Three New Active Learning Spaces

Following up on this summer's launch of Tillett 204, there are now three more exciting Active Learning Spaces at Rutgers-New Brunswick. The brand-new Rutgers Academic Building is home to two state-of-the-art Active Learning Classrooms and our first Interactive Lecture Hall. The Active Learning Classrooms in rooms 4400 and 4450 employ a similar design as our first effort in Tillett 204, but on a larger scale. Inspired by the SCALE-UP (Student-Centered Active Learning Environment with Upside-down Pedagogies) approach to classroom design, these rooms have ten group stations that seat nine students each in moveable chairs. Groups have access to whiteboards and a shared monitors where they can collaborate on computer-based work.

The instructor station, or Collaborative Instructor Hub, is in the center of the room and gives the instructor access to a computer, Blu-ray player, document camera, and portable device hookups. Unique to these rooms, the instructor can also take student and instructor images and distribute them to any combination of the room's fourteen monitors, including four "jumbotron monitors" located above the hub where students can view presentation material while also facing the instructor. Finally, the room has Solstice display sharing for wireless presentation of images by anyone in the room.

Just down the hall from the Active Learning Rooms is AB 4225, a 248-person Interactive Lecture Hall. Like a typical lecture hall, 4225 has tiered seating to allow for the sightlines needed to present to such a large audience. However, every two rows of seats shares a tier and includes one of row of seats that can swivel 360 degrees, allowing students to turn and pair up or form groups. This allows instructors to not only lecture in this space, but also have students discuss and do group work. Student can then share their work or instructors can continue to present while moving around the room using Solstice wireless display sharing.

For a more detailed breakdown of these rooms, visit our Active Learning Spaces page.