The Space Is the Message: First Assessment of a Learning Studio

This is an interesting case study of planning, creating, and then assessing learning studio space at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

[W]e needed this prototype to guide UMSL in evolving new approaches to learning appropriate to our context. We also needed an efficient process for the project and to demonstrate effectiveness of the resultant space. . . . [T]his article's title3 was suggested by a student entry in the assessment blog created for faculty and students using the new space: "This is my 2nd semester in this classroom, and every day, I like it more than the first. I feel that this classroom promotes a positive learning environment the second you walk in the door. No longer do we sit in a stark classroom, walls white, with windows that make a classroom feel like a prison. No longer are we confined to one, hard-seated desk. . . . The warm walls and pictures, colorful carpet, and welcoming couches beg to be noticed. Students sit where they choose, at group tables or individual tables. . . . When you walk in the room, you want to learn."