Rooms That Get In The Way: One University Is Redesigning Its Classrooms To Match What Teaching Actually Requires

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2026

Abstract

Walk into a classroom built in 1987, and you'll recognize it immediately. Rows of fixed chairs - often bolted to the floor. A projection screen that descends with a mechanical groan.  Fluorescent lighting that casts everything in the same institutional glow.  A lone podium at the front, anchoring everyone in their place.  It is a room designed, consciously or not, for one kind of learning: a person at the front talking, everyone else facing forward, listening.

Now consider what educators know in 2026 about effective teaching and learning.  That students retain more when they collaborate.  That flexible, reconfigurable spaces unlock teaching approaches that static rooms cannot support.

Additional Files

Share

COinS