FEATURE FOCUS: INTELLIGENT CLASSROOM DESIGN
Named Destination Loyalist, it is effectively a ‘campus in your pocket’ – a unique virtual resource that connects students, employees, community and industry with information, support and future-focused solutions – anytime, anywhere. As well as hosting content on the latest programming and campus news, mirroring the flow of activity for the College’s services and events, it provides five navigational nodes, each highlighting different aspects of the Loyalist College experience, from a Welcome, Community and Campus Life nodes to Innovation and Events, where a virtual gathering place is provided for hosting live events.
This flexibility extends to the use of space, where smart campus technologies, including sensors are ever more critical to the provision of multi-functional spaces, which can accommodate different groups and teaching approaches. With the requirement to teach virtually, facilitate interaction and capture important usage data, this will also require ongoing development and investment.
Virtual Reality (VR) is another consideration. While it is still in its infancy in education, there is scope for this to play a larger part by transporting students into immersive learning environments. Indeed, we have been involved in several projects since the pandemic to create dedicated VR rooms. As technology and applications develop, we may well see smart classrooms integrate appropriate technologies within the teaching environments rather than being treated as a separate training spaces. The same is true of the metaverse and how this can take virtual learning even further. While digital learning is here to stay, we also need to make sure there are ample opportunities for socialising and interacting in person.
Using technology to create a flexible learning environment
We can also look at how technology and data are driving learning. With the evolution of e-learning and 1:1 technology plans, big data is driving the improvement of educational systems. Internet of Things (IoT) devices can be embedded into the physical estate to gather real-time data, information and feedback about the things that matter most. The use of such technologies will enable the estate to flex and respond to the changing needs of users.
flexible approach to room bookings, parking management and meeting spaces. One incentive accelerating this trend emerges from the need to reduce energy consumption, which is driving efficiencies through intuitive heating and cooling technologies and timetable coordination.
Learn anywhere at anytime
Smart technology can also deliver flexibility in learning and teaching. In a post-COVID-19 world, we are seeing the true advent of the “Clicks and Mortar” campus, which embraces in-person and online working and learning. Efficient use of learning and social spaces, in conjunction with access to a wide range of digital tools for students and staff, enables people to work individually and collaboratively. Arcadis IBI’s IMMRSV team worked with Loyalist College in Canada to develop a digital campus experience in 2022, the first of its kind.
February 2023
The amount of data that lives within an educational building is truly endless. From building energy usage to absenteeism, the amount of information that can be tracked to help improve the learning experience requires careful consideration. Part of the educational data revolution centres on knowing what data is relevant. Understanding the “right” data is not necessarily about the “what,” but about the “why” and the “how.”
New technology and data-driven design can help campuses perform better, and as a result, they are inspiring places to work and study, offering more flexibility and a tailored training experience. Creating a great atmosphere for students is important for all educational environments, as is promoting a welcoming, safe and secure environment for research and study to take place. The quality, functionality and dynamics of an environment play a big part in enabling successful outcomes. Therefore, space use and movement in and around campus are
important factors to help higher education institutions understand what students like and dislike, where they feel safe and secure, and vice versa.
At Arcadis IBI Group, we consider a generative approach to campus design to generate a collection of possible designs, which presents many opportunities for the future of the architectural design process. Paired with thoughtful human insight and sophisticated algorithms, generative modelling offers an innovative path forward for the future of campus design, providing many options which are more likely to be used and enjoyed.
Who is innovating first?
According to The Guardian, US universities are leading the way with on-campus innovations around energy, transport and information, using AI and big data to improve how students live and learn on campus. An interesting example is the University of Texas in Austin, which has a fully independent grid that provides all its energy, avoiding millions of dollars in fuel costs. Over here in the UK, the University of Glasgow has been working with Future Cities Catapult on a strategy to bring smart technology to the campus as it expands, including intelligent campus AI, an on- demand bus service, and a data centre powered by renewable energy.
The University of Birmingham has invested in their Smart Campus initiative as a way of responding to students of the future. By 2026, the students enrolling at their university will be younger than the smartphone and have only ever lived with technology and the constant connectivity it brings. They have grown accustomed to a frictionless experience that is personalised, reliable and at their fingertips.
All things considered
Higher education institutions have greater access to funding, offering fertile testing grounds for technologies to be rolled out across further education and secondary schools. It must be said that while there are many benefits to smart campuses and schools, there are issues to consider. With tracking and data recording comes privacy concerns, and Generation Z is acutely aware of this. Data breaches and leaks are often reported in the press, and it is imperative that the security of data is protected.
As designers, we find that schools and colleges don’t necessarily want to take the risk of doing something untried and policy can also bring constraints, for instance the standardised approach to school environments. Ironically, the solution here may well be smart technology, which allows a digital twin of an existing facility or campus to be created to model and test designs or layouts informed by existing data. So, while smart technologies offer educational campuses a way to improve their sustainability credentials while providing an enhanced experience for students and staff, we need to proceed with caution and ensure that the estate’s users are part of the discussion and that their need for privacy and autonomy is respected. It’s an exciting time to be working in education, where advances in technology are integral to the education environment. Future generation learning is on the horizon, ready to be explored.
www.education-today.co.uk
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