Workshop notebook - Learning Spaces Collaboratory

Transcription

2013 LEARNING SPACES
COLLABORATORY
WORKSHOP
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Amherst, Massachusetts
May 4, 2013
A facility should be a place that people can possess. Taking
possession of the facility in which we work is closely linked to the idea
of ownership. There is a fundamental difference, after all, between
owners and renters. It is fair to say that renters are no-fault owners.
Facilities should enable and empower people to do their best.
A facility should be a place of realized potential It should be a “high
touch” place. A place where we connect persons to each other and to
technology in an effective and human way.
It is important that everyone understands the context in which our
facilities function and the context and value they create for us.
It is important that we avoid an overcommitment or rigidity to a single
function or need. Experience has shown us that we need varying
utilization patterns open to us and that we need open-ended growth
possibilities. One of our goals is to build the indeterminate building.
— DePree, Max. Leadership is an Art. Dell Publishing, 1989. Chairman
emeritus of Herman Miller, Inc.
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SUMMARY AGENDA
8:30 - 9:00 a.m.
Registration & Light Breakfast
9:00 - 9:15 a.m.
Welcome & Review of Logistics
9:15 - 10:15 a.m.
Team-Based Ingenuity Supporting 21st Century Learners
10:15 - 10:45 a.m.
What Do We Want our Learners to Become?
10:45 - 11:00 a.m.
Break
11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
What Experiences Make that Becoming Happen?
1:00 - 2:00 p.m.
Building Tours
2:00 - 2:30 p.m.
New Academic Classroom Building at UMass Amherst
2:30 - 2:45 p.m.
Break
2:45 - 3:45 p.m.
What Learning Spaces Enable Those Experiences?
3:45 - 4:20 p.m.
Consultations & Reflections
4:25 - 5:00 p.m.
Reporting out: Agendas for action
5:00 p.m.
Workshop Concludes
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VISION, GOALS, STRATEGIES, ACTIONS
BEGINNING WITH THE END IN MIND
WHAT DO WE WANT OUR LEARNERS TO BECOME?
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WHAT EXPERIENCES MAKE THAT BECOMING HAPPEN?
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WHAT SPACES ENABLE THOSE EXPERIENCES?
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HOW DO WE KNOW?
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STRATEGIES AND ACTIONS
About learners
About learning
About learning spaces
About assessing
About the politics of change
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WELCOME: BEGINNING WITH THE END IN MIND
Prediction is very difficult, especially
about the future.
— Niels Bohr
While we cannot predict the future, we
can prepare for it by designing learning
spaces that are flexible, incrementally
adaptable, and socially aware. The
spaces of the future will function as the
“home base” of information, designed to
leverage the best practices of teaching,
the latest technologies for learning,
with... sensitivity toward student and
faculty environments.
To keep pace with continually changing
needs, we must create learning
spaces that support the “science of
change.” A “science of change” learning
environment incorporates flexibility,
incremental adaptability, and social
awareness.
College and university planners can be
certain that future students and faculty
will absolutely need a roof over their
heads, air, water, and warmth. Beyond
that, they can only imagine. But, they
have the power to plan the unknown.
— 2003 PKAL Roundtable on the Future.
(From the Archives)
Resource: Vision, Goals & Strategies: A guide for planning learning spaces
http://www.pkallsc.org/Who-We-Are/Vision-And-Goals
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TEAM-BASED INGENUITY SUPPORTING
21ST CENTURY LEARNERS:
THE HOST SITE STORY
Facilitators:
Keep discussions at these early
stages open and free; they should
be wide-ranging, involving many
different members of the community.
Explore many different ideas about the
future of both curriculum and space
for your undergraduate programs,
ideas that have been stimulated by
thoughtful consideration of your mission
as a campus community, by your
benchmarking visits to other institutions,
and by personal reflection on what it
will take to improve the environment for
learning on your campus.
This is the time to be both visionary
and realistic in your dreaming; the new
spaces and structures being considered
will serve the institution for many years.
Remember that the goal is to improve
learning for students....
— PKAL Volume III: Structures for Science.
1995.
Glenn Caffery
Director, Information Technology Lab
Mary Deane Sorcinelli
Associate Provost, Faculty Development
Supporting the active learning process of the 21st century student is
one of the main goals of the Learning Commons at the University of
Massachusetts Amherst. Building and maintaining effective student
learning spaces and academic services requires proactive assessment
of University climate, pedagogical direction, and curriculum
development. Increasingly instructors are using active, group, and
participatory teaching methods and are offering students opportunities
to opt in to more creative assignments requiring the use of advanced
technologies in support of multimedia projects.
The UMass Libraries aim to anticipate the needs of instructors
and students by tailoring student spaces to support teaching and
learning goals. Collaboration with campus partners is essential in
providing a holistic approach to meeting student need; the Office of
Information Technologies (OIT) is one of the strongest partners in
this collaboration, helping to form the teams that work to research,
implement, and assess new academic projects.
— Hutton, Sarah, Davis, Robert C., Will, Carol. “Team-Based Ingenuity
Supporting 21st Century Learners.” Collaborative Librarianship
4(4):149-164 (2012).
Notes:
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Preliminary Definitions
of 21st Century Skills
Adaptability.
Complex communication/social skills.
Nonroutine problem solving.
Self-management/self-development.
Systems thinking.
— Reprinted with permission from Exploring
the Intersection of Science Education and 21st
Century Skills: A Workshop Summary, 2010 by
the National Academy of Sciences, Courtesy
of National Academies Press, Washington,
D.C.
What do we want our learners to become?
This is the central question to be addressed by those responsible for
the character and quality of the learning environment for 21st century
learners—the intellectual, social, and physical learning environment.
In the process of wrestling with this question, issues about institutional
mission and context surface. Further questions and issues arise
about learning, how it is understood within the campus community, by
individual faculty and administrators as well as by departmental and
programmatic leaders. Questions will be brought to the table about
emerging understandings of how students learn, of the physiological,
biochemical, and molecular basis of learning, of evidence from
pioneering pedagogical communities about the nature of robust
learning.
Thoughtful and provocative responses to this central question are
informing diverse efforts toward institutional change on campuses
across the country. Whether from within or beyond academe, there is
emerging a shared vision about what 21st century learners should be,
be able to do, be recognized for becoming in their life and work upon
graduation.
What kind of environment nurtures
creativity?
Freedom, novelty, and a sense of being
at the edge
A critical mass of creative people
A competitive atmosphere
Mentors and patrons.
—Nancy C. Andreasen, The Creating Brain:
The Science of Genius. Dana Press, 2005.
[The vision is that our] students will carry away with them
knowledge, skills, habits of thought, and experiences that will
enable them to continue to grow and thrive as global citizens,
and will possess the creativity and entrepreneurial spirit to
respond responsibly and imaginatively to the challenges of the
21st century.1
[Essential learning outcomes are that students acquire]
knowledge of multiple disciplines, inquiry and critical thinking,
personal and social responsibility, civic learning, global
knowledge and skills, and particularly, integrative and applied
learning. Today, college graduates must be able to integrate
and apply disciplinary and cross-disciplinary learning in new
contexts as they seek better and more responsible solutions to
problems encountered in work and in society.2
Research on challenges and opportunities for the future further
validates these visions of what students should be and become if they
are to prosper in the world they enter upon graduation.
If the world of working and living relies on collaboration,
creativity, and framing of problems; deals with uncertainty,
change, and distributed cognition; and augments and
empowers humans with powerful technological tools, then the
world of schools and universities needs to prepare students to
function in this world.3
(Citations on Page 19)
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Personal Reflections
At-the-table Discussion
Notes for Sharing
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I. Premise. Robust learning happens when students are:
actively engaged in evaluating, constructing, and re-evaluating
For the future, the nation will need a
workforce equipped with more than
literacy in reading, math, and science.
We need a whole generation with the
capacities for creative thinking and
for thriving in a collaborative culture.
We need a class of workers who
see problems as opportunities and
understand that solutions are built from
a range of ideas, skills and resources.
People are not born with inherent
innovation skills, but they can learn
them. They can acquire the social skills
to work in diverse, multidisciplinary
teams, and learn adaptability and
leadership. They can learn to be
comfortable with ambiguity, to recognize
new patterns within disparate data,
and to be inquisitive and analytical.
They can learn to translate challenges
in opportunities and understand how
to complete solutions from a range of
resources.
These skills are best acquired by
experiencing innovation first-hand,
building the confidence that underpins
future success. To quote Benjamin
Franklin: “You tell me, I forget; you
teach me, I remember; you involve me,
I learn.”
— Council on Competitiveness. National
Innovation Initiative Summit and Report:
Thriving in a World of Challenge and
Change. 2005.
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their own knowledge
actively engaged in a social and supportive community
encouraged to assess, reflect, and build on prior knowledge
empowered to address problems that are meaningful, of
importance to the world beyond the campus.
II. Premise. Robust learning happens when it is:

iterative and non-linear
provisional, always in a state of flux, becoming
scaffolded and transferable
by turns, social and solitary
understood by all as preparation for what comes next.
III. Premise: Robust learning empowers learners. Students who are
empowered learners are becoming agents of their own learning.
They are adventurous, tolerant of ambiguity, eager to ask new
questions, testing the boundaries and limits of what is known, not
known.
— LSC Assessment Rubric. (Resources: Page 26)
At-the-table Discussion
One “A-Ha” Idea
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LUNCH & CAMPUS TOURS
12:00 p.m. Lunch: Birds-of-a-Feather Groups

Table 1: Facilities Officers
Table 2: Librarians
Table 3: Librarians
Table 4: Faculty Development
Table 5: Faculty
Table 6: IT Coordinators
Table 7: Academic Administrators
Table 8: Academic Administrators
Table 9: ?
Table 10: ?
1:00 p.m. Tours
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Option 1: Integrated Science Building; SEL (LGRC).
Option 2: Library spaces - Teaching/Learning Commons, Digital Media Lab
NEW ACADEMIC CLASSROOM BUILDING
AT UMASS AMHERST
Facilitator:
Steve Pielock
Manager, AIMS Classroom Tech Support
The New Academic Classroom Building (NACB) is the result of a plan
developed over the last two years and will provide new state-of-theart classroom and academic space for the Amherst Campus. This
new building will be sited in the center of campus in proximity to the
Lincoln Campus Center and Student Union. Its location in the center
of campus will not only provide students with convenient access to
classrooms but will also create a hub of student activity and enhance
other student activity space nearby in the Campus Center and Student
Union.
http://www.umass.edu/fp/NACB/
Best Ideas from Past
LSC Workshops
Be sure the mission of the project is
clearly understood and accepted by
all principal parties.
Do not think of planning as solving
current problems; go beyond that.
Design for staff, students, and
standards yet to be identified.
Create a formal, ongoing campus-
wide facilities planning sub-group that
focuses on classrooms and teaching
spaces.
Have a formal campus-wide
committee that “owns” the master
plan.
Temporary buildings are never that;
do not do what you cannot do well.
Political issues can override coherent
planning.
Do not rush into planning after a
Notes:
major windfall; failure to plan is
planning to fail.
Create multiple master plans for the
campus, facilities, residential, and
classroom.
Recognize the drawbacks of
fragmentary budgeting.
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Each table is to prepare a graphic illustration of the spaces that enable
the experiences they have identified as key to achieving particular
learning outcomes.
Learning spaces that serve
21st century learners
What works are those that:
clearly reflect the learning goals
for the curricular and co-curricular
programs within an overall
institutional framework, for the
immediate and the long-term
recognize the increasingly social
character of learning, research, and
teaching by facilitating productive
interaction between and among
students and faculty
acknowledge the role of serendipity
in learning, by including space for
exploiting the unplanned, teachable
moment
are so inviting, safe, and well-
equipped that they are used by
students and faculty most hours of
the day, seven days a week
anticipate the future by providing
flexibility in space and infrastructure
respect and reflect the community
that brought them into being
contribute to the humanity of the
campus.
—Adapted from PKAL Volume III: Structures
for Science. 1995.
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Poster Ideas
At-the-Table Discussion
Collective Reflections on the Exercise
Take-home Ideas
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CONSULTING
Individual Campuses
Wheelock College
Toni Marie Loiacano (EYP)
Weber State University
Amy Christmas (SLAM)
Salem State University
Katya Hristova & Matthew Morse (Ellenzweig)
Topical consultations
Planning and the politics of change
Shirine Boulos Anderson (Ellenzweig)
Libraries/information commons
Bill Fitzpatrick, Scott Slarsky (Shepley Bulfinch)
Imagining new active-learning classrooms
Mark Rhoades (SLAM)
Remodeling new spaces for learning, formal/informal
Arjun Mande (Goody Clancy)
Notes:
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REPORTING OUT: BEST IDEAS
On the politics of change
On anticipating the future - in programming and designing
On learner-centered planning
Other
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CLOSING REMARKS
In the end, the major responsibility
for creating collaboration falls to a
host of educational leaders on college
campuses—from the faculty and staff
on campus who support collaborative
work to the individuals with influence
who choose to champion collaboration
to those in authority who have become
enlightened about the benefits and
necessity of collaborating.
Part of shared responsibility is making
sure that senior administrators and
executives do not create a top-down
environment that might make people
resistant to collaboration. Senior
executives need to recognize that while
many of the aspects of the redesign
fall under their responsibility, they
need to be careful not to be perceived
as creating a top-down environment
that might create resentment of the
collaborative efforts, and of course
undermine the very collaboration they
are trying to create.
This is why modeling collaboration and
working very closely with a leadership
team are so important to breaking down
the perception that senior executives
are foisting collaboration on the
campus....
Working together, however, higher
education leaders can work with the
other groups noted in this chapter
to create a compelling process for
changing the very foundation of college
campuses. But this work across sectors
between higher education and business
or government or foundations will not
come easily. Why? Because higher
education is not the only system in
which collaboration has proven difficult.
— Adrianna J. Kezar, Jaime Lester.
Organizing Higher Education for
Collaboration. Jossey-Bass. 2009.
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Robert C. Davis
Manager, OIT Academic Computer Classrooms
Sarah Cady Hutton
Head, Undergraduate Teaching and Learning Services
Jeanne L. Narum
Principal
Learning Spaces Collaboratory
Notes:
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Resources
About the Learning Spaces Collaboratory..............................................................................................................
20
The LSC Guide for Planning Learning Spaces......................................................................................................
21
Excerpts from LSC Guide.......................................................................................................................................
22
LSC Assessment Rubric........................................................................................................................................
26
Excerpt from Achieving excellence in engineering education: the ingredients of successful change. (2012).
The Royal Academy of Engineering and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. http://www.raeng.org.
uk/news/publications/list/reports/struggling_economy.pdf..............................................................................
28
“Preliminary Definitions of 21st Century Skills.” Exploring the Intersection of Science Education and 21st
Century Skills: A Workshop Summary, 2010 by the National Academy of Sciences, Courtesy of National
Academies Press, Washington, D.C. http://books.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12771...........................
29
From Applications: What are the most pressing questions/Issues we (I) bring to this workshop?........................
30
Participant List.......................................................................................................................................................
31
Reference links for National Reports
National Research Council. Discipline-Based Education Research: Understanding and Improving Learning in
Undergraduate Science and Engineering. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2012. http://www.nap.
edu/catalog.php?record_id=13362
National Research Council. A New Biology for the 21st Century. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press,
2009. http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12764
National Research Council. The Engineer of 2020: Visions of Engineering in the New Century. Washington, DC: The
National Academies Press, 2004. http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=10999
National Research Council. Expanding Underrepresented Minority Participation: America’s Science and Technology
Talent at the Crossroads. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2011. http://www.nap.edu/catalog.
php?record_id=12984
Report to the President: Engage to Excel: Producing One Million Additional College Graduates with Degrees in
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. PCAST. 2012. http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/
microsites/ostp/pcast-engage-to-excel-final_feb.pdf
Citations (from page 8)
1
The Strategic Plan for the University of Maryland. (2008). http://www.sp07.umd.edu/PlanApril29.pdf
2
Association of American Colleges & Universities. 2013 Institute on Integrative Learning and the Departments. http://
www.aacu.org/meetings/ild/
3
Fischer, Gerhard. “Lifelong Learning and its Support with New Media”, in N.J. Smelser and P. B. Baltes (eds):
International Encyclopedia of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Elsevier, Volume 13, pages 8836-40, 2001. http://
l3d.cs.colorado.edu/~gerhard/papers/iesbs2001.pdf
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LEARNING SPACES COLLABORATORY
LSC Vision:
That all 21st century undergraduates, no matter their background or career aspiration, have ready access to physical
learning environments that enable them to become engaged learners:
Constructing their own learning, actively involved with cooperative, problem-driven teams
Communicating and collaborating with peers and colleagues, formally and informally, face-to-face and virtually
Connecting their campus-based learning experiences to real-world opportunities and challenges
Celebrating as members of a robust 21st century community of learners.
The physical environment that serves such a vision is one that provides undergraduates opportunity to acquire
the skills, capacities, depth of knowledge, and self-awareness that prepare them for their future responsibilities
as engaged members of the 21st century workplace, engaged citizens of a free society.
The cultural environment that serves such a vision is one in which there is a communal understanding of and
commitment to goals for student learning across the campus, as well as a recognition that building community is both
means and end of the process of planning spaces for learning.
LSC Goals:
The primary goal is:
To inform the work of campus planning teams with responsibility for shaping, maintaining and renewing
undergraduate learning environments—whether the focus be remodeling a single classroom; recycling an outdated library; renovating for interdisciplinary STEM learning and research; redesigning the landscape/greening
the campus; imagining, designing, constructing, and maintaining a major new facility; developing/implementing
a multi-year agenda for shaping formal and informal learning spaces campus-wide.
Toward that end, further LSC goals are to engage a broad community of stakeholders in:
Promoting evidence-based design as a foundation for shaping and reshaping physical learning environments in
colleges and universities across the country
Supporting the design and development of physical learning environments that explicitly reflect awareness of
research on how people learn
Capturing emerging best practices for imagining, designing, contructing, renovating, and maintaining spaces for
undergraduate learners
Distilling and disseminating relevant resources as broadly as possible, connecting theory to practice.
LSC Strategy:
Our central strategy is to create and catalyze a feedback loop through which the broad community of stakeholders can:
ask and respond to questions about all aspects of planning learning spaces, collaborate in exploring lessons learned
from the community of experienced practitioners; advancing what is known about how the quality and nature of learning
spaces affects the quality and nature of learning in the undergraduate setting.
For more information about the LSC: http://www.pkallsc.org/
Two resources of particular interest: http://www.pkallsc.org/Resources/The-Planning-Process
LSC Assessment Rubrics
As a step in developing the LSC protocols, we present an assessment rubric for learning spaces.
Arriving at Spaces that Make a Difference
One of the most powerful stimuli for leaders to take a kaleidoscopic perspective on curricular and pedagogical
change is planning and then completing the construction of new spaces and structures for undergraduate
communities.
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THE LSC GUIDE FOR PLANNING LEARNING SPACES
With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), a working group within the LSC is preparing a prototype of
a guide for planning & assessing learning spaces. The approach of this NSF/LSC project is consistent with that of the
Sloan/LSC working group, to start with a key “posing” question: What do we want our learners to become, be able to
do, be recognized for accomplishing within a decade beyond graduation?
Addressing this question calls forth conversations about institutional mission and identity, about the changing context,
about the world in which students will live and work beyond graduation. Thoughtful and provocative responses to this
central question are informing diverse efforts toward institutional change on campuses across the country. A shared
vision is emerging about what 21st century learners should be, be able to do, be recognizing for becoming in their life
and work upon graduation:
….The vision is that our graduates continue to grow as global citizens, possessing the creativity and
entrepreneurial spirit to respond responsively and imaginatively to the challenges of the 21st century.
(University of Maryland Strategic Plan for Undergraduate Education.)
…If the world of working and living relies on collaboration, creativity, definition, and framing of problems, and
if it requires dealing with uncertainty, change, and intelligence that is distributed across cultures, disciplines,
and tools—then education should foster trans-disciplinary competences that prepare students for having
meaningful and productive lives in such a world. (Social Creativity: Making All Voices Heard. Gerhard Fischer.
University of Colorado Boulder 2009.)
________________________________________________________________________________
Consistent with the LSC mantra, the guide is designed around the feedback loop that weaves attention to learning
and learning experiences as learning spaces planned, experienced, and assessed. Central to the guide are case
studies from a select group of institutions that have taken this feedback loop seriously, where their vision of learning is
embodied in the built spaces.
While not focusing solely on STEM learning spaces, many case studies selected are specifically STEM-related; all
provide evidence of the impact of space on the range of research-based pedagogical and curricular approaches that
are increasingly pervasive within all STEM fields. As the project proceeded, we found remarkable, but not surprising,
coherence in the visions of what students were to become—no matter a specific disciplinary or interdisciplinary field.
These descriptors of what students are to become, taken from STEM case studies—were echoed throughout the set
of case studies :

Rooted learners, striving explorers, agents of discovery, informed trailblazers (Dickinson College)
Risk takers, entrepreneurs, empowered agents of change (University of Maryland Baltimore County)
Resilient—able to invite challenge and persist through difficulty (Richland College)
Transdisciplinarians: Renaissance people for the digital age; Leaders with an ethic of work and a sense of
play (Northern Kentucky University)
Fearless, confident independent learners, creative problem-solvers, our colleagues (University of Minnesota)
Resilient experimenters (Georgia Institute of Technology).
This Guide is an initial step in embracing the over-arching questions: how does space matter and how do we know?
What we’ve achieved is greater understanding of how those questions are being addressed now in different areas,
within different academic contexts. We are also clearer about questions yet to be asked, about evidence to be
gathered from the field, about refining the argument that space matters to learning.
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Active Learning Classroom (ALC)
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Fearless, confident, independent learners who don’t shy away from intellectual challenges.
Effective collaborators who embrace team work.
Sophisticated, discriminating users of information and technology.
Creative problem-solvers.
Generous teachers who share their knowledge, experiences, and perspectives with others.
Our colleagues.
•
•
•
•
•
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Projects that require authentic application of disciplinary knowledge.
Projects that require students to collaborate, to choose issues that matter to them personally, and
to find creative solutions to solve the problem.
Grading strategies measure standards-based performance rather than identifying a bell-shaped
curve of relative performance.
Classroom activities that require and reward critical discussion.
A collegial, respectful relationship between students and faculty.
University of Minnesota
•
•
•
•
Spaces built on the principles of flexible, reconfigurable design.
Learning environments incorporating technology that permits display of student work to small
groups or to the whole class.
New spatial configurations that reorient the relationships between students and instructor, and
among students themselves.
Spaces that encourage students to take ownership of their learning, and that are available for
informal student use.
HOW DO WE KNOW?
Controlled studies have shown that new learning spaces:
• Improve students’ engagement in the learning process.
• Help students to outperform final grade expectations, resulting in enhanced learning outcomes.
• Affect teaching-learning activities, even when the instructor attempts to hold these activities
constant.
• Are most conducive to student achievement when instructors blend lecture with active, studentcentered teaching methods.
• Are perceived in a largely positive light by a broad cross-section of students and instructors.
• Require some adjustment to different lines of sight and focal points.
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Weigle Information Commons & Education Commons
•
•
•
•
•
Aware of the powerful role they play in their own learning.
Effective collaborators and participants in team activities.
Comfortable asking for assistance and accessing expert advice in a timely manner.
Connected with faculty, support providers and peers during the learning process.
Digitally literate citizens who communicate about and use technology effectively.
•
•
•
•
•
Collaborating in a flexible, technology-rich space.
Interacting with tutors, peer advisors, faculty, teaching assistants, librarians.
Preparing, practicing, recording and receiving feedback on presentations.
Connecting virtually via video and web conferencing.
Students taking ownership of the space – feeling comfortable and in control.
•
•
•
•
•
Bright, cheerful, inviting spaces that provide a relaxed yet study-focused ambience.
A variety of spaces close together so groups can reconfigure on the fly.
Space with well-integrated, reliable and robust technology.
Clean design with transparent and semi-transparent boundaries between spaces.
Self-service use models with clearly marked assistance available nearby.
HOW DO WE KNOW?
•
•
•
•
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Visual confirmation: the spaces are full and vibrant, with a variety of learning related activities.
Engagement: students interact with staff and peers in-person and via electronic communications
and social media.
Inspiration: faculty inspired to explore new types of assignments and course materials.
Behavior: students ask questions, make suggestions, help each other, present workshops.
University of Pennsylvania Libraries
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LSC ASSESSMENT RUBRIC
LEARNING SPACE TYPE: Spaces for collaborative, social learning, where active learning groups, problem-based
learning teams, formal and informal group work takes place, spaces serving learning groups of various sizes in both
formal and informal settings.
Exemplary
Space naturally facilitates interactions, within and between groups
Comment:
and individuals. Instructor/facilitator can easily move between groups,
technologies enable sharing between groups, white boards enable
learning within groups and brainstorming (even 24/7). Spaces facilitate
blended learning, reflect the concept of the ‘inverted classroom,’ in which
‘passive’ learning takes place in other times and places.
Furniture movable, adaptable by students/faculty in the service of
different types of engaged pedagogies (even in tiered classrooms).
Spaces encourage and allow student voice to be heard, students to take
responsibility for their own learning; no center stage. Reflects attention
to research on how people learn, as well as to evidence from the field
about what works.
Competent
Space allows for interactions within and among student teams; furniture
moveable (on wheels), accessible white board panels,etc. Instructor has
access to all groups. Tips its hat to research on how people learn; offers
tentative opportunities for piloting research-based pedagogies.
Comment:
Needs
attention
Traditional fixed seating; difficult for students to face/see each other;
difficult for faculty to engage with students, rather instead limited to
lecturing, with little opportunity to integrate lecture with active learning
experiences.
Comment:
LEARNING SPACE TYPE: Spaces for acquiring and enhancing depth of understanding, gaining facility with the
practices and tools of the field, opening up new ways of questioning and exploring, spaces serving learning groups of
various sizes in both formal and informal settings.
Exemplary
Has state-of-the-art affordances (furniture, technologies, tools, etc.)
Comment:
that reflect best practice in the field (science, engineering, the arts,
technologies, etc.). Allows for mentoring by peers and faculty within
and beyond formally scheduled learning times. Is safe and functional.
Encourages discovery and exploration, challenging learners to take
responsibility for their own learning…for their own learning spaces;
builds their confidence in becoming a “………” Is immediately welcoming
to students, is visible to the community of practice.
Competent
Has necessary equipment and facilities that are maintained, but may not
be adequate to enculturate students into a community of practice—turn
them into physicists, environmental scientists, or pianists. Access is
limited at some times.
Comment:
Needs
attention
Needed equipment and facilities are lacking or inadequately maintained.
There is no ‘pull’ to attract students into the spaces beyond scheduled
times; few opportunities for personal, hands-on engaged learning.
Comment:
26 w
LSC ASSESSMENT RUBRIC
LEARNING SPACE TYPE: Spaces for communicating, critiquing, sharing, and celebrating what is being learned,
what students are becoming, serving learning groups of various sizes in both formal and informal settings.
Exemplary
Sufficient space to allow all groups within a class/course to present in
a single location, allowing active questioning and responding. Places
for quick posting and easy review. Audio and visual lines for seeing and
hearing well. Allows for public interaction beyond a formal class. Makes
the ‘doing’ of the learning visible. As appropriate, allows for extended
posting and celebrating.
Comment:
Competent
Spaces for students to present, has functional traffic patterns, functional
sight lines and audio capacity. Allows dialogue with presenters.
Comment:
Needs
attention
Area for presenting too small, inconvenient to normal class space, bad
sight lines, in path of noisy traffic .
Comment:
LEARNING SPACE TYPE: Spaces for renewal and reflection as individual learner and within small groups of
learners, 24/7.
Exemplary
With easy, intuitive access, aesthetically pleasing, a relaxing serene
environment, with a view to a ‘green’ space, has ancillary resources
(such as food, boards, and markers). Easy place for conversations.
Scattered throughout a facility, open to be rearranged by the user,
adapted to specific needs at a specific time.
Comment:
Competent
Available, but not easily identified or accessible; comfortable, but not as
adaptable.
Comment:
Needs
attention
Spaces are crowded, noisy, not really open and no views to the outside.
Generally not inviting.
Comment:
Adapted from draft by Spencer Benson, University of Maryland College Park
w 27
Achieving excellence in engineering education: the ingredients of successful change
Achieving excellence in engineering education: the ingredients of successful change
PREPARATION
Collect evidence: gather quantitative evidence of the performance of your programme, as compared to competitor
institutions, with a focus on any key areas of concern to your current or future market position.
Engage the Head of Department: devote as much energy as possible to ensuring that the Department Head is actively
supporting, and preferably leading, the change. If their support is limited, be aware that your chances of long-term
PREPARATION
success will be severely diminished.
Consult
university
open informal
discussions
with university
management
plans for
Collect senior
evidence:
gathermanagement:
quantitative evidence
of the
performance
of your programme,
asabout
compared
to competitor
change.
Identify
potential
levels
of support.
institutions,
with
a focusconflicts
on any and
key gauge
areas of
concern
to your current or future market position.
PLANNING
Engage the Head of Department: devote as much energy as possible to ensuring that the Department Head is actively
supporting,need
andfor
preferably
leading,
the change.faculty:
If their support
is limited,
be aware
that your
chances
long-term
Communicate
reform to
department-wide
focus on the
critical need
for change,
supported
byof
the
success will
be severely
evidence
gathered,
and thediminished.
potential impact of reform on faculty day-to-day activities. Avoid specifying details of
what the change should look like. Underline university support for change, if this is in place.
Consult senior university management: open informal discussions with university management about plans for
change. Identify
potential
conflicts
gauge
of support.
Faculty-wide
curriculum
design:
engageand
most,
if not levels
all, faculty
in a department-wide educational design process.
Encourage them to think outside their discipline, identify the fundamental educational priorities and design a
PLANNING
coherent curriculum where all new elements are carefully interlinked with existing courses. The new educational
approach should be distinct and something that will put your institution ‘on the map’. At least one portion of the
Communicate
needremain
for reform
to department-wide faculty: focus on the critical need for change, supported by the
curriculum should
unchanged.
evidence gathered, and the potential impact of reform on faculty day-to-day activities. Avoid specifying details of
Consult
perspectives:
ensure
some external
voices
are heard.
Possibilities
include
Industrial Advisory
whatexternal
the change
should look
like.that
Underline
university
support
for change,
if this
is inan
place.
Board with real ‘teeth’, sending faculty to visit peer institutions that have implemented positive changes and/or
appointing an
educational/industrial
advisor.most,
Such ifactivities
particularly
important whereeducational
there has been
little process.
Faculty-wide
curriculum
design: engage
not all, are
faculty
in a department-wide
design
recent
facultythem
turn-over
and/or
few faculty
have industry
experience.
Encourage
to think
outside
their discipline,
identify
the fundamental educational priorities and design a
coherent
curriculumteam
where
allrelease
new elements
arecarefully
carefullyselect
interlinked
with existing
courses.
The newwho
educational
Appoint
a management
and
their time:
a management
team of
2–3 individuals
are
approach
should
be
distinct
and
something
that
will
put
your
institution
‘on
the
map’
.
At
least
one
portion
well-respected and understand the detailed operation of the undergraduate programmes. Formally release a portionof the
curriculum
should
remain
unchanged.
of
their time to
devote
to detailed
planning and implementation.
Consult external
perspectives:
thatbysome
heard.
an Industrial
Advisory
Establish
impact evaluation:
selectensure
a method
whichexternal
you canvoices
collect are
impact
dataPossibilities
throughoutinclude
and beyond
the
change
process
collect
‘base-line’
datato
relating
to the
period prior
to reform.
Board with
realand
‘teeth’
, sending
faculty
visit peer
institutions
that
have implemented positive changes and/or
appointing an educational/industrial advisor. Such activities are particularly important where there has been little
recent faculty turn-over and/or few faculty have industry experience.
IMPLEMENTATION
Select implementers of reform: those implementing the first pilot phases of reform should not necessarily be the
Appoint
a management
and release
their time:Docarefully
select
management
teamfaculty
of 2–3toindividuals
who are
‘usual suspects’
of existingteam
innovators
in the department.
not attempt
to aforce
highly reluctant
deliver
well-respected
and
understand
the
detailed
operation
of
the
undergraduate
programmes.
Formally
release
a
portion
any of the new courses at any point in the process.
of their time to devote to detailed planning and implementation.
Loosen direct link between faculty and individual courses: where possible, establish team teaching for all new
Establish
evaluation:
select
a method
which you
canforcollect
courses,impact
with regular
rotation of
faculty.
Provide aby
dedicated
forum
teams impact
to meet.data throughout and beyond the
change process and collect ‘base-line’ data relating to the period prior to reform.
Maintain momentum: ensure regular dialogue between faculty and change leaders. Ensure that the change is publicly
noted as a priority by senior departmental and university management. Disseminate early successes internally
IMPLEMENTATION
and externally.
Select implementers of reform: those implementing the first pilot phases of reform should not necessarily be the
‘usual suspects’ of existing innovators in the department. Do not attempt to force highly reluctant faculty to deliver
any monitor
of the new
courses
any point
the process.
Closely
impact
data:atcontinue
to in
collect
and monitor impact data for a sustained period. Continue to flag
SUSTAINING THE CHANGE
results, positive and negative, internally. Disseminate successes externally.
Loosen direct link between faculty and individual courses: where possible, establish team teaching for all new
Make
new faculty
aware of
the reform:
ensureProvide
that all anew
faculty are
fully aware
of why
the reforms were undertaken
courses,
with regular
rotation
of faculty.
dedicated
forum
for teams
to meet.
and the impact of the changes made. Assign new faculty to experienced teaching teams.
Maintain momentum: ensure regular dialogue between faculty and change leaders. Ensure that the change is publicly
Establish
on education:
ensure
that
the new curriculum
is notDisseminate
stagnant. Engage
continuous
notedan
ason-going
a priority focus
by senior
departmental
and
university
management.
earlyinsuccesses
internally
development
that keeps the curriculum at the cutting edge. Establish activities that are likely to engage a range
and externally.
of faculty. These will vary by context, but might include an engineering education research group, membership of
international
communities
SUSTAINING
THE
CHANGEand/or faculty development workshops.
Be aware of potential issues: during university re-structuring and/or changes to senior management place particular
Closely monitor impact data: continue to collect and monitor impact data for a sustained period. Continue to flag
emphasis on above three tasks and communicate the drivers for and impact of the reforms to all faculty.
results, positive and negative, internally. Disseminate successes externally.
Achieving5excellence in engineering education: the ingredients of successful change. (2012). The Royal Academy of
faculty aware of the
reform:
that all new
faculty are fully aware of why the reforms were undertaken
EngineeringMake
and new
the Massachusetts
Institute
of ensure
Technology.
http://www.raeng.org.uk/news/publications/list/reports/
and
the
impact
of
the
changes
made.
Assign
new
faculty
to
experienced teaching teams.
struggling_economy.pdf
28 w
Establish an on-going focus on education: ensure that the new curriculum is not stagnant. Engage in continuous
development that keeps the curriculum at the cutting edge. Establish activities that are likely to engage a range
of faculty. These will vary by context, but might include an engineering education research group, membership of
Preliminary Definitions of 21st Century Skills
Adaptability: The ability and willingness to cope with uncertain, new, and rapidly changing
conditions on the job, including responding effectively to emergencies or crisis situations and
learning new tasks, technologies, and procedures. Adaptability also includes handling work
stress; adapting to different personalities, communication styles, and cultures; and physical
adaptability to various indoor or outdoor work environments (Houston, 2007; Pulakos et al.,
2000).
Complex communication/social skills: Skills in processing and interpreting both verbal and
nonverbal information from others in order to respond appropriately. A skilled communicator
is able to select key pieces of a complex idea to express in words, sounds, and images,
in order to build shared understanding (Levy and Murnane, 2004). Skilled communicators
negotiate positive outcomes with customers, subordinates, and superiors through social
perceptiveness, persuasion, negotiation, instructing, and service orientation (Peterson et al.,
1999).
Nonroutine problem solving: A skilled problem solver uses expert thinking to examine
a broad span of information, recognize patterns, and narrow the information to reach a
diagnosis of the problem. Moving beyond diagnosis to a solution requires knowledge of how
the information is linked conceptually and involves metacognition—the ability to reflect on
whether a problem-solving strategy is working and to switch to another strategy if it is not
working (Levy and Murnane, 2004). It includes creativity to generate new and innovative
solutions, integrating seemingly unrelated information, and entertaining possibilities that
others may miss (Houston, 2007).
Self-management/self-development: The ability to work remotely, in virtual teams; to work
autonomously; and to be self-motivating and self-monitoring. One aspect of self-management
is the willingness and ability to acquire new information and skills related to work (Houston,
2007).
Systems thinking: The ability to understand how an entire system works; how an action,
change, or malfunction in one part of the system affects the rest of the system; adopting a
“big picture” perspective on work (Houston, 2007). It includes judgment and decision making,
systems analysis, and systems evaluation as well as abstract reasoning about how the
different elements of a work process interact (Peterson et al., 1999).
— Reprinted with permission from Exploring the Intersection of Science Education
and 21st Century Skills: A Workshop Summary, 2010 by the National Academy of
Sciences, Courtesy of National Academies Press, Washington, D.C. http://books.
nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12771
w 29
WHAT ARE THE MOST PRESSING QUESTIONS/
ISSUES WE (I) BRING TO THIS WORKSHOP?
How best to provide a fully integrated Learning Commons for a diverse student population.
At our institution ,a group of faculty has been given the opportunity to design a brand new space in a newly
constructed building. This is expected to be the first of many projects like this on campus. I’m looking forward
to learning more about this area.
How to transform tired, traditional classrooms into viable learning spaces for the 21st century learner and
instructor while also keeping costs to a minimum.
What are the best practices for designing a collaborative learning space within a larger unit, such as the
library. What types of considerations should go into the vetting of a physical area for conversion, dealing
most specifically with wiring and other infrastructure issues? What are the best models for Academic Success
Centers? What the major planning concerns a team should address to insure long-term success?
What are best practices for classroom remodels, done on the cheap!
Our question is ow to anticipate the changing sizes of departments (majors) given our current inflexibility of
space and current “wwnership” of classrooms, studios, etc.?
Our question is how to create effective larger classrooms for active pedagogies.
When planning a new and integrated (science) building, how do we address “integrated”? We have
extensively reviewed industry needs, our own program strengths, and campus/department facility needs. We
also want to develop strong partnerships with industry (an incubator?). How do we pull all of this information
together to make the right decisions about what and who is housed in this building?
How to create innovative teaching spaces that are flexible enough to allow for a variety of teaching styles
(so that the rooms can still be widely used). Also, how to create decision-making processes that build faculty
buy-in and ownership of learning space design on campus. We are creating a five year plan for teaching and
collaborative spaces within the library. We have a classroom to renovate, and also two spaces for seminar
style public teaching, and performances. We want to know how best to create spaces with technology
available that users actually engage with--patrons and librarians. On a recent visit to Harvard, we saw a room
full of equipment that the librarians couldn’t get to work. How do we create forward thinking spaces that are
easy to engage users and function effectively.
We are interested in learning about how to make the transition to using spaces in different ways.
We are interested in planning for informal and formal collaborative learning in our first floor information
commons, and overcoming a lot of building constraints -- how to create a more seamless, holistic learning
commons out of our divided-up first floor, which includes an active learning classroom, media lab, reference
desk, group study rooms, etc.
We are currently in the programming process for a new Science Laboratory Building that will service life
sciences, physical sciences, and mathematics programs, moving move immediately into the design process
this summer. We are attempting to move from facilities which currently provide little in the way of effective
faculty-student research space into a building which will promote greater involvement of students in research,
facilitate additional faculty research, and also improve student learning. All of this must be accomplished
within a budget that seems to be too small relative to the perceived needs. What possibilities exist to help us
get the most we can out of the building in our programming and designing?
Define the best way to use the Information Commons spaces and group study rooms in our Libraries.
30 w
PARTICIPANT LIST WITH TABLE ASSIGNMENTS
Joseph F. Bartolomeo - Table #1
Professor and Chair of English
[email protected]
Glenn Caffery - Table #3
Director, Information Technology Lab
[email protected]
Scott Barton - Table #2
Facilities Program Coordinator
SUNY Oneonta
[email protected]
Amy Christmas - Table #9
Architect
The S/L/A/M Collaborative
[email protected]
Sharon Beaudry - Table #3
Assistant Professor, Business
Administration Department
Colby-Sawyer College
[email protected]
Lorrie Comeford - Table #3
Professor of Chemistry
[email protected]
Nicole Berthelemy - Table #10
Professor of Zoology
[email protected]
Marc N. Boots-Ebenfield - Table #4
Director, Center for Teaching Innovation
[email protected]
Debra K. Borkovitz - Table #5
Associate Professor of Mathematics
Wheelock College
[email protected]
Shirine Boulos Anderson - Table #1
Principal
Ellenzweig
[email protected]
Steven D. Brewer - Table #1
Senior Lecturer, Department of Biology
[email protected]
Charlotte Briggs - Table #1
Director Center for Teaching and Learning
Bay Path College
[email protected]
Robert C. Davis - Table #4
Manager, OIT Academic Computer Classrooms
[email protected]
Nancy C Dennis - Table #1
Science Librarian
[email protected]
Bob Dugan - Table #6
Associate Professor of Computer Science
Stonehill College
[email protected]
Ellen Stanley Eaton - Table #2
Professor and Chairperson of Nursing
[email protected]
Brenda Ecsedy - Table #6
Director of Academic Resources & Library Services
Wheelock College
[email protected]
Mark English
Customer Support, Information Technology Services
SUNY Oneonta
[email protected]
w 31
Amy Lynn Everitt - Table #5
Professor of Sport and Movement Science Athletic Training
[email protected]
Ryan Fisher - Table #6
Associate Professor of Biology
[email protected]
William S. Fitzpatrick - Table #7
Associate
Shepley Bulfinch
[email protected]
Anthony Joseph Fonseca - Table #4
Library Director
Elms College
[email protected]
Richard Ford - Table #3
Professor of Geosciences
[email protected]
Mark Robert Fregeau - Table #7
Professor of Biology
[email protected]
Michele Furst - Table #7
Senior Associate Vice President,
Academic Planning and Support
Massachusetts College of Art and Design
[email protected]
Afshin Ghoreishi - Table #9
Professor of Mathematics
[email protected]
Rose Glennon - Table #9
Director Academic Operations
Massachusetts College of Art and Design
[email protected]
32 w
Chrissa Godbout - Table #8
Library and Information Technology Consultant
Mount Holyoke College
[email protected]
Stacy Grooters - Table #4
Director, Center for Teaching and Learning
Stonehill College
[email protected]
Mark Halverson - Table #5
Dirctor of Campus Planning and Construction
[email protected]
Joyce L. Hampton - Table #5
Associate Academic Dean
Elms College
[email protected]
Heath Hatch - Table #7
Senior Lecturer, Department of Physics
[email protected]
Katya Hristova - Table #3
Architect
Ellenzweig
[email protected]
Sarah Cady Hutton - Table #8
Head, Undergraduate Teaching and Learning Services
[email protected]
Colin Inglefield - Table #4
Professor of Physics
[email protected]
Ed Jacques - Table #4
Director of Facilities
Wheelock College
[email protected]
Thomas Kealy - Table #2
Associate Professor & Department Chair of Humanities
Colby-Sawyer College
[email protected]
Imran Khan - Table #2
Senior Associate
Ellenzweig
[email protected]
Jean McLaughlin - Table #5
Honors College / Reference Assessment Librarian
University at Albany
[email protected]
Asha Kinney - Table #6
Assistant Director of IT, Instructional Technology
Hampshire College
[email protected]
Debra Mizia - Table #9
Director, Campus Planning & Development
[email protected]
Jonathan LaPierre - Table #3
Director of Information Technology
Wheelock College
[email protected]
Michael Joseph Moran - Table #2
Director of Library & Information Services
Bay Path College
[email protected]
Barry Lloyd - Table #7
Professor of Chemistry
[email protected]
Victoria Jo Morrison - Table #10
Associate Professor of Nursing
[email protected]
Toni Marie Loiacano - Table #5
Academic Planning & Design
EYP Architecture & Engineering
[email protected]
Matthew Morse - Table #4
Architect
Ellenzweig
[email protected]
Jennifer Willingham MacLeod - Table #2
Learning System Administrator and Project Manager
Wheelock College
[email protected]
Jeanne L. Narum
Principal
Learning Spaces Collaboratory
[email protected]
Arjun Mande - Table #6
Associate
Goody Clancy
[email protected]
Jon Olsen - Table #6
Assistant Professor of History
[email protected]
Deborah Dawn Mason-McCaffrey - Table #8
Associate Professor of Chemistry
[email protected]
Michelle Ormerod - Table #1
Registrar
Wheelock College
[email protected]
David Matty - Table #8
Dean, College of Science
[email protected]
Eva Paus - Table #10
Professor of Economics and Director
of the McCulloch Center for Global Initiatives
[email protected]
Cheryl McGrath - Table #7
Library director
Stonehill college
[email protected]
w 33
Karrie Peterson - Table #9
Assistant Director, Research & Instructional Services
University of Pennsylvania Libraries
[email protected]
Eugenio Gino Sorcinelli - Table #2
Lecturer, Department of Biology
[email protected]
Stephen J. Pielock - Table #8
Manager, AIMS Classroom Tech Support
[email protected]
Mary Deane Sorcinelli - Table #10
Associate Provost, Faculty Development
[email protected]
Elizabeth Pyle - Table #9
Registrar
[email protected]
Kabel Stanwicks - Table #10
Head of Access Services
University at Albany
[email protected]
Gail Rankin - Table #5
Director of Academic / Educational
Technologies, Faculty support
[email protected]
Michele Marie Sweeney - Table #1
Associate Dean, Arts and Sciences
[email protected]
Thomas Rathbone - Table #8
Associate Vice President for Facilities
SUNY Oneonta
[email protected]
Mark Rhoades - Table #10
Architect
The S/L/A/M Collaborative
[email protected]
Roy Schifilliti - Table #10
Vice President for Campus Life and Information Services
Wheelock College
[email protected]
Maxine G. Schmidt - Table #9
Librarian, Research & Learning Services
[email protected]
Scott Slarsky - Table #8
Director
Shepley Bulfinch
[email protected]
34 w
Peter Testori - Table #3
Assistant Director for Online Learning Support
Bay Path College
[email protected]
Alex Wirth-Cauchon - Table #7
Director of Research and Instructional Services
[email protected]