Con Graves
Griffith University
There is a widespread and growing interest in the Higher Ed sector in the development of functional and aesthetically pleasing space. Much attention is being paid to the planning and development of learning and teaching spaces that will meet the demands being made by new pedagogical styles. While good design is critical, spaces also need to be evaluated to ensure that they are meeting the goals of their occupants. In the space development cycle, much time and significant effort is put into the development of space, however the level of attention to assessing whether it has met the original design goals often lags.
Further, over time the space itself needs to adapt to shifting expectations, and technological capabilities. “How well do these environments support social learning and promote collaborative work? To what extent do they employ flexible design and take advantage of wireless technology? Do they encourage creativity and discovery and inspire users? Do they offer services and features that students don’t already have in … [other areas]? ” (Sinclair. 2007). These questions, and many others, highlight the challenge of ongoing review of spaces to ensure that they remain relevant to the needs of their user population.
This presentation will describe some attempts by Griffith to establish systems and processes to monitor and evaluate our “Common Use” Learning Centres and our newly developed Library “Collaboration Zone” and “Research Zone”. While this session may raise more questions than it answers, it will surface some of our ideas, our approach and some of the tools we are using to evaluate spaces to deliver better services and outcomes. Further, it will also uncover some changes to space made as the result of monitoring and evaluation and identify services that have grown because of changes in the physical environment.