The Coffee House Classroom: Perceptions of Classroom Spatial Design in a Community College Environment - Softcover

Kent, Katherine

Softcover

ISBN 10: 3659670464 ISBN 13: 9783659670466

Publisher: LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing, 2014

Synopsis

With the increasing need for employees capable of engaging in team-based problem solving and collaborative projects, it is questionable whether these skills are, or can be, supported and developed in the typical college classroom environment containing traditional rows of desks and computers with a remote professor front and center. These traditional arrangements discourage participatory activities and engagements with peers and faculty due to the very nature of the inflexible and impersonal alignment of side-by-side, row seating. This study investigated the impact of the physical furnishings and the spatial arrangement of a classroom environment on its occupants’ perceptions and behaviors. Traditional computer settings were compared to a created coffee house style classroom to determine if the difference in furnishings and spatial configuration would produce differing perceptions of a similar academic experience. The findings of this study suggest that the students and faculty in the classes held in a combination of settings had a significantly higher incidence of satisfaction in favor of the courses held solely in the traditional computer classrooms.

About this title

About the Author

Dr. Katherine Kent, NCIDQ, RID, LEED GA; Environmental Design Program Chair, Ivy Tech Community College, North Central Indiana. Teaches sustainable interior and landscape design, permaculture, environmental psychology, and global studies. Holds a Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration and a Master’s degree in Interior Design and Consumer Science.

Edition details

• Publisher: LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 3659670464
• ISBN 13: 9783659670466
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 116