7/30/2019 Connecting Campus Design to a New kind of Student (Gensler)
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Changing Course.CONNECTING CAMPUS DESIGNTO A NEW KIND OF STUDENT
Design + Perormance Report
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Weve all heardabout the newstudent arriving on
college campuses.These millennials, postmillennials and
digital natives grew up with the social
technologies to which older generations
are still adapting. Many walk to class
wearing headphones, surng the web on
a smart phone and responding to text
messages. Interaction occurs as muchvia email, social networks and instant
messaging as it does in person. According
to Genslers new research, despite all
o this connectivity, independence and
study-alone time are the actors that
dene todays student experience.
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New models o educationare arriving as well.Top-tier universities are putting class materials online using ree, open-sourceplatorms. Libraries are also in ux, as reading and research move rom the physical
to the virtual catalogue. Teachers and administrators are acknowledging the
need or new teaching and learning models that match these evolving realities.
Yet campus design has not kept up with these pedagogical aspirations.
The integration of the virtual seems to pair with a renewed
interest in the physical. Inside the classroom, the student
wants to deplug and interact with ellow classmates. Theycan watch lectures at home and would rather engage in
collaborative learning on campus. And while students may not
be going to the library or books, they still see it as a prime
space or studying and perorming individual workspace that
seems to be in increasingly high demand and short supply.
The realities of on-campus spaces havent caught up with the
demands and aspirations of either educators or students.
The current generation o students is reporting low levels
o outoclassroom collaborationthey would rather
spend that time studying alone in a quiet space. Spaces
designed to prioritize collaboration are interering withstudents desire or quiet spaces where they can ocus on
individual studies. Learning spaces designed or oneway
communication, like lecture halls, cannot give students
the interactive classroom environments they crave.
For the past two years, Gensler has conducted research about
student preerences or learning and how campus design
does and does not support them. Colleges and universitiesneed to challenge conventional wisdom around campus
design. Students see the classroom, not the quad, as the ideal
place or collaboration and acilitated discussion and view
lounges and libraries as spaces or headsdown ocus work.
Students are letting us know what works and what doesnt.
Its time to reinvent outdated models so that we can realign
spaces with new educational realities and student needs.
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Todays campus spacesarent working or students.
STUDENTS DONT FIND CAMPUS SPACES EFFECTIVE
CAMPUS DESIGN ISNT ENHANCING THE STUDENT EXPERIENCE
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
LECTURE COLLABORATION STUDYING
ALONE
GROUP STUDY SOCIAL
19% 36% 32% 31% 31%
PERCENTAGE OF STUDENTS WHO RATED SPACE AS VERY OR EXTREMELY EFFECTIVE
Students ranking o on-
campus experience was highlyvariable. Two-thirds say campus
design makes them proud
o their school (a ranking o
4 or 5 on a ve-point scale),
while only one-third eel the
campus connects them to the
surrounding neighborhood.
Only slightly more eel it
encourages interaction with
aculty outside the classroom.
67%Makes meproud to go toschool here.
58%Makes me eellike Im part o alarger community.
47%Really makes meeel at home.
42%Supports myextracurricularactivities.
38%Encouragesinteraction withaculty outsideo class time.
33%Makes me eelconnected tothe surroundingneighborhood.
Across activity types very ew
students reported that spaces
were efective (a rating o 4or 5 on a ve-point scale).
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Independence is the oundationo the student experience.
When asked about their
study habits, students report
an interest in studying
alone versus in groups.
44 o on-campus time is
spent studying or working
alone, reinorcing the need
or good ocus spaces.
MOST ON-CAMPUS TIME IS SPENT WORKING ALONE
STUDENTS PREFER STUDYING ALONE ALMOST 3 TO 1
Study Alone
71%Study in Groups
29%
44% 18% 13%17% 8%Studyingin groupson-campus
Studying/working alone on-campus Time in-between classes LecturesGroup projects
I get more accomplished when Im
alone than when Im with others. I can
ocus more easily on the task at hand.
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Great study spaces are hard to nd.
QUIET TIMELIBRARY22% 39%43% 66%
VS VSREPORTED PLACE WHERESTUDIED/WORKED ALONE
REPORTED QUIETSTUDY TIME
PREFERRED PLACE TOSTUDY/WORK ALONE
PREFERRED QUIETSTUDY TIME
LIBRARIES ARE IN HIGH DEMAND AND SHORT SUPPLY
I independent, studyalone time is undamental to the student
experience, campuses need to give students ample appropriate
environments. For many, that means quiet environments
where they can put their heads down and ocus. Fortythree
percent o students told us the library is where they preer
to studywork alone, and 26 reported labprojectstudio
space was their avorite place or that headsdown time.But when asked to report where they had actually studied
worked alone, the numbers ip. Only 22 report studying
in the library and 38 in labprojectstudio space. Students
want to study at the library, but they are more likely to
head elsewhere or simply not nd the space they need.
This may be explained by the noise: only 39 o respondents
told us that the spaces where they workedstudied alone were
quiet, a distressingly low number considering that 66 o
students told us they preer quiet when studying alone. With
quiet space at a premium, colleges will have to rethink whether
libraries should provide access to noiseproducing activities.
Respondents were asked
to provide both the best
place to study/work alone
and the place in which they
perormed the activity. The
library ranked rst as the best
place, but ar less respondents
report actually studying there
than report it as ideal.
When asked about the spaces
in which they studied alone,
66 o students reported a
preerence or quiet space,
while only 39 reported
that the place in which they
studied recently was quiet.
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CLASSROOMS ARE WIRED BUT NOT INSPIRED
Over the past decade colleges and universities have made
concerted eforts to increase oncampus technology access.
Highspeed WiFi is nearly ubiquitous. Highdenition
televisions are situated in many buildings. These tech
rich environments certainly serve techsavvy student
bodies. When asked about the current unctionality o
campus spaces, students and educators placed support ortechnology at the top o the list78 o lecture spaces
support proessors technologywhile experiential measures
ranked signicantly loweronly 48 were comortable,
29 were inspirational, and 27 were attractive.
One explanation or these responses may be that technology
by itsel does not address student needs. When asked
what tools they used while oncampus, pen and paper
slightly outranks laptops and the internet across a variety
o activities, illustrating that colleges and universities need
to reconsider the emphasis on investing in new technologies
or their buildings. Laptops and wireless connectivity areundoubtedly important in combination with lesstechnology
inused ways o working, but cant deliver on their own.
Many institutions o higher learning may have reached a tech
saturation point. Adding more computers, at screen televisions
and other systems will cease to have a greater return on
investment. As many students come to campus with their own
tech devicesrom smart phones to tablets and laptopsthis
trend is poised to increase. Provide those students with easy
access to wi and theyre set. What they dont, and cant,bring with them are dynamic, inspirational experiences.
FUNCTIONALITY OF
LECTURE SPACE
STUDY TOOLS
PEN & PAPERLAPTOP INTERNET
1st2nd 3rd
Supported proessors technology 78%
Allowed me to ocus on what
proessor was saying 69%Supported my technology 57%
Had good lighting 56%
Had comortable seating 48%
Had good ventilation 45%
Had a good arrangement oseats, desks, or working space 41%
Had lots o windows 31%
Was inspirational 29%
Had an attractive look and eel 29%
When asked what tools they use most, pen and
paper ranked highest across all settings. Laptops
and the internet were a close second and third.
Technology isnt the key to great spaces.
0% 100%
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STUDENTS WANT COLLABORATION IN THE CLASSROOM
In a 2011 research study conducted by Genslers Education +
Culture practice area, students reported that efective teachers
act as acilitators and that this multimodal teaching style is the
most efective pedagogy. The act that students view lecture
spaces as particularly inefective underscores this point: or
many, the lecture ormat is not just ideal, its not working.
Current classroom experiences clearly arent delivering the
experience students want. 23 o students report no time
collaborating on campus at all, and o those that did collaborate
only 13 report breaking into groups to collaborate during
class time. I collaboration is an important part o the learning
process, its place is in the classroom where teachers can
acilitate and direct conversationexpecting students to do it
on their own is unlikely given their preerences, and students
oten view outoclass group work as less than productive.
Traditional thinking about campus design is based on the
idea that nonclassroom spaces should be collaborative in
purpose and promote interaction and collegiality among the
student body. But that thinking is based on an education
model in which lectures reign and interactions happen
outside the classroom. A new model in which the classroom
is the primary site or collaboration is necessary.
Students to teachers: stop lecturing us.
Long-termstudy group
31%Other
6%Adhoc groupsduring class time
13%Group project workoutside class time
50%
TYPES OF GROUP
WORK ON CAMPUS
When asked to elaborate
on the types o group work
they perormed on-campus,
only 13 o respondents
reported that collaboration
happened during class time.
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EXPERIENCE DIFFERENTIATES THE ON-CAMPUS EXPERIENCE
The growth o online learning opportunities and the
question o what valueadd a physical institution delivers
are put in new light by these ndings. Lectures arent where
universities competedynamic experiences are where
physical institutions still have a leg up on the virtual.
Growth in online platorms ofers a renewed challenge tothe lectureas Thomas L. Friedman notes in his New York
Times oped Come the Revolution, published May 15,
2012: Finally a generation that has grown up on these
technologies is increasingly comortable learning and
interacting with proessors through online platorms.
Students are becoming comortable using online venues or
oneway learning models like lectures and toptier universities
are increasingly supplying the content. Schools rom Stanord to
Harvard and MIT are ofering ree online access to lectures and
assignments, revolutionizing highereducation in the process.
These moves represent an unprecedented nod to expanding
educational access around the world. But they also reveal
an understanding o a shit in the university business model
its not the inormation that makes these institutions
great; its the experience and environments or learning that
will remain their competitive edge. Oncampus learning
should take place within interactive environments thatcomplement the noninteractive online learning experience.
My most memorable learning experiences are
when the proessor doesnt dominate the whole
conversation. Its a discussion among the entire class
and everyone gets to have their voice heard.
Dynamic learning environmentsare the competitive edge.
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Methodology
Over the course o the 2011 all semester, Gensler conducted
a series o surveys o 250+ college students with the goal
o identiying the actors and spaces that contribute to
successul highereducation environments. The survey sample
included 32 graduate students and 68 undergraduate
students representing various disciplines and more than 116
colleges and universities throughout the United States.
The rst was a prole survey, ollowed by ve learning modessurveyslectures, collaboration, studying or working alone,
group studying, and time between classes. Conducted through
a series o six short surveys on smart phones, each survey did
three things: ask about the time spent in each study mode
that week; ask specic questions about the space where
students perormed particular activities that week, with each
week ocusing on a diferent mode; and ask questions to
understand students oncampus experiences and preerences.
This allowed the team to capture inthemoment data, and
by using a series o short surveys we achieved an unusually
high participation rate over the course o the three months.
Further Questions
This research paints a provocative picture o oncampus lie
that challenges the efectiveness o current campus spaces and
approaches. While many o the insights are actionable, some o
which are described above, we also see vast opportunities or
urther investigation to continue to develop an understanding
o how oncampus spaces can best support students.
The evolving role o the library, the traditional place or
heads down study time, is o primary concern. For our part,weve embarked on a 201213 research initiative to better
understand this problem. We will be going oncampus to
benchmark usage and to see and hear whats working and
whats not. As a container o inormation, the library seems
the ideal study spot. Now that students seek more inormation
online than in print, whats the librarys main draw?
Gensler 2012.
The inormation contained within this brochure is and shall
remain the property o Gensler. This document may not
be reproduced without prior consent rom Gensler.
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