Technology is not the only thing that is advancing in the classroom. Steelcase Education Solutions developed furniture that can fit the ever-changing needs of a students’ learning environment. Furniture is not just stationary anymore, as Steelcase shows with its focus on active learning, according to Barry Brennand, sales representative for Steelcase Education Solutions.

“We focus on classrooms, social learning spaces, places where frankly real learning gets done,” Brennand said.

While 21st century learning is becoming increasingly popular with schools, students and architects — furniture companies must adapt to the change in design as well. One example of how Steelcase incorporated furniture to transform learning took place in the main library at Texas Tech University (TTU) in Lubbock, Texas.

Collaborative work settings were designed where students could gather around a desk and work off their laptops or set up a web cam to be projected on the flat screen television attached to each workstation. TTU calls the space GroupWorks, and it has become a popular destination on campus.

“The idea is to provide an environment for the way students work now, and it’s all about group work. It’s about students working together, from on campus, across campus, across the state — wherever the group members may be,” said Justin Daniel, systems librarian for TTU, who hatched the idea for the GroupWorks area.

The GroupWorks space occupies 3,200 square feet of the library’s first floor and is opened 24 hours a day for students to utilize.

“We’re open 24 hours a day. Anytime you go out there, there are people using them, and in different ways, too,” Daniel said. “Groups and individuals use them. Sometimes they multitask to the point I can hardly believe. They’ll have a video on one monitor, a Word document on another monitor, and they’re listening to something with their ear buds.”

Along with Steelcase providing furniture for interactive and collaborative study areas in the library at TTU, the company also produces furniture for K-12 classrooms.

Northview High School in Grand Rapids, Mich., was looking for a solution for its classrooms. They wanted to incorporate a variety of learning modes into classroom space including lecture, large group discussions, small project groups and presentation space. They also wanted to make sure the classroom could be flexible and convert quickly to the changing needs of the students and/or lesson.

“When I went to school we all sat in rows and faced the front of the classroom, but now most K-12 classrooms are taught in a different way where student participation and collaboration is key,” explained Brennand.

Steelcase Design Studio, in collaboration with the design and innovation consulting firm IDEO, created node — a chair designed to meet the many styles of learning. Northview was a beta site for the new chair, which caused significant improvement in classroom collaboration and engagement.

After several surveys and studies, node was found to improve the overall classroom experience for 97 percent of students.

“The next step is collaboration with peers, and that’s the piece that’s so amazing with these desks, and it’s also one of the steps that gets skipped,” said Sheri Steelman, Northview High School teacher. “[Some teachers] might lecture the whole time, but this way, it makes it so easy for students to work together.”

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These are questions that school district administrators nationwide ask themselves as they plan facilities for the future. The first step in answering these questions is to develop educational specifications.

Educational specifications outline essential educational concepts and detailed facility requirements. They also include information about student needs, current and future instructional strategies, the impact of technology on education, and community use.

Students and teachers occupy most school buildings from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. That leaves a great deal of time for community use such as adult education classes, yoga instruction, art classes, civic meetings, blood drives, mentoring classes, senior citizen programs, and voting in local, state, and federal elections. Therefore, school facilities must be planned appropriately to create space for community events, athletics, recreation and the arts, while still creating a safe and secure learning environment for students.

School districts throughout the United States have been quite successful in achieving the community-school balance. For example, the Valdez Middle School in Valdez, Alaska not only serves the academic needs of middle school students for 180 days each year, it also serves the community for 365 days. Since Valdez is snowbound for multiple months, it is critical for the community to have recreational, athletic and arts space. Therefore, the middle school has a full-size competition gymnasium for both student and community athletic events and a restaurant-grade kitchen that serves several purposes. It is used to introduce middle school students to the culinary arts, to teach special-needs students life skills and to prepare meals or refreshments for public events.

Developing Educational Specifications
Here is a brief synopsis of the development process:
• Form an educational specifications committee: A committee comprised of teachers, administrators, support staff, special services staff, parents, students, central office personnel, city managers, and community members assist in the development of the educational specifications.
• Organize a visioning work session: This includes a discussion of trends related to education, the economy, demography and technology, as well as best practices in school organization and new concepts for school facilities.

• Conduct planning lab #1: Participants work in their program areas (e.g. academics, arts, physical education, and welcome center to name a few) to define the size and number of spaces, describe the adjacencies of spaces, activities in the spaces, and requirements for mechanical, plumbing, electrical, lighting, technology, furniture, equipment, flooring, doors, windows, and any other special considerations. Each group presents its ideas, which foster further discussion on topics such as flexible spaces, shared spaces, and spatial adjacencies.

• Plan a community meeting: Community members share their input on a variety of topics related to the new or renovated facility, including indoor and outdoor athletic needs, recreation spaces, visual and performing arts spaces, safety, security, technology, site issues, green/sustainable facilities, and aesthetics.

• Conduct planning lab #2: Participants work in their program areas to review and further refine their plans to produce a summary of space sizes and building layout illustrations.

• Prepare the educational specifications document: Organized into distinct sections, this document contains information necessary for the planning, design, and renovation and/or construction of new school facilities:

Executive Summary: Provides an overview of the content within the document
21st Century Best Practices: Describes nationally recognized best practices in education as they relate to program delivery methods
Planning Labs: Includes discussions from the labs
Technology: Explains how technology will be integrated into the curriculum and facility
Safety and Security: Provides overview of the safety and security plan
Site Issues: Includes special circumstances or considerations to keep in mind, including building design, traffic flow, lighting, landscaping, and parking issues
Green/sustainable Schools: Explains the design and construction of school facilities that are environmentally responsible
Aesthetics: Describes the visual appeal of the school
Community Use: Explains the integration of community needs with school facilities related to the cafeteria, gymnasium, auditorium, and media center
Cost Analysis: Provides the associated costs to renovate or build the new facility and identifies potential partnerships in the corporate and arts arenas for co-funding
Program Areas: Summarizes the type, number, and size of each instructional and support space, as well as spatial relationships to each program area

• District Approval: The Board of Education and/or the Superintendent of Schools should approve the final document.
Using this process, all stakeholders are able to contribute their best thinking about the programs and services that a facility can deliver not only to students and teachers during instructional hours, but also to the community after school concludes for the day.
Indeed, a genuine commitment to community involvement is integral to a successful development process. A shared vision among all entities expresses common goals and establishes an agreement with an altruistic focus to improve student success. The secret to creating superior educational facilities is community involvement, from start to finish.

Kerrianne Wolf, REFP, is the educational specifications specialist at DeJONG-RICHTER. She applies her experience as a licensed K-12 teacher and software trainer when preparing educational specifications and facility master plans for schools districts nationwide. For more information, contact her at kwolf@dejongrichter.com or at 614-798-8828.

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