Queen’s has announced that it will be investing $3 million towards classrooms to improve the teaching and learning environment on campus.  

Principal Daniel Woolf made the announcement at the Feb. 23 Senate meeting. The initiative will take place over three years beginning this summer, with $1 million provided each year.

“This is an opportunity to align what we know about how spaces impact teaching and learning with how they are laid out, appointed, etc.,” Peter Wolf, associate vice-provost (teaching and learning), told The Journal via email.

The project began with the development of active learning classrooms in Ellis Hall in 2014, but will be extended to other centrally-located classrooms on campus, Peter Wolf wrote.

The classrooms in Ellis Hall have been equipped with new technology — such as moveable chairs and linked screens — to enable instructors to incorporate new teaching methods.

Related stories: (Click the photos to get to the article)

Ellis classrooms get revamped (01/10/2014)

Lecture halls prepare for a face lift (09/19/2014)

“There is growing recognition that when thinking about providing the best environment for student learning, we NEED to consider our face-to-face environments, amongst others,” Wolf wrote.

To discover which rooms deserve the most attention, the Teaching and Learning Space Planning Committee is using various tools to garner feedback from the entire Queen’s community, including an online survey that will run until March 30.

“In some cases it might just be missing equipment or the need for new paint; in others all aspects of the room might have to be renewed,” Wolf wrote.

Some of the improvements suggested in the survey are IT infrastructure, whiteboards, furniture, lighting, painting, heating or A/C, sound and accessibility.

A large portion of the funds will go towards major projects in specific classrooms, while another portion will be set aside for minor upgrades.