Reacting to the Classroom Design:
A Case Study of How Corrective Actions Impact Teaching and Learning
It is commonly accepted that the physical classroom has an effect on the undergraduate educational experience and that teachers and students may respond with remedies if the actual space inhibits teaching and learning. I conducted this qualitative research to determine what constitutes these remedial or corrective responses to the classroom, how prevalent these actions are, and how they are perceived to affect the educational experience of undergraduate students in the classroom and the teachers who instruct in such space.
Examples of student remedial responses are efforts to lean forward to see, hear, or be heard, to accommodate writing or computer use at ones seat, and to stay warm or cool enough. Teacher actions might be rearranging furniture, changing or altering the lesson plan, class activity or manner of teaching due to the classroom, and efforts required to allow adequate interactions between teacher and students, and between students. Classroom design encompasses the physical space, including furniture, fixtures, and equipment.
I conducted this research with students and teachers from eight universities in the Boston metropolitan area in both the classroom and online, using contemporary social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. My mixed research methods included written and online surveys, online interviews, and recorded classroom observations. I collected data within an environment-behavioral construct and analyzed it based upon the Community of Learning model.
Findings indicate that after performing remedial responses, most students label them as not significantly affecting their learning experience. Students that did find them important were largely those who reported the control of their learning closer to themselves and their actions. Students who found them insignificant were generally those who report control of their learning farther from themselves. Secondly, my research showed that students highly value and have strong beliefs about maintaining attention, which was an impetus for performing remedial actions, much in line with current research on the Millennial population in college. Lastly, teachers in the study listed adaptation as a major theme describing how their remedial responses impacted their teaching experience through reconciling the effort, acknowledging as essential, the responsibility of a teacher to modify teaching methods and materials to work in the assigned classroom, and affected relationships with students who many times bear the brunt of performing remedial actions in the classroom.
A Case Study of How Corrective Actions Impact Teaching and Learning
It is commonly accepted that the physical classroom has an effect on the undergraduate educational experience and that teachers and students may respond with remedies if the actual space inhibits teaching and learning. I conducted this qualitative research to determine what constitutes these remedial or corrective responses to the classroom, how prevalent these actions are, and how they are perceived to affect the educational experience of undergraduate students in the classroom and the teachers who instruct in such space.
Examples of student remedial responses are efforts to lean forward to see, hear, or be heard, to accommodate writing or computer use at ones seat, and to stay warm or cool enough. Teacher actions might be rearranging furniture, changing or altering the lesson plan, class activity or manner of teaching due to the classroom, and efforts required to allow adequate interactions between teacher and students, and between students. Classroom design encompasses the physical space, including furniture, fixtures, and equipment.
I conducted this research with students and teachers from eight universities in the Boston metropolitan area in both the classroom and online, using contemporary social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. My mixed research methods included written and online surveys, online interviews, and recorded classroom observations. I collected data within an environment-behavioral construct and analyzed it based upon the Community of Learning model.
Findings indicate that after performing remedial responses, most students label them as not significantly affecting their learning experience. Students that did find them important were largely those who reported the control of their learning closer to themselves and their actions. Students who found them insignificant were generally those who report control of their learning farther from themselves. Secondly, my research showed that students highly value and have strong beliefs about maintaining attention, which was an impetus for performing remedial actions, much in line with current research on the Millennial population in college. Lastly, teachers in the study listed adaptation as a major theme describing how their remedial responses impacted their teaching experience through reconciling the effort, acknowledging as essential, the responsibility of a teacher to modify teaching methods and materials to work in the assigned classroom, and affected relationships with students who many times bear the brunt of performing remedial actions in the classroom.
This research has implications for university administrators who seek to acknowledge
the true costs and benefits of maintaining or renovating an existing facility;
teachers who wish to understand the beliefs and values of students to more
fully include them in the learning process; teachers who acknowledge the role
of students in performing remedial actions; and students who embrace their
power to shape learning experiences.
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