- Location:
- Capacity: 32 students
- Type: Active teaching lab
Alignment with principles for designing Teaching and Learning Spaces
Academic challenge
Promote individual, active engagement with content.
Layout
Students can work individually (or in teams) at rectangular tables with ample work surfaces for working on kinesiology problems, with plenty of space for notebooks, laptops, and textbooks.
Furniture
Adjustable-height chairs with wheels for optimal comfort.
Technologies
Access to infrastructure: networked printing. Access to resources: LMS, internet. Multiple sources (Sympodium, document camera) and screens for simultaneous display of different learning materials.
Lighting & colour
Appropriate overhead lighting for individual work during or outside of the laboratory session. A series of wall panels showing people in different stages of movement (sprinting, jumping) enlivens the space.
Learning with peers
Promote active engagement with one another.
Layout
A flexible layout with many lightweight, mobile tables allows reconfiguring the laboratory space in multiple ways. Students can move easily from small group to larger group portions of a laboratory assignment, as students at each table can work together as a group of 2 or 4, or tables can be joined for larger groups. Students are able to easily circulate in the classroom. Exercise equipment, machines and plinths are set up around the perimeter of the space. A separate clinical room is part of the space (accessible via an interior door), which permits students to work in teams with a patient or practice with one another, with a greater level of privacy.
Acoustics: Sound zones by table support multiple simultaneous conversations among students.
Furniture
The mobile group tables permit collaborative approaches to coursework, and improved communication (both verbally and line-of-sight). Chairs on wheels support student movement. The available exercise equipment, diagnostic machines and plinths form a key part of the students’ laboratory experience.
Technologies
N/A
Lighting & colour
Appropriate overhead lighting for group work during or outside of the laboratory session. Windows bring in ambient natural light.
Experiences with faculty
Promote interaction and communication.
Layout
The instructor has a larger podium and a smaller, semi-mobile podium, to reduce hierarchy. The instructor has access to all students due to layouts that permit ample passing space, and clear sightlines.
Acoustics: Sounds zones ensure that not only are students able to hear the instructor, but that the instructor is also able to hear the students.
Furniture
Tables are easily accessible and have sufficient space surrounding them for the instructor to check in with a given group.
Technologies
A primary projecting surface permits display of different learning materials (Sympodium, document camera).
Lighting & colour
Lighting patterns provide a pleasant environment and support multiple types of teaching tasks.
Contributions to the campus environment
Teaching labs that incorporate elements of active and collaborative learning are part of a vision for a variety of flexible campus learning spaces. This room is designed for all populations using the space: well-lit, with a standardized room control panel that simplifies instructors’ use of equipment in classrooms across campus. IT is consistent with teaching and learning needs, and durable furniture contributes to sustainability efforts. Both physical and virtual affordances help maximize High Impact Practices (HIPs) for student learning within and beyond this classroom.
