with other teams or the entire classroom.
This new teaching and learning space facilitates student-student collaboration, both within and between teams at each pod, and enhances faculty-student engagement. In this session, we will detail the technology in place, as well as hear how this new active teaching and learning environment has changed how one professor engages students and the impact it has had on student outcomes.

11:10am – 11:55am Designing Learning Spaces to Support Active Learning
Speaker: Linda Beith, Ph.D., Director of Instructional Design & Technologies, Roger Williams University

As faculty strive to expand their traditional lecture style to a more engaged, active and collaborative approach they’ve discovered that the learning environment has to change as well. When students walk into a class space that includes different types and arrangement of furniture, along with a range of interactive devices (both high and low tech) and software, they immediately expect a different learning experience. With this in mind, RWU has reconfigured some classrooms, and totally redesigned others, in order to support and promote active and engaged learning. Examples of a variety of rooms where both instructors and students can present, collaborate and share content will be presented along with the pedagogical goals for each.

11:55am -12:55pm Lunch

12:55pm – 1:40pm ELI LSRS and UNH: Measuring our Learning Spaces
Speaker: David Blezard, Manager, Academic Computing Systems, University of New Hampshire

The EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) released the first version of the Learning Space Ratting System in 2013. The LSRS consists of a set of questions and rating points to assess how well a space meets the objective of supporting active learning. With the help of Malcolm Brown, the Director of ELI, this presentation will review the LSRS. Then, we will share specific examples of how this system has worked on various classrooms, both existing and under development at the University of New Hampshire. We will compare our own experiences and opinions about the various spaces we have rated and compare how well the LSRS works. Hopefully, we will see that the LSRS will help us design better active learning classrooms by avoiding mistakes while still in the design phases.

1:40pm - 1:45pm Break

1:45pm – 2:30pm “Thought Starters” A Campus Wide Strategy to Rapidly Implementing 21st Century Classrooms
Speakers:
George Claffey, Chief Information Officer, Charter Oak State College
Bill Krysinski, Assistant Director of Academic Technology, Charter Oak State College

The presentation will review Charter Oak’s “21st Classroom Team’s” project management process and a unique approach to assisting faculty, staff, and students in selecting rooms and spaces appropriate to become 21st Century Classrooms. The presentation will review how campus spaces were approached globally and how individual rooms, components, and decisions were made.

2:30pm – 3:00pm Wrap-up and Open discussion

Questions and open dialogue with attendees and all presenters

3:00pm End