I NOW FEEL...

It was fascinating to read in Lee S. Schulman’s (1988) prologue on disciplined inquiry about the controversy over experimental versus correlation, especially in regard to the interests of each kind of researcher. He says that correlationalists “see nature as presenting itself for inspection and the role of the scientist as that of identifying which of the variations that nature presents are associated with other processes or outcomes”(pg. 15). Alternately, experimentalists are interested only in “the variations they themselves create” (pg. 15). This basic premise is often ignored when generalizing the research findings. As an architect, I am extremely skeptical when a researcher tells me that I need to design smooth, blue, cocoonish spaces because (Augustin 2009) says a comfortable space for an individual is one that has the qualities of a refuge (from caveman days), or that using the color blue in my designs is most preferred by individuals because “living on the savanna, blue meant good things. Fresh water when seen from a distance is blue. A sky during pleasant weather is blue” (pg.12) and Bar and Neta (2007) found that the shape of objects, from everyday items like furniture to novel patterns, could cause a fear reaction in individuals. Contoured items were preferred while sharp items increased amygdala activation in the brain, which indicates fear processing.
These analogies are much in line with Shulman’s example “foot size is correlated and vocabulary are correlated in the general population, but that does not mean that large feet cause larger word knowledge (or vice versa)” (pg. 15). It is, therefore, extremely important to examine the original research, acknowledging the method employed, studying the underlying purpose and questions posed by the researcher and imagining other ways to answer that same question.
Also, I was highly inspired by Shulman’s discussion of a “Community of Scholars and Scholarship as Community Property” (pg. 26).
I now feel that this PhD I am earning is less of a diploma that I have achieved something and more of a membership card into a fraternity [sorry] thousands of years old with our own traditions and regalia and responsibility to further the quest for knowledge.
As this writer cited Ebbinghaus (originally1883) and the works of Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC), my work can live on and be a foundation for great contributions in the future.

Augustin, S. (2009) Place Advantage: Applied psychology for interior architecture. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.
Bar, M. and Neta, M. (2007) Visual elements of subjective preference modulate amygdala activation, Neuropsychologia, 45 pgs. 2191–2200
Shulman, “Disciplined Inquiry” (p. 3-69 [including Tyack piece] in Jaeger)
Jaeger, Richard M. (Ed.). (1997). Complementary methods for research in education, second edition. Washington, DC: American Educational Research Association.
Complementary methods for research in education / edited by Richard M. Jaeger ; [contributors, Tom Barone ... et al.]. 1997 LB1028 .C577 1997 available, Lesley-Sherrill Library Main Stacks
(COPYRIGHT © 2011 MIKAEL POWELL. All Rights Reserved)

Campus Cultural Analysis -Kenyon College

Peirce Hall Main dining room in the 1960’s when Kluge attended. Note the long row-tables. Peirce Hall Main dining room, recently renovated. Pains-taking efforts were taken to restore the room to the original look. Tables now are in groupings of 6 – 8 students.

Analysis of the Way in which Culture is Portrayed on Campus in Alma Mater: A College Homecoming by P.F. Kluge(COPYRIGHT © 2011 MIKAEL POWELL. All Rights Reserved)

Alma Mater: A college homecoming is nonfiction ethnography by P. F Kluge that details the experiences of a man, who after graduating from Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, returns and spends one year as a professor of English. The book chronicles the culture of the college. This paper analyzes the book with deference to those elements that describe the college culture. Analyzing a college with a cultural perspective provides a way to examine more fully the way of life of the students, faculty and administration and how the institution functions as a whole (Kuh & Whitt, 1988). Although there are various definitions of culture, one can observe the manifestations of culture to provide insight into its properties. First, I will give a brief summary of the book and secondly, I review forms of culture at the college as expressed through ceremony, ritual, myth, saga, folktale, symbol, language, gesture, physical setting and artifact which relate to the levels of culture at the college in the experiences that Kluge wrote about in the book.
In his book, P. F. Kluge, a professor of English and alumnus at Kenyon College, chronicles a year at the college as a teacher in the early 1990’s while recounting his own experience there as a student in the 1960’s. He provides background and early history of the founding of the college within the framework of two full semesters at the institution – from orientation to commencement. He describes the college’s relationship with the surrounding town, one in which isolation was valued from the very founding. He also includes his perspective of the scholastic environment from a student’s point of view (including a personal relationship with a terminally ill student), a faculty member’s life in the student all-male dormitory, an outsider’s view of the faculty, relations with the alumni and the admissions process, all with unusually untethered access.
When several rites are connected in an event, it is known as a ceremony. Such is the description for Philander’s Phling, a tradition funded by a school trustee that seeks to alleviate the doldrums of the long February scholastic schedule. This one-night fantasy gives students the opportunity to dress up in fine clothes and be transported by limousine to a casino parlor created in one of the college buildings. The administration and faculty play the part of dealers and students are given faux money to gamble. As all rites have a shared language, gaming lingo becomes parlance that shapes this experience.
Kuh & Whitt (1988), describe a ritual as “a standardized detailed set of techniques and behaviors that manage anxieties but seldom produce intended technical consequences” (p.18). Some of the college’s policies and habitual actions toward prohibiting the consumption of alcohol on campus and at campus-sponsored events can be described as actions meant to convey temperance ideals to students, while acknowledging the lack of will and resources to enforce the value. The college administration advises that they do not have personnel to police such activities in the dormitory and they expect that students will attend Philander’s Phling already intoxicated.
When one considers a cultural myth as an unsupported belief, then the misconception that student nowadays produce more schoolwork than earlier times (supposedly evidenced by their resulting higher grades), certainly qualifies. Kluge (1993) reports “some say that the caliber of student has come up...” (1993, p. 200) in regard to the amount of schoolwork students successfully engage in. However, a fellow professor discovered that he had actually assigned far less readings to his class than his college professor had assigned to him 15 years earlier. Upon consideration, the professor lamented that this may be the norm.
The mural on the Gambier, Ohio Post Office wall depicts the saga of the locating the site for Kenyon college. It shows the historic scene of Philander Chase on horseback gesturing to the awe-inspiring landscape and declaring the campus for the college (See appendix 2). Keeping within the definition of a saga as an historic narrative of leaders, illustrated as heroes (Kuh & Whitt, 1988), this painting idolizes Philander Chase, with campus plans in hand, in his role as founder of Kenyon College.
At graduation, the costumed Phil Jordon, president of Kenyon College, acts out a folktale of the college as he chants “They call me Iron Phil, Wild man of the Hill, I live with Steel Shelia, Bard of the Monongahela, Yo Steel Sheila!...” (Kluge, 1993, p. 241). This fable, although fictitious, exaggerates the countenance and historical character of founder Philander Chase creating a parody often performed in Peirce Hall underneath portraits of previous Kenyan College presidents.
Although letter grades A – F are published in the college catalog and listed to indicate performance from “Excellent to Failing”, in students and faculty culture, they symbolize something more subjective. Kluge reported that it was the college’s desire that 50% of all grades be A’s and B’s. Indeed, students realize the disparity between the published letter grade description and the symbolic meaning of the grade within the Kenyon culture. So, understandably, Kluge reported that a faculty member remarked “grades are coded, and you are sending a message with a C that this [paper] is disastrous”. (Kluge, 1993, p. 97). The professor implied that it would adversely affect student morale.
Also, within the discourse of the Admissions department there is standard language for grades such as “Cs are ‘cats’, Ds are ‘dogs’ Fs are frogs”. (Kluge, 1993, p. 122). The author describes this jargon as seemingly cold, crude and disrespectfully humorous. This parlance may also be seen as a way to distance oneself from the significance that grades play in the admissions process, given the variances in determining and awarding these standard measurements. However, Kluge concludes that this language does not diminish the serious efforts by the admissions committee to review prospective student applicants.
The commencement ceremony has many body gestures that communicate meanings understood in the culture. Indeed, one of the most popular commencement movements is repositioning the tassel on the graduation cap to symbolize leaving the ranks of candidate. Kluge describes how parents and family indicate support by the level of applause “some with rousing ovations, some with meager pit-pats” (1993, p. 248). Kluge also explains the procession of the graduating class past the faculty. Within that formal ceremony student exhibit many emotions, some gesture to the faculty, some nod, others hurriedly shake their hand.
Kuh & Whitt (1988), describe a physical setting as “things that surround people physically and gives them stimulus as they carry out culturally expressive activities”. (p.19). Peirce Hall, built in 1929, is a social setting and the open architecture of the dining room, provided the backdrop for social confrontation during the undergraduate tenure of the P.F. Kluge (See appendix 1a). The large exposed arches provide a virtually column-free space for activities. The structural elements also create a huge volume of space beyond the human scale, which affects the acoustics in the hall, adding depth of tone and resonance to student conversations. The building type also allows for long windows to bring in light and present stained glass illustration. The increased wall space allows for the historic oil paintings on the wall. Thus, this setting is constructed to provide open, social interactions within a gallery of historic portraits and inspirational fenestration. It was noted that the great hall in Peirce was a second-choice location for the Harry Potter films (Kenyon College, 2009). At the time that the author taught at Kenyan College, Peirce Hall still was an environment that supported both segregated seating and confrontation to change the status quo (See appendix 1b).
Petitions were the artifacts that existed as the vehicle for student to express their concerns about their values and opinions in the institution, notably the drive to keep Henry Bod. The institution treated them seriously, considering the student action and maintaining the petition as an effective purveyor of student opinion without vanquishing them as totally impotent. Looking at artifacts as a meaning “‛stored’ in symbols” (Geertz 1973, p127), it can be understood that students viewed the petition process as a way to counter the power of the college administration with their strength as patrons of the college, since much of the operating funds came from tuition. Albeit, their actions were impulsive, as the numbers of student that actually attended the subsequent rally was very small. The college administration’s actions indicated that they valued the petitioning process, at least as a way to document, both in the present and historically, their support of the students, while not changing their announced plans.
These levels of culture provide a framework in which to examine the values held and relationships of entities within the Kenyon College experience as portrayed in Kluge’s book, Alma Mater: A College Homecoming. Ceremonies, like Philander’s Phling serves the administration’s desire to perpetuate a tradition and provide a vehicle for faculty to support students in a respite from their studies. Students have the opportunity to participate in a special way with the college administration and faculty. Events like this have their own language and they support cultural gestures as a means of communication. Rituals indicate the values of all parties concerned and myths can provide an opportunity for reflection and analysis. College sagas and folktales are illustrative of institutional image and values. An examination of symbols and artifacts furthers the understanding of the relationships between college administration, faculty, staff and student. Physical settings are the seemingly tacit backdrop for the college experience. These elements, richly presented in the book enhance our understanding of the culture at Kenyon College.

References:

Geertz, C. (1973). The interpretation of cultures. New York: Basic books.

Kenyon College (2009) The great hall. Kenyon College Alumni Bulletin, 32(1), Fall.

Kluge, P.F. (1995). Alma mater: A college homecoming. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.

Kuh, G.D., & Whitt, E.J. (1988). The invisible tapestry: Culture in American colleges and universities. ASHE ERIC Higher Education Report, Vol. 17, No. 1. Washington, D.C.: Association for the Study of Higher Education.

University Culture-Traditions

The Nations’ First Spring Fling: A Tradition at my Alma Mater
(COPYRIGHT © 2011 MIKAEL POWELL. All Rights Reserved)

I attended Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas which is a rural agricultural and research university founded as the first land grant college in America. At the time of my attendance there were about 14,000 students. One of our most enduring and endearing traditions is Spring Fling, a week-long series of events for dorm students, which includes an outdoor cross-campus bed race. This residence hall celebration originated at K-State in the mid 1960’s and now occurs in name and concept at many universities throughout the world (K-State Alumni Association, 2011).
This festival, which started as a way to increase camaraderie between students in the residence halls and to compete with activities of the Greek organizations, continues today in much the same fashion as it was conceived. Mabel Strong, director of the Putnam Hall dormitory since 1962, was a member of the KSU Association of Residence Halls and the Midwest Affiliate of College and University Residence Halls which sponsored the first Spring Fling in 1966 under her direction (Putnam Hall RESPECT Agreement Guide, 2008-2009). Spring Fling is now sponsored by the K-State Association of Residence Halls
On April 15, 1966 the college newspaper, The Collegian, reported:
Wildcat and Kitten to Reign Halls, Initiate Spring Fling
Though spring officially began March 20, K-State's own Spring Fling will begin Monday. That date will mark the beginning of Spring Fling Week, being sponsored by the K-State Association of Residence Halls for independent students. Spring Fling Week, a first here, will give 3,000 dorm residents and other independents a chance to "fling"… Candidates for "Wildcat" and "Wildkitten" will be presented during the hootenanny Monday afternoon…The elected Wildcat and Wildkitten will be announced at a leadership banquet in Kramer Food Center Tuesday. …assistant dean of women will speak on ... Thursday. Friday night, all women's dorms will provide music for dancing and refreshments. Saturday's activities include games, balloon fights, tug of war, a hootenanny and a bed race [that] … will cover more than two miles. The six beds entered will match teams of four boys pushing decorated beds containing four girls each. Awards will be given to the first bed across the finish line and also to the most unique bed. "Spring Fling Week" will end with a dance at Derby Food Center…

The 1972 yearbook, Royal Purple, describes the purpose of the event by saying “Spring Fling events brighten second semester. Water balloons thrown at helpless riders to drench them and the bed they're on as they were raced around the course…It’s a week for students to forget all their problems and just have a good time. It's a time when students can get involved with other students and do things they normally wouldn’t do. And nobody cares what anybody thinks about anybody else because they're all doing the same wild and crazy things. It's a totally relaxed time for meeting new people and “just being yourself.”
It is likely, however, that Spring Fling influences other persons than residence hall students because some of the events invite observers from beyond the dormitory student population. The main artifact of the event and the longest tradition is the bed race which travels through campus, onto the city streets of Manhattan, Kansas through the Aggieville district (an adjacent commercial area of bookstores, night clubs and bars) and concludes by Danforth Chapel. Townspersons line the street to watch as contestant go by. Indeed, in my hometown of Topeka, Kansas (50 miles away) the bed race is annually featured on the local news and in the city newspaper. Kuh & Whitt (1988) would probably describe the bed race and the bed as artifacts, in that the vehicle (a bed with 6” wheels) is fabricated just for this event and the event is emblematic of Spring Fling. Kuh & Whitt (1988) go on to say that after identifying an artifact, it is harder to determine how “the nested patterns of assumptions and beliefs represented by the artifact influence the behavior of individuals and groups over time” (p. 23). If one sees K-State as a repository of farm kids experiencing freedom (and sexual liberation) in an urban environment for the first time, then the experience of coeds abed unabashedly street racing and the associated artifacts are influenced by the zeitgeist of the era- the pendulum of changing sensibilities. Indeed, although Spring Fling has largely been well- received, interest did lag in the 1990’s, then gradually regain its stature as a significant tradition. Regardless, Spring Fling still remains relevant to today’s students.

Ethnological Research and Subjectivity

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks- Author Skloot and Her Subjectivity(
COPYRIGHT © 2011 MIKAEL POWELL. All Rights Reserved)-DRAFT
Introduction

I do remember from my courses in qualitative research and information gathering, about observer bias and the lens that researchers have which is based upon their race, gender, life experiences, passions and other things. Even our assumptions influence our perception (Silverman, 2006). However, I think that the issue of subjectivity in regard to this book, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” does not concern me because of three major reasons. I consider the audience to whom the book was written, the narrative style of the book, and reader’s inherent ways of justifying this genre of literature.

Firstly, this book was directed to and arguably written for a population more general than the research community. The author writes that the desire was to “send the book into the world” (Skloot, 2009, p.335). Thus, to make the book more assessable might mean to make the book less rigid in regard to research-level justifications of researcher objectivity. Indeed, a more scientific literary work would list areas of possible bias at the beginning. Skloot says that she will leave it to “scholars and experts in the field” (2009, p. x) to cover those areas outside of the purpose of the book.

Secondly, the written style of the book promotes a third party omnificent storyteller. To cast doubt on the narrator and provide the idea and background information to question subjectivity would taint content and set up another dynamic -considering and reconsidering the validity of the story. Skloot does describe her book as a work of non-fiction, but it is a narrative nonetheless.

Lastly, readers constantly justify their belief in the story, without need for more information on the author to assess subjectivity. Although the book is carefully and thoroughly edited and fact-checked by many experts, every reader sets how much poetic license they can tolerate and still believe it to be a work of non-fiction. For instance, Skloot writes “On the nights Day works, Henrietta and Sadie would wait until the door slammed, count to one hundred…” (2009, p. 42). It does not seem rational to believe that Henrietta and Sadie did this ritual every single time, and readers face the choice of believing whether they ever did it at all. Perhaps the perceived characters of Henrietta and Sadie were such that they may have been capable of that routine. The author gives no citation for this passage in the ‘Notes’ section, so readers must justify their acceptance of this being a work of non-fiction. Although most of the book is event-driven, it is more troubling to me when the author writes, during a discussion on human biological material, “How you should feel about all this isn’t obvious.” (Skloot, 2009, p.319). The sentence phrasing makes me feel that the author is overreaching. Should this sentence read ‘how the majority of persons feel, based upon published research” instead of ‘you’?

Regardless, I feel comfortable that that overwhelming focus of the book is away from the author and any personal biases she may harbor.

References:
Skloot, R. (2009). The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks. New York, NY: Crown Publishers.
Silverman, D. (2006). Interpreting qualitative data (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE. (ISBN: 9781412922456).

Higher Education Facility Post-Occupancy Evaluation for Students

Creating a Higher Education Facility Post-Occupancy Evaluation that Considers the Contemporary Student (with Deference to the Sub-population of Arts and Design Students)(COPYRIGHT © 2011 MIKAEL POWELL. All Rights Reserved)-DRAFT
Introduction


Concerns about the effectiveness of buildings and methods of their evaluation were traditionally addressed in research (especially the environment- behavior studies of environmental psychologists beginning in the 1970s as documented in 2006 and 2007 by Pol) and by an architectural assessment called a Post-Occupancy Evaluations or POE (Preiser, Rabinowitz & White, 1988). In the latter, evaluation criteria are generally determined apart from the users of the space. Increasingly, building evaluations are highlighting strengths and deficiencies by modifying the framework of conventional POE models. I propose that the common contemporary post-occupancy evaluation, framed by the institutional authority and charged to find a quantitative answer to building performance is inadequate to gauge the experience of the built environment by the users of the space – the faculty and students. Political, social and cultural aspects of the environment – the personal truths experienced by each individual are not voiced within conventional POEs. This concern is especially cogent when one considers the evaluation of a new post-secondary arts or design school within the purview of a larger university and administration. Therefore, a revised document must be developed to evaluate the building in alignment with the values of the users of the school.
In the following, I review the traditional method of post-occupancy building assessment. Secondly, I outline that which is valued by contemporary college students in regard to their educational experience as derived by survey information and research. Thirdly, I offer how that contrasts or coincides with the subpopulation of arts and design students. Finally, I provide concluding remarks.
The Traditional Method of Assessment A Post-occupancy evaluation is a common, thorough, methodical way of evaluating the room or building after it has been in use. A POE is very much a progressive document and relatively contemporary method (originating around the 1960s in America) to determine whether architectural decisions made by design professionals are delivering the performance intended as evaluated by those who use the building. These assessments provide several benefits including the identification of spatial problems and successes, the opportunity for user involvement and the establishment of prototypical spaces. Preiser, Rabinowitz and White (1988) describe the intent of a POE: as “to compare systematically and rigorously the actual performance of buildings with explicitly stated performance criteria; the difference between the two constitutes the evaluation” (pp. 3, 4). Since the latter 1980s in America, the performance method concept has been widely employed as the foundation of the evaluation. Performance criteria are usually developed by the university administration (in response to their goals for the institution); the post-occupancy evaluator determines performance measures (Please see appendix A for an example of a simple evaluation form).
Performance measures are either quantitative or qualitative. Some aspects of the building examination e.g., the amount of lighting or the performance of building elements and mechanical systems are computable and comparative. Characteristics of the analysis that solicit user opinions of security, comfort, aesthetics, etc. are qualitative portions of the evaluation.
It is important to note the subjectivity of the process (see Figure 1 for an illustration of the Performance model). Actual building ratings are dependent upon the performance criteria developed by university administrators. The performance, derived directly from values the university deems important, are not necessarily the values of the evaluator or the primary users of the space. Moreover, the building evaluation
result is reliant upon the goals of the evaluator and the performance measures developed to test the criteria.
In addition, since the performance criteria and performance measures are not developed by the users, it is important to critically consider the consequences of false positive or false negative ratings. If an evaluation of a university space is inaccurate, then who will gain and who will loose? Thus, a major concern about the effectiveness of traditional post-occupancy evaluations is that the institution often commissions the POE. Values of the school administration frame the evaluation (Preiser, Rabinowitz & White, 1988) and the university hierarchy itself serves as the primary recipient of the information (Hewitt, et al. 2005). Therefore, it is important to understand the chief users of the facility- the students, and determine that which is valued by the student population when one develops the building evaluation.
Demographic information on typical college students
Who are the contemporary students in general?
When considering the makeup of students in post-secondary educational institutions it is important to distinguish between assumptions of student populations by the institution, student assumptions about their educational experience, and the actual demographic statistics concerning college coeds.
Many research studies have verified the general disparity between the institutions expectations and assumptions of college students and actual conditions. Barefoot (2000) describe how the institution’s expectations are highlighted in the design of programs developed to stop the attrition of freshman in universities. Many of the administrators still had the view of incoming freshmen as similar to when they had attended college many years previous. Barefoot (2000) noted that the foundation of those programs still had “the same basic structure that was designed for a population of white, middle- or upper-class males who constituted the vast majority of college students until the last two decades of this century”(p.12).
But, students too, have assumptions about their future educational life and support that are not in line with their subsequent experience. The College Student Experiences Questionnaire Assessment (CSEQ) and the College Student Expectations Questionnaire (CSEQ), both administered by the Center for Postsecondary Research, examine the amount of effort students expend in their post-secondary education and student goals, respectively. Findings indicate that students, who thought they would never use the library as a silent place to study, actively did so more than three times as much as expected; likewise, students who thought they would use the library to study often, actually used it half as much.
In reality, there are several facts about student college populations, especially in regard to race, age, gender, politics, volunteerism, and alcohol use.
The US Census Bureau reports the rising number of non-white citizens in the United States. By the year 2051, Whites will be about half the population, with Hispanics at a quarter and African Americans about 15%. This represents a reversal of the positions of Hispanic and African Americans since 1980. Likewise, the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics (2009) reports increasing enrollment of minority students: “In 1976, 15 percent were minorities, compared with 32 percent in 2007. Much of the change from 1976 to 2007 can be attributed to rising numbers of Hispanic and Asian or Pacific Islander students…The percentage of Black students was 9 percent at the beginning of the time period and it fluctuated…before rising to 13 percent in 2007” USDENCES, 2007.
The number of male and female coeds has changed since the early to mid nineteen seventies. At that time males outnumbered females, but the male population was rising at a low rate. The number of female students on campus in second and fourth year post-secondary institutions overtook the male students around 1977. Since then, the rate of female students has increased, widening the gap between male and female students on campus. (See figure 2 below).

The traditionally aged student (18 - 24 years old) currently makes up about 59.4% of the total college enrollment. That number is expected to grow at 16% until 2014. When one considers undergraduate students, only 67.3% were 24 years old or younger in 2003. In contrast, in 1970 69.2% of all enrollments were by traditional-aged students (NCES, 2005). It is likely that growth in student populations of 25 – 29 year old college students is from recent graduates continuing on to higher degrees.
Nowadays 32.9% of in-coming college students label the political scene in America as “very important” compared to the lowest recorded the involvement of 28.1% in 2000 or 31.4% in 2002. The number of freshmen calling themselves “conservative” increased from 20.7% to 21.3% between 2000 and 2002; and those identifying themselves as “liberal” decreased from 29.9% to 27.8% in that same time frame. Students claiming to be centrists grew slightly from 49.5% to 50.8% between 2000 and 2002.
Volunteerism for college students has increased to the highest level recorded at 82.6% currently. The all time low was 66% in 1989.
While the medium a portrait college students and it’s being unbridled partiers, statistics indicate a decline in beer drinking to 46.5% in 2002, the lowest recorded record. The highs record was 73.7% in the early 1980’s. Likewise, consumption of other alcoholic beverages is down as well.
What comprises the general contemporary student and what does him or her value?
To examine the complexity of the typical college student it is useful to consider general student characteristics to examine contemporary coed values and expectations and review the psychological makeup of students.
Every generation can be characterized by their lived experience and similar traits (Coomes & DeBard, 2004), (Coomes, 2004). The generation of students currently in college was largely born in the late 1980’s or early 1990’s in an area labeled as the “Millennial’s”. Besides sharing similar traits they also have a shared history. This generation, the largest in U.S. history, grew up with MTV and has a deal with the aftermath of 9/11 as adolescents or young children. In regards to student values toward education, administration, and evaluation, deBard (2004) characterizes the Millennial generation as cherishing a committed loyalty to institutions, a system in which there is accountability and feedback on demand. (See Table 1 which compares values between generational traits). Likewise, Richard Sweeney, University Librarian, New Jersey Institute of Technology, 2006 indicate that contemporary students value more flexibility for their convenience and more options to choose.
When considering the whole student, Perry (2003) informs that "the first year of college is a transitional period in students' lives in which psychological control is diminished or undermined due to the emphasis on success/failure, heightened academic competition, increased pressure to excel, frequent academic failures, unfamiliar academic tasks, new social networks, and critical career choices" (p. 316). Perry and other researchers have studied the effects of the location of perceived control- whether students felt that their educational outcomes were controlled by them or beyond their control. Lavender, et. al (2010) showed that the typical student exhibited better “task-persistence, affect , motivation, and creativity” (p211) when they had an enhanced attribution of personal control.
Who is the typical students in the subpopulation of Arts and Design coeds and how does that contrasts or coincides with the larger population?
The Higher Education Arts Data Services Art And Design Data Summaries (HEADS) 2009-2010 solicits information from American post-secondary arts and design schools. Their findings indicate that:
A. Nine post-secondary arts and design institutions graduated a total of 396 Doctoral Students. Among these were:
3 Black, non-Hispanic male
6 Black, non-Hispanic female
1 American Indian or Alaskan Native males
2 American Indian or Alaskan Native female
0 Pacific Islander males
0 Pacific Islander females
11 Hispanic or Latino males
9 Hispanic or Latino female
75 White, non-Hispanic males
190 White, non-Hispanic females
10 Asian males
29 Asian females
18 males of other race or unknown ethnicity
42 females of other race or unknown ethnicity”
Total 396 graduates

Females are 71%
Whites are 67%

B. 122 institutions graduated a total of 2,989 Master of Fine Arts Among these were:
30 Black, non-Hispanic male
40 Black, non-Hispanic female
10 American Indian or Alaskan Native males
5 American Indian or Alaskan Native female
2 Pacific Islander males
3 Pacific Islander females
71 Hispanic or Latino males
91 Hispanic or Latino female
821 White, non-Hispanic males
938 White, non-Hispanic females
95 Asian males
187 Asian females
288 males of other race or unknown ethnicity
408 females of other race or unknown ethnicity
Total 2,989
Females are 58%
Whites are 59%

C. 298 institutions reported the following 174,373 students in arts and design school now (by percentage):
2.3 Black, non-Hispanic male
2.8 Black, non-Hispanic female
0.2 American Indian or Alaskan Native males
0.4 American Indian or Alaskan Native female
0.1 Pacific Islander males
0.2 Pacific Islander females
2.9 Hispanic or Latino males
4.7 Hispanic or Latino female
19.7 White, non-Hispanic males
38.4 White, non-Hispanic females
3.2 Asian males
5.9 Asian females
7.7 males of other race or unknown ethnicity
11.4 females of other race or unknown ethnicity”

It is important to note that like the general population of students, arts and design students have a higher percentage of female students although they are less prevalent in the Master’s program. The Department of Education had the racial- ethnic distribution in college enrollment in 2007 - 2008 at about 67% for White/non- Hispanic which is larger than the arts school enrollment in 2009-2010, which is 58.1% but matches the graduate doctoral student’s gender mix. The U.S. department of education in the 2007- 2008 school year lists the percentage of minority males to total college enrollment as Black, non-Hispanic male- about 4.9%, Hispanic or Latino males – about 5.1% and Asian males- about 3.1% . An arts and design schools have much lower male minority enrollments for each of the groups mentioned except Asian males. Statistics from the College Arts Association confirms increased enrollments in arts curriculums, although the total number of students majoring in art is only about 5.5% of the total population.
What is valued by the subpopulation of Arts and Design students in regard to their educational experience and how does that contrasts or coincides with the larger population?

To study the personal goals of art and design students one must look at their values and expectations as they differ from the general college population. Lavender (2010) states “College art instructors, like their colleagues in other disciplines, routinely cite phenomena such as student non-responsiveness to instruction, sinking motivation, and under-preparedness (i.e., insufficient academic or behavioral qualities”( p. 199). Likewise, due to the cut-back in art training in secondary and elementary schools, students may enter college with a greater assumption of their skills and unreasonable expectations of academic success.
Conclusion

There must be institutional responsibility to assess educational facilities, taking into account the make-up and values of college students. Grannis (1994) points out instances in which effective inquiry would aid in the design of successful spaces for higher education. A review of the Yale University Arts and Architecture building in 1987 gave many examples of a building not designed to fit the behavior of the inhabitants and how the students retaliated by vandalizing, defecating, trashing and eventually trying to burn down the facility.
There are other types of existing building reviews. Pomona College was listed in Princeton Review’s The Best 371 Colleges, 2010 edition as best in the nation for its classroom environment. A student remarked on its “state-of-the-art facilities”. Princeton Review evaluates university facilities in categories of: a). Housing- coed dorms or same-sex dorms; accessibility to handicapped; b). Special academic facilities /equipment-
Percentage of Computers in classrooms, dooms, library, dining areas; percentage of wireless networks. The Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design creates profile sheets of essential information for prospective students to evaluate for all the art schools within its purview yet there is no mention of the facilities and the value that might bring to students.
A post- occupancy evaluation to solicit information about the likes and dislikes of the facility that considers students, might query about matters that concern student values and include the following:
1. Are the common spaces arranged in a manner that promotes community-building?
2. Does the art facility and its spaces support my level of trust for the institution? Is the layout straight-forward or misleading?
3. Does the educational space allow me to do meaningful work in class, or am I constantly moving chairs and equipment or reconfiguring the learning environment to facilitate classroom activities?
4. Are there internet and virtual classroom capabilities everywhere on the grounds of the campus?
5. Does the classroom and overall facility layout contribute to my sense of being in control of my educational outcomes?
6. Does the classroom and facility layout project institutional control? Are rooms and corridors positioned to monitor participants in spaces?
7. Is there a hierarchy of accoutrements or amenities that serves to indicate the ‘nicer’ parts of the building and label my position in the institution?
8. Is the Post-Occupancy Evaluation administered in a way that allow for access to answer 24 hours a day/ 7 days a week online within a determined evaluation period?
9. Does the Post-Occupancy evaluation offer an ombudsman option that allows me to give constant feedback whenever I want after initial building questions are submitted?
10. Does the facility have integrity? Is the design trying to project an image that it is not?
Rhatigan & Schuh (2003) wrote an article in which they described how little interactions with students where faculty and administration extend themselves to support, encourage or listen to their concerns, have the potential to make great changes in student’s lives. They describe these opportunities as “small wins”. A post-occupancy evaluation can be a diminutive way to give students some control of their environment and demonstrate that their opinion is valued. Part of asking about their likes and dislikes of the facility is considering the issues that they value when it is not the same as the creators or initiators of the building evaluation. Rhatigan & Schuh state “small wins can produce results that are electrifying and, in some cases, life changing…What kind of campus environments are you creating that allow and support each student to feel comfortable in his/her “skin”? What “small wins” are you creating?” (2003, pp.425–426).


References
Barefoot, B. (2000) The first-year experience: Are we making it any better? About Campus, January–February, p. 12–18.

The Coomes & DeBard (2004). A Generational Approach to Understanding Students. In Coomes and DeBard, Serving the Millennial Generation. New Directions for Student Services, n106 p5-16.

Coomes (2004). Understanding the Historical and Cultural Influences that Shape Generations. In Coomes and DeBard, Serving the Millennial Generation. New Directions for Student Services, n106 p17-31.

Grannis, P. (1994). Post occupancy evaluation: An avenue for applied environment-behavior research in planning practice. Journal of Planning Literature, 9, 2, 210-219.

Hewitt, D., Higgins, C., Heatherly, P. & Turner, C.(2005). A market-friendly post-occupancy evaluation: Building performance report. White Salmon, Washington: New Buildings Institute.

Lavender, R., Nguyen-Rodriguez, S. and Spruijt-Metz, D. (2010) Teaching the whole student: Perceived academic control in college art instruction. Studies in Art Education, Spring, 51, 3 pp. 198─218.

National Center for Education Statistics (2004h). Digest of Education
Statistics, 2004: Table 173 [Data file]. Available from National Center
for Education Statistics Web site, http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/
d04/tables/dt04_173.asp.

Perry, R.(200 3). Perceived (academic) control and causal thinking in achievement settings. Canadian Psychologist. 44, 312-33 1.

Pol, E.(2006). Blueprints for a history of environmental psychology (I): From First Birth to American Transition. Medio Ambiente y Comportamiento Humano, 7, 2, 95-113.
Pol, E. (2007). Blueprints for a history of environmental psychology (II): From architectural psychology to the challenge of sustainability. Medio Ambiente y Comportamiento Humano, 8., 1y2, 1 – 28.

Preiser, W. ,Rabinowitz, H., White, E. (1988). Post-occupancy evaluation. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.


Preiser, W. ,Rabinowitz, H., White, E.(2005). Building performance assessment-from POE to BPE, a personal perspective. Architectural Science Review, 48, 3, 201-205.

Rhatigan, J. and Schuh J.(2003) The first-year experience: Are we making it any better? About Campus, March -April, p. 17–22.
(COPYRIGHT © 2011 MIKAEL POWELL. All Rights Reserved)-DRAFT

Perceived Academic Control in College Art Instruction

An Evaluation of
"Teaching the Whole Student:
Perceived Academic Control in College Art Instruction"
By Lavender, Nguyen-Rodriguez and Spruijt-Metz
(COPYRIGHT © 2011 MIKAEL POWELL. All Rights Reserved)-DRAFT

Introduction:
The facts are sobering that less that half of all colleges students finish their degree and only about two thirds of undergraduates continue to their second year. While some professors attribute that to student generational characteristics, a group of psychologists look to psychosocial research for answers. This article promotes attribution theory as a guideline to develop pedagogical practices to support student well-being and increase matriculation to the second year.
This paper review the article, Teaching the Whole Student: Perceived Academic Control in College Art Instruction, and then analyzes the type of research, purpose, key findings and usefulness of the research. Afterwards, I offer concluding remarks.
Summary of research:
Lavender, Nguyen-Rodriguez & Spruijt-Metz (2010) contends that faculty often expresses concern about the attitude of freshmen students. They find many students unenthusiastic, unmotivated and not ready for the rigors of college art instruction. Although it may be said that cutbacks in elementary and secondary art programs may have rendered underclassmen less experienced in art-making, these authors look to improve the psychosocial makeup of students as a solution. Specifically, through tenets of attribution, self-efficacy and motivation theories, they research student’s feelings of control over their environment and events. Lavender, et al (2010) explain that
“Motivation theory is critical in influencing learning behavior and is especially important in breaking a self-perpetuating cycle of low performance exhibited by many under-prepared students…Self-efficacy refers to students' beliefs about their capabilities to produce designated levels of performance that exercise influence over events that affect their lives…Attribution theory focuses on the reasons students give for their successes and failures” (p. 200).
The latter theory, which is concerned with justifications for events, is based upon research on locus of control (LC), which differentiates between students’ expectations that occurrences happen under their control (internal), or beyond their control (external).
There are many different techniques to measure LC, which are widely employed in psychosocial research. Specific categorizations, such as perceived academic control (PAC), rates students’ belief in their ability to affect scholastic outcomes. Several studies link students with high PAC, those exhibiting a strong belief in their ability to control their academic outcomes (internal), as more motivated to succeed and students with low PAC, those thinking that their academic success is managed by fate or other people in power, as far less inclined to perform. This finding is especially prescient for college art students because Lavender, et. al (2010) states “creativity has been positively correlated to internal LC; internals tend to score higher on specific factors of creativity, and may be more likely to find happiness in the process of creative ideation”(p. 201). Lavendar et.al. conducted this research to study attributional retraining (AR) to support students with high external LC. “For those students who agree more often with external control statements, it allows the instructor to suggest the value of "behaving like an internal" if they wish to succeed in college” (Dollinger, 2000, p. 539).
Lavender, Nguyen-Rodriguez and Spruijt-Metz conducted research with 244 college art and design students and 22 faculty members. The instructors were trained in the following methods: “(1) Openly discussing the LC/PAC concepts in classes. (2) Reinforcing student behaviors consistent with internal/high LC/PAC. (3) Assisting students who demonstrated behaviors consistent with externality.(4) Modeling for students how to "behave like internals" (Dollinger, 2000, p. 539). Students were accessed for LC/PAC before, during and after the experimentation. In addition, students participated in structured focus groups on the topic. Research findings indicate “a significant number of foundation students revealed external/low control attributions at baseline, and the percentage of those indicating externality did rise by the end of the first term. Yet instructional intervention appears successfully to have stabilized this shift, and then reversed it, in the second term. Correspondingly, student academic performance improved, mid-year attrition fell to less than half its prior trending rate, and yearend attrition also dropped significantly” Lavender, et. al, 2000, pp.209-11).
Type of research
This is a research study that is published in the journal, Studies in Art Education. It is a professionally refereed publication that is issued quarterly by the National Art Education Association. This journal includes research and articles of interest in the fields of education, psychology, anthropology, philosophy and sociology. The article begins with a literature review of relevant material concerning freshman college art students, and then provides experimentation to support its posit on programs to support positive psychosocial development in students. Their research includes analysis of questionnaires and focus group findings.
Purpose of Article:
This article was written to promote and encourage methods that support the psychosocial well being of students as a means to keep them in school. It enlightens readers about matriculation studies and offers a solution, supported by their experimental results. This research is probably written for professor’s because it advocates for teaching methods that supplement existing pedagogical practices, as opposed to being written for administrators to create new policies.
Key Findings and Presentation of Data:
The research finds that adopting these teaching methods supports student cognitive health and is a factor in matriculating to the next year. The article points out that oftentimes there is a generational divide between the “millennial” student and the “baby-boomer” professor. Lavender, Nguyen-Rodriguez and Spruijt-Metz say “such faculty impressions might be dismissed as simply a form of generational whining about "kids today; but they are based on observation, they arise from genuine concern, and they should not be ignored” (2010, p. 199). This article extends the discussion beyond conventional acceptance. The information is laid out in a straightforward way, with supporting data in the appendix and the figures are particularly clear and compelling. Figure 1 below graphically illustrates the basis of their argument, showing result with and without intervention.
Usefulness and Effectiveness:
This article is very relevant to our coursework because it studies the condition of college students in arts and design programs in a way that acknowledges contemporary assumptions, and offers theory and supportive research. It acknowledges that individual professors can adopt the pedagogical practices it proposes as a supplement to their existing manner of instruction. Thus, it is likely to increase action research for this issue.
Conclusions:
This research article is timely, straightforward and written to its intended population. The lead author is the interim co-Provost at Otis College of Art and Design and his expertise as an administrator and eduator in the Arts and design field, brings credibilty to the report. The other authors are doctors at the University of Southern California. This article explores and enlightens while offerng the tools for other professor to try the methodologies in their classroom. I am sure that students will be the benficiary of this research and it may support their advancement to sophomore year.

References:
Dollinger, S.(2000). Locus of control and incidental learning: An application to college student success. College Student Journal, Dec, 34, 4, pp. 537─ 540.

Lavender, R., Nguyen-Rodriguez, S. and Spruijt-Metz, D. (2010) Teaching the whole student: Perceived academic control in college art instruction. Studies in Art Education, Spring, 51, 3 pp. 198─218.

What Influences Post-Secondary Art School Design?

(COPYRIGHT © 2011 MIKAEL POWELL. All Rights Reserved)-DRAFT OUTLINE-

Introduction
This research assesses university arts and design facilities to determine significant factors that affect the design of the built learning environment. Specifically, I explore the influence of learning theories, curriculum, and the goals of arts and arts education on spatial design. I review contemporary learning theories relevant to art instruction by studying literature to discover prevailing views and controversies, surveying key stakeholders in active art school design projects and then, relating that to the physical environment. I examine curriculum design implications by reviewing the history of curriculum for arts and design in America and analyzing pre-construction documents of proposed art school facilities. To discover the aims of arts and arts education, I survey the views of the experts in the field, and review public documents announcing art school projects. Finally, I summarize the key findings of my work.

Learning Theories Relevant to Art Instruction and Designing the Built Environment
There are many theories to explain student learning and nearly as many ways to categorize these frameworks of acquiring knowledge. Some theorists may sort them into categories of behavioralism, cognitivism and constructivism, or variations and combinations of these approaches. Each theory provides a way to explain how students learn and thus, prescribe effective teaching methods. It is important to consider these categories as poles within a spider graph, rather than as distinctly separate entities. Reigeluth (1996c) explains that we accept the notion that rehearsals (with commentary), make learning a new skill more successful. “Behaviorists recognized this, and called them…practice with feedback. Cognitivists also recognized this, but…give them different names, such as cognitive apprenticeship and scaffolding…An analysis of instruction designed by some radical constructivists reveals a plentiful use of these very instructional strategies” (p.2). Since there is a plethora of paradigms that posit how students learn in arts or design curricula, it is important to review these theories with two considerations. First, one must assess how the basic tenets of a learning theory affect the design of the physical environment. Secondly, researchers must regard each theory without prejudice, because in most cases, all stakeholders (each possessing particular views on student learning) have the ability to affect the design of the facility in some way.

Learning Theories in Literature
Behavioralist learning theories associate actions that demonstrate the acquisition of knowledge. These acts can be observed, measured, and analyzed in relation to a stimulus and reaction. Individuals’ thought processes and internal interactions are less important. The environment plays an important role in shaping learning in association with the interval in which a student is rewarded and the effectiveness of reinforcement. Operant conditioning, as described by B. F. Skinner, where a conditioned response receives a conditioned reward, is analogous to behavioralism characteristics of teaching and learning where the studious are rewarded by good grades (positive reinforcement) or meaningful class participation and attendance supplants the requirement to write a research paper (negative reinforcement). In general, behavioralism espouses a teacher-centered approach whereby experts package information in portions with behavioral objectives and measurable tasks.
Cognitive learning approaches generally explore the brain and memory processes as agents to explain how students learn, extending the reason for behavior beyond the stimulus/reaction framework of behavioralism. These theories recognize an individuals' existing knowledge, or schema, and how that is expanded or amended by new information. In addition, internal processes of committing items to short-term memory, long-term memory and its availability for use are part of this philosophical framework. It is important to note that our focus is college-level students and thus, cognitive approaches utilized are beyond the Piagetian early stages of development. In general, cognitive learning theories espouse a teacher-centered approach in which the sage instructor packages information in portions to facilitate the encoding, sorting and retrieval of information.
Hein’s (2002) description of constructivism states that learners create their truths from the world around them and although knowledge can be wholly personal, there is a universality of shared perceptions. Constructivism teaching methodologies may employ independent work, cooperative learning and group lecture within the same lesson plan. Beck’s (1997) discussion of contemporary education includes a democratic philosophy with a student-instructor relationship that is dialogical and downplays the role and authority of the professor. This is much in alignment with Freire’s remarks that “through dialogue a new term emerges--teacher student with students-teachers. The students, while being taught, also teach. They become jointly responsible for a process in which all grow" (1970, p. 67).
There are many models of how learning occurs within a constructivist paradigm. Powell & Kalina (2009) argues that a good teacher must differentiate between many methods to accommodate learning for students in a constructivist classroom. “In cognitive constructivism, ideas are constructed in individuals through a personal process, as opposed to social constructivism where ideas are constructed through interaction with teacher and other students” (p. 241).
Other relevant models of learning for arts and design education are apprenticeship, communities of practice and self-regulation theory. An apprenticeship model of learning is founded in a traditional concept of learning by doing and by observing a Master teacher. In addition, learners benefit from association to the physical environment and discourse of an area of study. The communities of practice model emphasizes the social nature of our humanity and acquisition of knowledge. Skills are learned in reference to social attitudes, and learning contributes to our ability participate in the community and engage in the world. The self-regulation model focuses on “students’ self-generated thoughts, feelings, and actions, which are systematically oriented toward attainment of their goals” (Zimmerman, 1994, p.ix).

The Effect of Learning Theories on the Design of Environments for Learning
If one were to subscribe to the maxim, “form follows function”, coined by architect Louis Sullivan (1947), then it would follow that the design of learning environments should be congruous with the particular concept of how students learn. Straits & Wilke (2007) describe models of teaching as having either a transmission or participatory approach. (See Figures 1 and 2 below.) They remark that in “participatory classrooms students, manipulatives and

Figures 1 and 2. Straits, W. & Wilke, R. (2007) p.59.
problems are central; whereas in transmission-based classrooms the instructor and his/her words are the focus” (Straits & Wilke, 2007, p.59). Rengel (2007) states that architectural designers rely upon functional focus as an important component of spatial design to shape built learning environments. Rengel adds that
“most spaces have a functional focus. Depending on their nature, they may sometimes even have more than one. In most teaching classrooms, for instance, there is one main focus: the front of the room, where the lecturer stands. A restaurant, in contrast, may not have a single communal focal point, and instead may be designed to highlight each seating section so that each becomes and individual focus. An office space may have both an individual foci at the workstations and a central team-oriented area” ( 2007, pp. 73–4).
When describing the architecture for a teacher-focused approach in line with behavoralist and cognitive theories, Hebdige (1979), a cultural critic, states that “the hierarchical relationships between teacher and taught is inscribed in the very layout of the lecture theatre where the seating arrangements – benches rising in tiers before a raised lectern – dictate the flow of information and serve to ‘naturalize’ professorial authority” (p.13). Functionally, this layout supports a one-way “banking” model of education (Freire, 1970) and demonstrates the tacit power of physical elements in support of learning theories.
In regards to constructivism physical environments, Graetz and Goliber (2002) indicate how architectural layouts and furnishings can support constructivist thinking instead of traditional teacher-focused presentations. Graetz and Goliber (2002) note that successful universities will plan “for small groups of students gathered around tables and engaged in discussion. They will anticipate movement, not just of students and instructors, but of tables, chairs, white boards, data projection, and laptops” (p. 20). This environment encourages an individual group focus for cooperative learning strategies. Rashid (2008) prepared a white paper for furniture manufacturer Herman Miller, Inc to explore how furniture and arrangement in university classroom affect instructor and student behaviors and learning outcomes. His work utilized two prototypical classrooms – one laid out with desks in a traditional manner statically oriented toward the front of the room and an innovative room with moveable tables and chairs with castors. Rashid’s findings indicated that student perceptions of classroom experience were significantly improved in the innovative classroom. Rashid concludes however, that learning environments are complex systems so “it is necessary to explore more systematically other potential impacts any physical changes and their interactions may have on learning outcomes” (p. 29).
The functional focus for a learning environment that values the apprenticeship model might highlight the main work area while spaces designed in line with communities of practice theory might generally focus on several group interaction areas. Designers for learning spaces commensurate with self-regulation theory may have individual focus areas.

Survey of the Learning Theories Valued by Key Stakeholders
Three universities were contacted and offered participation in the online survey conducted from February 9, 2011 to February 28, 2011. Participants consisted of art department faculty (full-time and adjunct) and administration, university or college administration building committeepersons, and the architectural team (See appendix B). I conferred with university administration and sent an email that was forwarded to major stakeholders asking for participation in the survey. Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, working with Bruner/Cott Architects, is currently in the pre-design stage to construct a new art school building to house the Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University. Rhode Island College is in the design process with RGB Architects, to renovate and expand their existing art center. The University of Wyoming and architect, Malone Belton Abel, PA are in the beginning stages of building a new visual arts center.
I conducted this survey to determine the learning theory valued by each of the stakeholders for each course type. Etmer & Newby (1993), posited that student prior knowledge of the area of study and the degree of cognitive processing required to learn the lesson, can dictate the teaching methods of which is most effective. Therefore, I solicited opinions of introductory and advanced courses, first year courses and upper-class courses (See Figure 3 below).

I asked about the model of learning that most matched the respondent, instead of inquiring about a specific learning theory in reference to one’s concept of teaching methods, because Yang, Chang & Hsu (2008) found that “that the elements of constructivist teaching could not be defined because constructivism is a theory of learning, not a theory of teaching” (p. 528). Although the research of Yang, et al. was concerned with pre-college teaching, they highlighted the importance of personal epistemological beliefs to effective support of constructivist teaching methods (Yang, Chang & Hsu, 2008). I also queried was whether there are significant differences between stakeholders and the foundation of their choice of favored learning theory. In addition, I asked whether their values for learning were theories long-held, or have they changed over time.
Findings indicate…..Curriculum and its Design Implications
The art school curriculum, and subsequently, instructional design and pedagogical practice are important programming information in the design of educational spaces. To understand the basis of contemporary curricula is for Arts and Design higher education in America, it is important to know how the history of art instruction influences contemporary curricula.
History
When we explore curriculum in an historic context, we note that art schools did not always exist in their present form. There were workshops in ancient times (about the fifth century B.C.) and Rome and Greece both had technical instruction in painting, sculpture and music (Elkins, 2001). Centers of study similar to our educational institutions today were not established until about the twelfth or thirteenth centuries. These early universities were formal and exclusive, and artists were not trained within the university system. Rather, they were instructed in workshops, after having come from either grammar school or directly from their homes. Elkins (2001) observed that. “students spent two or three years as apprentices, often “graduating” from one master to another, and then joined the local painter’s guild and began to work for a master as a “journeyman-apprentice””(p. 7). While there was a movement in the twelfth century to elevate their craft to a profession, that initiative suffered because most artists had no formal training in the curriculum of their more formally educated peers. That is, artists did not formally study grammar, rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music. Not until the Renaissance were academies established to elevate the status of artists, rebelling against the traditions of the universities, where subjects were taught outside of what had been established as the university curriculum. These academies were informal places where students learned to “speak, write, and act in a proper and noble manner. Poems were read, plays were put on, music was performed, and what we know call “study groups” got together to discuss them” (Elkins, 2001, p. 8). The first public art academy, the Accademia del Disegno, was established by Giorgio Vasari in 1562 in Florence, Italy. Rather than existing on a centralized campus, academy activities occurred in various buildings throughout the locale. Elkins (2001) explained the learning theory of the academy in this way: “Artists, it was thought, need a good eye and a good hand, but even before they develop those, they need mental principles to guide them: so “measured judgment” and a “conceptual foundation” must come before manual dexterity” (p.10). Thus, the first subjects taught to incoming students were geometry and anatomy, which supported the pedagogical practice of studying statues. The idea that “art requires balance between theory and practice” (Elkins, 2001) remains a prevalent notion in today’s art curricula. Conomos (2009) summarizes some of the history of art education and offers regrets for a contemporary shift by saying “Evolving from the guild system and mentorship under a “master,” education has moved toward reliance on a curriculum and the exposure of students to multiple voices in their training. The cult of the artist personality, who was professional first and teacher second that prevailed in the early sixties, has evolved into the professional teacher who presents part of a curriculum determined by a university or art school program.” (p. 124).
Curriculum Requirements in Art School Project Documents and Public Information
Lesley University is in the beginning stages of designing and building a new post-secondary art school. I reviewed their Pre-design documents to explore how the curriculum influences the design of the art school. Spaces are designed to accommodate the classroom requirements of courses in the art school curriculum as well as adjacencies to associated functions and the frequency of use [See appendix C, Archive File E44]. Also under consideration is the technology, type of presentation, lighting and acoustical privacy required. The curriculum requires space for the following programs: Art Institute of Boston Library, Photography, Gallery, Extra Art Program, 3D, Ceramic, Drawing, Painting, Printmaking, Art History, Design [See appendix C, Archive File C1]. In addition, it was outlined that the computer lab should not be near messy spaces, acoustically isolated labs are required for the multimedia teaching methods and lighting flexibility and different types are required [See appendix C, Archive File D4].
The University of Wyoming Visual Art Center will house faculty and administrative offices and visual arts programs. The new facility will allow for more space for classrooms and studios and will accommodate a new master’s degree program (LeClair, 2010). Journalist Di’Onofrio (2010) reports the facility will provide “spaces for art history, ceramics, drawing, foundations of art, graphics, painting, printmaking, sculpture… the ceramics area will have an exterior workspace for large gas-fired kilns… The sculpture space will have an exterior workspace for raw material storage, foundry for metal casting and construction of large work”. Studios will have a combination of natural and artificial lighting.
Likewise, the renovation and expansion of Rhode Island College’s art center will create adequate spaces for offices, studios and classrooms. A new slide library, photography and computer labs will be provided as well.
Adequate illumination, as required by the coursework, is an essential building design requirement. Hetland et al. (2007) explains how lighting for art instruction becomes a coursework element:
“Light is another tool teachers use to set atmospheres conducive to learning. In Kathleen’s portrait assignment, students each set an individual light source to create the strong values they were emphasizing in their charcoal drawings. Jim frequently changes the lighting for particular challenges and even during a single class. He pulls the shades, uses spotlights, turns overhead lights on or off, and occasionally lines the window shades with strings of small white lights. In addition to creating aesthetic interest, such variation emphasizes the strong influence of light on mood and encourages students to use it as an element in their artworks to express different attitudes and meanings with values” (Hetland et al., 2007, p. 16).

Discovering Goals of the Arts and Arts Education
The design of the built learning environment is shaped by expressed and unarticulated aims of the arts and of art instruction. The expressed intent of art and art making theory can be found in literature. Specific aims and values for an art facility are often found in its design documents and public pronouncements. Unarticulated goals may be discovered in a post-occupancy evaluation of the facility.
Survey of the Views found in Literature on the Aims of Art Schools
In the broader sense, a prominent goal of art schools is that they should be mission-driven to enrich themselves and the larger community. “Every school embodies an inheritance at least and at most is an invention rising out of its inheritance…I mean the transmission and transformation of a creed” (Madoff, 2009, p ix). Indeed, deDuve declares that “art schools must perpetuate art culture (the discourse, system of museums and contemporary art center, commercial galleries, public and private collectors, reviews, catalogs, institutions of cultural exposure and mediation) (deDuve, 2009, p.17)”. Therefore, they do not only enrich the greater community, but they should sustain the existence of art enterprises and impart the discourse of the arts community to new artists. “The art schools best suited to the current world – and, no doubt, the best schools—are those that deliberately underscore that they consider themselves part of the artworld establishment”(deDuve, 2009, p.17).
Yet another popular goal is for the art school is to foster individual growth. The program should guide students to their “unique voice” for life-long growth as artist, regardless of their potential commercial success.
Exposure to art is fundamental to art training. It is important to show students that exposure to art is relevant to their maturation as artists. “Many students lack confidence and skills in their engagement with museum collections. Helping them to identify the things that motivate them in their design work and indicating to students how the collections might be used to support these interests may improve students’ motivation to access museum collections. Similarly, making the experiences and stages within the design process visible to students and improving skills such as drawing may increase the range of ways in which students use the collections and may also help to improve confidence” (p. 110 Reading 2009).
Published Articles Announcing Post-Secondary Art School Projects
The following information concerning the administrative goals of the new art facilities are derived from newspaper and on-line press releases.
In 2010 the Wyoming state legislature approved funds to build a $25 million dollar, 83,750 square foot visual arts center (See Appendix A). This new facility consolidates art students and programs into one building and accommodates “an increasing student
enrollment, growth in studio areas, new technologies and expanding programs," says Ricki Klages, head of the UW Department of Art (.Di’Onofrio, 2010). Moreover, "Our close
proximity to the Centennial Complex will encourage more cross-over of exhibitions, visiting artists and students' use of the collections. We hope that…we can establish a hub of creativity”.
On Nov. 2, 2010, Rhode Islanders approved a higher education bond referendum that included $17 million to finance the renovation and expansion of Rhode Island College’s 52-year-old Art Center (See Appendix A). The project is now in the design phase. The published goals of the project are to centralize the arts programs into one facility, to improve the physical classroom and office environment, and to make the arts program more attractive to prospective students. A new art center will "increase the seriousness in which the
students regard their work," said William Martin, chair of RIC's Art Department. "It will help make them see themselves as professionals (Fusco, 2010)."
Documents from an Existing Art School in the Pre-Construction Phase
Lesley University (See Appendix A), in their programming documentation, list aims for their new art school and the culture that they hope to encourage. They listed the three key requirements that will affect how students, faculty, administrators, and staff interact with each other as organizing into work areas, which associate with various programs, locating all offices together and providing the opportunity for students in different majors to influence one another in senior studios. Moreover, they want to promote the maximum mixing of students, faculty, and entire community. Also, they intend to facilitate a strong connection to the art world for students, faculty and community participants [See appendix C, Archive File D39]. They included extensive goals for each program [See appendix C, Archive Files I47 – I49].
They also stated their aims that a strong public presence should be encouraged, they recognize that some spaces should be arranged for interdisciplinary use, there should be informal galleries throughout, and technology should be integrated on a personal level [See appendix C, Archive Files C14 –C15].
Design Implications
The design of university architecture can convey administrative intent and values. Goals for art schools such as to perpetuate art culture, become a part of the artworld establishment, foster individual growth or unify the department and programs can be expressed in the design and layout of spaces. Architect, Gary Moye (1994) describes the seven main elements that we experience in university architecture as coherence, variation, openness, light, comfort and longevity (See Figure 4). These elements can enrich a design tasked to create interactive spaces, community galleries or areas of introspection.
Conclusion
This research explores literature, public documents and surveys key stakeholders to determine significant factors that influence the design of the built learning environment for post-secondary arts and design schools. I reviewed the impact of learning theories, curriculum, and the aims and culture of arts and arts education on the design of spaces. Contemporary curricula are for Arts and Design higher education in America is partially derived from the guild system of ancient times and remnants of the academy structure originating in the mid 16th century. Throughout history some themes are constant – the struggle artists to be seen as professionals; questions about the need for supportive coursework outside of the art field; defining the relationship between the aesthetic and commercial; and the relationship of artists to the community. Some contemporary learning theories as well as controversies are born from popular zeitgeist and post-modern conceptions of constructivist approaches to knowledge as opposed to the traditional Apprenticeship model, but arts schools continue to evolve to be

COHERENCE - The Organization and definition of spaces promote a natural comprehensive bill in the in the building.
Spaces:
• Clear positive rooms and circulation patterns
• Integration of services and served
• Hierarchy of spaces and activities

VARIATION - The spatial variety in the college supports different activities and different needs
Spaces:
• Different types of places to do things together
• Places to be noisy quiet alone

OPENNESS - Views and connections inside and outside give the college a sense of openness and in what informality
Spaces:
• Tangential circulation
• Generous windows
• Interior windows

LIGHT - The atmosphere the building is bright
Spaces:
• Natural light in every room
• Balance lighting systems
• Reflective surfaces

COMFORT - The rooms in the college are inviting and a pleasant place to inhabit
Spaces:
• South facing orientation
• Materials that are pleasant to touch
• Adequate ventilation and control

LONGEVITY - The fabric of the building is durable, maintainable, and can adapt to different uses and tastes
Figure 4. adapted from Gary Moye (1994), Facilities Program: International College, University of Oregon
relevant to today.
This work is not about the ‘correct’ theory of learning for art instruction or the ‘right’ way to design an art school. Rather, I look to discover the personal epistemology of stakeholders and review how that might influence design, contemporary curriculum and its effect on the built environment and the goals of university administration and how they are expressed in the architecture. It is through this exploration of what is, that we can affect what can be.


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Post-Occupancy Evaluations of Univerisity Art Schools- Understanding the Student Demographic--DRAFT

(COPYRIGHT © 2011 MIKAEL POWELL. All Rights Reserved)


This paper examines the motion picture, Art school confidential, to analyze the college environment and student behaviors depicted in the presentation. It reviews the setting, characters, behaviors and conflicts of the story and compares them to actual life conditions as reflected in the surveys and statistics discussed in class and researched in literature. I begin by outlining the conditions leading up to the movie production and then summarizing the story, then I discuss how this feature is relevant to our course, review the central themes of the movie in relationship to our course content, examine the context of the movie in regard to the literature on college students, analyze the movie subplot with typical college findings in mind, outline how this motion picture presents a picture similar to the statistics that we have reviewed in class, and finally, I offer concluding remarks.
The feature film, Art school confidential had its origin in the early 1990’s in the ‘underground’ comic book genre (See Figure 1). Daniel Clowes, an art student at the Pratt Institute, penned a 4-page, black and white comic to satirize his collegiate experiences. He later authored the screenplay, which was made into the feature film. The movie is about Jerome Platz, a naïve incoming freshmen to art school at Strathmore University in the early years of this century. It chronicles his introduction to campus life, highlighting his expectations, his exposure to the reality of art school life and the ensuing angst. His cohorts are varied and his teachers are quirky. He comes to grips with the reality of college art training and the art world community. He strives to be recognized as a good portraiturist and win the favor of the daughter of a local artist. Amid the backdrop of his learning experience is a subplot about and a strangler on campus. The movie was co-produced by John Malkovitch, who also stars in the movie as one of Jerome’s professors. Anjelica Huston also appears as another professor of Jerome. This film was presented at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival.
There are several character types depicted in the movie and the original comic presentation (See Figure 1). Persons include the rich guy with no talent, the self-involved artist-professor, neurotic art-girls, the drug-addicted failed artist, the worldly upperclassman and the famous egotistical alumni artist.
The purpose of the comic and the subsequent movie is to confront the bogus art establishment and expose its nature to the world. This movie looks at the notion of fame as and element of the ‘successful’ artist as encountered by freshman through their indoctrination into the art school. That angst and struggle is reflected in the college data that we examine in class. Thus, this movie is relevant to our course because it depicts the conventional wisdom and reality of art school students in their first year experience.
Specifically, this movie explores several topics that we discussed in class or discovered in literature including, grade expectations, grade inflation, a lessening of student’s fears of victimization, drug use and increased enrollments.
Jerome Platz, the protagonist in the movie, came from a high school experience where he was renowned for his artistic sketches. Schilling & Schilling (1999) explain how grades in high school have been rising. This might explain why Jerome has such high hopes coming to Strathmore University, where he exclaims that “he wants to be the greatest artist of the 21st Century (Mudd et al., 2006)”. He soon discovers that in art school every student receives an ‘A’ on their class project, and the favored pupil is awarded with a larger ‘A’ inscribed in red ink. Sax ( 2003) lists grade inflation as a key trend in their study.
Although the art college community is threatened with a serial murderer that has struck several times late night on campus, students react to the threat with a laid-back attitude. Goldberg & Connelly ( 1999) report that for teenagers “the percentage who said they feared being victimized dropped to 24 percent, from 40 percent in 1994.” This movie shows a culture of illicit drug activity , which is in alignment with our readings on the prevalence of drug use in college society (Newton, 2000). The movie depicts several types of art student from the traditional coed to middle-aged housewives with time to fulfill a lifelong desire, to the student who has tried other professions and nothing has seemed to work. Statistics from the College Arts Association confirms increased enrollments in arts curriculums (See Appendix B), although the total number of students majoring in art is only about 5.5% of the total population.
The central themes of the movie concern elitism versus the idolization of integrity and being able to find a job and make a living. These issues are found in our readings as well. Teenage angst permeates the ‘underground’ comic, Art school confidential, and the subsequent movie. Jerome strives to expose and strip away the bogus elements of his academic environment and the greater art community. He detests the class critiques of artwork and famous artist that are self-centered braggarts. Likewise, Coomes & DeBard (2004) describes a millennial student as most admiring integrity (See Appendix B). Orr (2010) discuses the place of connoisseurship in post-secondary arts instruction, describing it as sometimes confused with elitism, but having a place in arts school education inasmuch as it may expose students to the expertise of the profession.
Another important theme in the movie concerns the ability to become steadily employed as an artist upon graduation (See Figure 2). In the movie, the art studio
professor begins his first class by saying:
“Now I don't have any particular wisdom to impart to you people, except to say this, these four words - don't have unrealistic expectations. If you want to make money, better drop out right now, go to banking school, or website school - anywhere but art school. And remember, only 1 out of 100 of you will ever make a living as an artist (Mudd et al., 2006)”.
The College Art Association survey, “Advancing the history, interpretation, and practice of the visual arts for over a century indicates a decline in the job market for arts professions (See Appendix A).
In regard to context, this movie is greatly affected by the era it portrays, which is contemporary, and the urban college setting. The choice of a city art school highlights the lack toward integrity in a way that a laid-back rural college might not. Overall, the mood of the story and characters are cohesive with the learning environment and atmosphere that we studied in class.
The edition of the subplot involving the ‘Strathmore Strangler’ was a useful tool to heighten the internal conflict of characters and in providing the source of resolution. This movie is a good insight into the lives of arts students, which are different in some ways to ordinary undergraduate students, but overall very congruous with our readings.

This movie captures the atmosphere and environment of a first year arts college student. The writer actually lived the experiences and some actions in the feature actually occurred at the Pratt Institute in New York. Because of the satiric nature of the production, the heightened experiences illuminate subtle issues. Even so, the movie seems genuine, and unafraid to express the genre of an offbeat ‘underground’ film. There were some areas that were unrealistic. The final resolution that finds our protagonist both falsely imprisoned as a serial murderer and resigned to the fact that his new notoriety has made is artwork acclaimed, is a rather cynical end to a noble yearning for integrity. Overall, however, it is a good movie for our course.



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