Collaboration in New Spaces: One Room, One Summer, One Two-Year Technical College
Amy Edwards Patterson, Moraine Park Technical College
Introduction
Identify the Needs of Students
Articulate Pedagogical Goals
Operationalize Goals
Continue to Change
Celebrate Rewards
Develop Solutions for Challenges
Instructors have mixed reactions to active-learning classrooms. At NWTC, Zapf appreciates the effect a collaborative learning space might have on an instructor—although instructor reactions, too, can be a challenge. During a recent training session with faculty members, Zapf could already see the wheels turning:
I asked them, “What would this space do for your class? What are concepts that would work well in here?” And the response was, “We’re just going to have to go back and think about this because it really changes the way we would approach the design of our materials.” It’s maybe easier to put together a PowerPoint and stand up in front of the room and talk through it, as opposed to thinking, “Now I have in an environment where I could still do that, but it’s probably more to my advantage to get students involved and let them learn from one another. I can guide them through that process.” For me, though, that’s been an exciting thing. (personal communication, 2012)
This type of classroom focuses on learning as a more important concept than teaching, highlighting the need for instructors to develop “new strategies for enabling learning and accommodating the multiple demands on student time” (Brown & Long, 2006). Training serves a dominant role in encouraging faculty participation in the active-learning classroom. For Schoeller, confusion over iPads has been challenging: “I would like to use the iPads, but it’s the apps that would make them great for my students in health and science … Right now, it’s somewhat unclear how to receive approval to include apps” (personal communication, 2012). Over the next year, however, even more training sessions related to the active-learning classroom are planned at Moraine Park, including training focused on mobile devices and applications for iPads. Meanwhile, past training in the learning space has incorporated active-learning principles and technology application through a variety of professional development sessions at the college. The training helps instructors consider ways to take advantage of the classroom space and technology.
While the plans are underway for upcoming training, other solutions to challenges developed within days of opening the space for instructional use. Shortly after the room opened, one challenge involved the placing of a computer behind a large SMART Board: “Our computer used to be behind the equipment to be out of the way and not seen, but … to try and crawl behind there to get to the equipment and turn it on was a problem, so we’ve moved it,” instructor Vogl-Rauscher explained. Furthermore, “we’ve done some different things in terms of we’ve relocated the VCR. Those are things that you won’t know about until you actually start working with it.” (Vogl-Rauscher, personal communication, 2013). Vogl-Rauscher also noted that one of the greatest challenges, however, is simply reserving the room: “This room is booked faster than any room on campus!”
In the planning stages, some instructors worried about the lack of a whiteboard in the front of the room, wondering how to draw diagrams and allow students to take notes. Proving an example, Pahlow shared that one instructor soon realized “she could do all of her writing on a SMART Board and then save that writing as a PDF, and then send it right to her students” (personal communication, 2013). The feature on the SMART Board allows instructors to save notes as a PDF or PowerPoint, letting students listen closely rather than finding distractions while note-taking.
A final challenge, however, involved student perception of the space, particularly for students returning to school after years in the workforce. Moraine Park’s average student age is 34, with 46 percent of students older than 24 ("District Fact Sheet," 2011). Therefore, many students expect a more traditional classroom with long tables and rows. The active-learning environment, then, can feel disconcerting to those students when a class begins. As the students spend more time in the classroom environment, though, the space feels relaxing and comfortable, allowing students to work closely with classmates and improve interpersonal communication skills through a small-group setting. Dean of General and International Education Caron Daugherty, who assisted with the furniture and technology selections, enjoys overhearing students announce, “I wish all classrooms were like this!” The positive impact on students, even those originally hesitant about the space, has led students to request more active-learning classrooms. Thus, replicating the room on other campuses might be a potential challenge. The room is only available on one campus, but “students enjoy the classroom; they seem to be much more collaborative and much more communicative” (Daugherty, personal communication, 2012).
Moving forward, Pahlow believes building ownership of the space will be a central focus (see video 6). As Pahlow noted, “really the goal has been to say … this needs to become part of what we do as a college. This active-learning classroom shouldn't be something that we just do every now and then; it should really be thought of every time we design a building, every time we design a remodel.” Pahlow hopes the approach to learning and design will become standard procedure for the college, as well as other schools in the Wisconsin Technical College System. Schoeller agreed: “It’s upbeat with a good vibe. There’s good mojo in here” (personal communication, 2012).