Instruction & Curriculum

The Ideal Classroom and Surrounding Environment:

Some general trends have been recognized nationally which we are trying to implement locally:

• Faculty strongly prefers hemispheric seating arrangements (e.g. Pacific 123) instead of vertically stacked arrangements (e.g. Willamette 100). The former promotes as sense of inclusion and intimacy, the latter re-enforces a sense of hierarchy and distance.
• Comfortable seating and workspaces for students, adequate lighting levels in the classroom and an environment with good acoustics are important, especially as we move toward fewer class meetings per week but longer per meeting sessions.
• Colors best suited for classrooms reduce agitation, apprehension and promote a sense of well-being. In addition, lighting that most strongly simulates natural lighting is highly beneficial.
• Classroom entrances/portals serve mostly for movement rather than engagement. They should be more colorful and provide both vibrancy and personality through complementary colors. Blackboards and small benches in critical hallway areas outside classrooms can help promote spontaneous after-class discussions.
• An instructor's ability to control room lighting is paramount, and the more lights are equipped with controls that permit continuous adjustment, the better. It is imperative to control any lights that illuminate projection screens TV consoles and "blackboards." Natural light and a connection to the outdoors are highly preferred by both faculty and students. When windows or skylights are present adjustable window coverings are imperative.
• Comfortable furniture is also important. Standard wing-arm chairs are generally judged as murderously uncomfortable by students after about 50- minutes. Bolted-down furniture that prevents teachers from using most available active learning modalities is one of the most detrimental factors to a learning environment. Furniture that permits versatility of arrangements and multiple methods of instruction is therefore best. For computer usage in classrooms, students strongly prefer table space, such as that provided in most of the Lillis classrooms.
• Whiteboards with marker pens have proven to be very troublesome- the markers disappear and leave instructors without them when class stars. They also dry up easily and quickly become unusable; a teacher accidentally uses a permanent marker, rather than the dry-erase markers, and ruins the board. Therefore, chalk on blackboards is now strongly preferred, although care must be taken to minimize chalk dust from intrusion into electrical components. Abundant writing space is also strongly desired. Black board is preferred over green boards for their heightened range of contrast to the chalk.
• Computer presentation equipment should be standard in all classrooms and it should be viewable in mostly full room light. Easy switching between input sources (e.g. document camera, DVD, computer, other) is essential. Adequate screen size so that each student can resolve the characters on the screen is also a must.