Progress with the classrooms project

Posted on: 8 April 2015
By: saundeg
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Filed under: Classrooms

The design company working on the project, Rock Townsend, have now had an opportunity to tour all of the rooms identified by the Faculties. They are currently working with the outline ideas for each room that some Faculties have already provided. Early next week we are hoping to have similar outline ideas from the remaining Faculties.

Click to see the ideas that have come from MAD and those from FST.

The timeline for the project is challenging and looks as follows:

Engagement with Faculties March – April
Design /cost plan complete: 24 April, to allow your presentation to the Project Board
Tender pack completion: 24 April – 1 May
Tender: May (4 weeks)
Negotiate with possible contractors: end/May – mid June
Instruct Main contractor and AV specialist contractor: mid June
Construction: July/August
Completion: end of August

Classroom Project

Posted on: 27 March 2015
By: saundeg
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Filed under: Classrooms

The first step with the classroom project has been to work with small groups of staff at each to identify which rooms should be the target for ‘modernisation’ over the Summer. We hope at this stage that Faculty will be able to markedly improve between 4-6 rooms with a combination of new furniture, different AV/IT, as well as attending to some basic needs such as blinds and lighting.

The rooms identified as targets at each Faculty are:

Marylebone – C176, C178, C179, C180, C181, C279, C280, C281, C282, M321, LA103

Regent – 350, 352, 354, 355, 359, 251

Harrow – A7.01, A7.02, A7.02a, A7.03, A7.04

Cavendish – C305, C303/4, Pavilion, C204, C207, C211, CLG1, 1.110, C1.15

Now a design company are on board (Rock Townsend) the nest step will costing up what each Faculty would ideally like each room to look like.

 

Classrooms – what staff say

Posted on: 27 March 2015
By: saundeg
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Filed under: Classrooms

a) Classroom technology

• It needs to be simple and work
• Standard whiteboards were still quite critical
• Front position of display can dictate pedagogy
• Support for mobile ‘lectern’
• Support for plug and play and own devices
• Support for capability to display on any wall

b) Basic fixtures and fittings

• Need good:
  • Lighting
  • Ventilation
  • Bright walls or glass walls
  • Blinds that work

c) Furniture

• Needs to be lightweight, easily moved
• Not too much of it in the space available
• Allowing for fast, flexible re-configuration of the room
• Need to facilitate group work

d) Layout and capacity

• Stop with the rows being the norm
• Innovative arrangements
• Circles, semi-circles
• Lecturer in the middle
• Lecturer not restricted by location of display device

e) Old technology

• Must still have whiteboards
• Flip charts
• Have digital display screen positioned separately to whiteboard
• Use these old technologies as well as modern display approaches