Page 25 - College Planning & Management, March 2018

IMPACT ON LEARNING
SOLVING REAL-WORLD PROBLEMS, ONE PIECE AT A TIME
DO THE FACILITIES IN WHICH OUR STUDENTS LEARN REALLY MATTER? THE ANSWER IS YES!
Everyone supports higher standards
for education, yet many still ask, “Do the facilities in which our students learn really matter?” The answer to that question is YES!
Classrooms that are inflexible and outdated—science labs from the 1950s, an- tiquated technology, roofs that leak, HVAC systems that are inadequate—affect an instructor’s ability to teach and a student’s ability to learn. Research supports this
theory, noting that students’ college choices are influenced by facilities that support and enhance academic experiences.
While we may agree that facilities impact learning, most institutions can’t afford to replace an entire building in order to bring it up to date. With this in mind, the Impact on Learning program was developed, not to focus on whole building design, but to focus instead on specific
solutions that impact the learning environ- ment, while allowing money saved to be reinvested in education.
The projects on the following pages were submitted by sponsors of this, our an- nual Impact On Learning program, and give examples of solutions that have made the educational environment in these institu- tions better and more comfortable places for students to learn.
A SPECIAL SECTION TO COLLEGE PLANNING & MANAGEMENT