Monthly Archives: November 2012

Students in the Diagram

Posted on by

The long-term survival of the physical campus will lie in keeping students at the center of the diagram.  The adaptations required will result from a different way of thinking about facilities, in which small moves made with students in mind can be of strategic significance.

A recent project at Cal State Northridge is one example.  Documented in the SCUP Journal Planning for Higher Education by Katherine Stevenson, Sean Clerkin, and Diane Stephens, the project provides a student-centered environment for introductory mathematics. Continue reading →

Authenticity and Value

Posted on by

Questions of authenticity and value are not new.  Socrates objected to the introduction of writing – it compromised the value and authenticity of memory and as a result, knowledge.  His own students saw the value of written material and thus accepted a different notion of authentic knowledge.

The digital transformation of higher education concerns both authenticity and value.  Continue reading →

Trajectory – 2

Posted on by

Most higher education capital plans for facilities are little more than politically correct prioritizations of departmental wish lists.  Funding opportunism has long trumped budgetary discipline.  Four cycles of facilities expansion have left most institutions in an unsustainable position – more space than they need and more than they can afford to operate and maintain.  Just now digital transformation is bringing this into focus.  How did it come to this? Continue reading →