Innovative Learning Spaces Affect Student Attitudes at Ball State
A three-year experiment at Ball
State University in Muncie,
IN, suggests that innovative classroom spaces can create a positive
attitude
change in students, but the verdict seems to still be out on whether it
affects
academic performance.
With its Learning Space Initiative, Ball State spent
$90,000
to redesign two 24-seat classrooms. One, called the media:scape
classroom, has
four tables each seating six students. Each table has a flat screen that
can be
linked to the students' mobile devices. The second room, the Node
Classroom,
has "Node" chairs that are really combination chair-desks that can be
wheeled
around the room to create whatever kind of configuration teachers or
students
want.
Both rooms have interactive whiteboards and other
kinds of
technology.
Over the last three years, 68 faculty members have
cycled
through the two rooms, teaching 3,500 students while experimenting with
different teaching methods.
While some
students
taking courses in the experimental classrooms that emphasized active
learning
had better outcomes than in more traditional settings, others showed
negligible
improvement. The greatest success was found among students in a basic
math
class. In that case, research found students who were considered at risk
of
failing were nearly three times more likely to get a passing grade in a
pilot
study.
However, according to Jim Jones, Ball State's
director of
research and academic effectiveness, students who attended classes in
the
redesigned room enjoyed the experience and were found to be more likely
to be
engaged in the class.
Despite the so-far ambivalent findings of the
experiment, Ball
State will expand its Learning Space Initiative. In time for classes
next fall,
the university will spend $230,000 to redesign a 40-seat and a 72-seat
classroom
to continue its research on innovative learning methods.
About the Author
Michael Hart is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and the former executive editor of THE Journal.