Thriving in Academe

Best Practices
Important considerations: The classroom physical environment

• Where do we sit?
  Surveys often report that classroom chairs are uncomfortable and their arrangement provides inadequate personal space. When redesigning classrooms, Colorado State University assembled several kinds of chairs and placed them in the student union for students to try out and vote for their preferred chair. Chairs are more than an ergonomics consideration; they communicate. If they're arranged in small circles, they communicate the expectancy of small group discussion. Rows of chairs suggest a more formal learning environment.
• Who has the chalk? Classrooms have artifacts ranging from elaborate electronic equipment to posters on the wall to the chalk for the boards. All such artifacts have symbolic meaning. For example, the person with the chalk is seen as the person in charge. Some instructors pass out sticks of chalk or markers at the beginning of the class. This signals that students are expected to go to the board to make contributions.
• How do we paint the classrooms? A study at the University of California-Davis reported some interesting notions about painting classrooms. One observation: paint/graphics could be used to "mark territory" much as animals do. Thus, a uniquely painted-marked classroom is easier to find and to identify as an exciting space. The study found that the "sameness of color" in classrooms was often equated to boring and dull. Faculty and facilities managers working together more might improve our educational ecology!

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