Windows of Opportunity in Electronic Classrooms

In our seven year effort to build electronic classrooms we tried to balance the pursuit of new technologies with the exploration of new teaching/learning styles while providing the necessary infrastructure for faculty training and support, and collecti ng ample evaluation data to guide our transformation. This experience has led to a growing community of faculty users, widespread student acceptance, and administration support for expansion. After four years of usage by 44 faculty (20 tenured, 9 untenured, 15 other staff) from 16 departments offering 122 courses with over 4010 students we are ready to report on the lessons we have learned. Courses filled most slots from 8am to 10pm, and were as diverse as The Role of Media in the American Political Process, Chinese Poetry into English, Marketing Research Methods, Database Design, and Saving the Bay. (Also cross-referenced as CAR-TR-797

Optimal learning spaces: design implications for primary schools

Review guide of the design evidence for primary school

The Promise of Faculty Inquiry for Teaching and Learning Basic Skills

Shares insights from the Strengthening Pre-collegiate Education in Community Colleges project on how teachers' systematic and collaborative analyses of new approaches and practices foster innovation and improvement in basic English and math instruction

Condition matters: pupil voices on the design and condition of secondary schools

This research was produced by Sheffield Hallam University. The project aimed to inform the creation of a national schools Facilities Management network and an ongoing programme to research and benchmark the impact of school condition and design on pupils

Libraries in transition: evolving the information ecology of the Learning Commons: a sabbatical report

This sabbatical report studied various models in order to determine best practices for design, implementation and service of Leaning Commons, a library service model which functionally and spatially integrates library services, information technology services, and media services to provide a continuum of services to the user

Basic Skills for Complex Lives: Designs for Learning in the Community College

Outlines the Strengthening Pre-collegiate Education in Community Colleges project's activities, results, and lessons learned, including five principles for teaching underprepared students. Recommends an institution-wide focus and faculty collaboration

Student voice in building schools for the future

The research explores student voice in the process of designing schools, using a case study of a Buildings Schools for the Future (BSF) One School Pathfinder project, 2005 – 2007. The suggestions made by the students during the design development were compared with those raised by the staff and parents to discover if the student voice brought anything different or unique to the project. Comparisons were then made with the Student Council’s contribution on projects at two schools local to the case study school. To explore the contribution made by ‘non traditional students’ a similar exercise was conducted in a Pupil Referral Unit (PRU) with students who had been expelled from mainstream schools because of behavioural issues. Group interviews and focus group feedback from students at the case study school, from different stages of the design process were examined to assess the impact the student voice may have had on the completed design. Interviews were conducted with members of the design team at the case study school to establish how much impact the student voice was perceived to have had on the completed design compared with the voice of others, whether it brought innovation to the design and if involvement in the project had an impact on the students. Comparisons were then made with interviews held at a second BSF Pathfinder in a neighbouring Local Authority and the findings submitted for peer review. The findings appear to demonstrate that there is very little difference in what the student voice contributes; across schools and across time, the student voice is consistent and predictable. The impact of the student voice was found to be minimal compared with the impact of others. The process of involving students in the design process was however felt to benefit the students and the design process. Finally suggestions are made as to how the involvement of student voice can be improved, and moved from a consultation process to one of collaboration in the future; for ways to address the balance of power within the design team and for further areas of research