An instructor presents on an interactive whiteboard display

Experiential Classrooms

An instructor guides students in discussion from in front of an interactive white board.

Five years ago, TCC’s Real Estate & Facilities department created a classroom space to test new architectural classroom products. Products included various types of dry erase wall materials, built-in media cabinets, comfortable and durable furniture, lighting scenarios and moveable furniture partitions with writable surfaces. At the same time, the Information Technology department requested a space to review, manage and maintain new technology in order to select the best, most cost-effective rollout for District classrooms. These two ideas spawned what is now known as an experiential classroom.

When the experiential classroom was in its design phase, the College also was developing its Institutional Plan. This was a combined real estate and academic master plan, which began as goals in TCC’s Strategic Vision 2015. Before the first experiential classroom was constructed at the Northeast Campus, several thought-provoking meetings involving campus presidents, faculty members and administrators took place over several weeks. Their goal? To create a classroom on every campus that offers:

  • Greater flexibility with capability to change the environment quickly. Faculty members often need to create smaller groups within a class, which can be achieved by providing mobility in the furniture or creating fluidity with stationary furniture in non-traditional layouts.
  • Comfortable furniture for users, reaching a balance between comfort and cost.
  • Writable surfaces throughout the space, with moveable, rolling partitions.
  • Collaboration space where the environment is less stressful to students. Currently, when students walk into a classroom, there is no distinguishable front or back to the room, thus eliminating all hierarchy.
  • Various technologies and equipment available to faculty, so they can decide what best supports the curriculum. Examples include hanging flat screen monitors or TVs, assorted styles of projectors, document readers, Surface technology or iPads for student use.
  • Outdoor space and informal learning spaces as an extension of classroom with comfortable seating for smaller groups to collaborate.

Students work together in small groups.

From these attributes, the group coined the term, “experiential classroom.” Currently, TCC has designated a space on every campus that is available for faculty to develop a new culture of learning with new teaching tools. In this space, teachers discover new pedagogies and facilitate engaging activities to stimulate learning.

“Faculty rate the environment very highly, reporting better performance outcomes of students in experiential classrooms than those in regular classrooms. Requests for teaching in our experiential classroom are on the rise,” said Peter Jordan, South Campus president. “The data collected through student surveys and feasibility reports show students are excited about the innovative learning environment and find the classroom flexible and engaging.”

The students are listening to the lecture intently. This shot is from the professor's point of view looking out at the students.

Experiential classrooms allow facilities personnel to test and sample products or materials before they are introduced Districtwide. The spaces also contain technology installed and reviewed by TCC’s in-house technical staff for the latest, most cost-effective and user-friendly applications.

“It is our responsibility to understand the needs of the users, know what is happening on a national level in educational design and provide a cost-effective solution to enhance student success,” said Vice Chancellor of Real Estate and Facilities Nina Petty.

As faculty teach in these spaces, TCC will continually review the activities among the students to better understand how improving the environment supports teaching and learning.

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