Function Follows Form: How Two Colleges Redesigned the Classroom for Active Learning
Author: Ray Schroeder
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By Devin Murphy and Grace Gardner, EdSurge
The last wave of instructional initiatives in higher education saw colleges build centers of teaching and learning, sites where faculty could grow their skills and try out new teaching approaches. These centers offered access to tools and training on proven pedagogies and new technologies, but faculty often viewed using them as optional or an addition to their already busy schedules. In contrast, Indiana University (IU) and the University of Central Florida (UCF) are exploring how pedagogy evolves when the actual environments in which students learn are transformed. Form follows function, as the adage says, but these universities are flipping that script and betting that a more flexible and adaptive form will unlock needed changes in the teaching and learning function.