Process for Selecting a Classroom to Renovate
Background
Every year one classroom is selected to be renovated, with the goal to improve the learning and teaching experience for the students and faculty. Below is the process that has been developed to select the classroom that has the highest need. Historically the budget for these projects have been $30K per year.
- The Information Technology Department reviews a list of all classrooms and the dates of their last renovation.
- Next a physical inspection is done of the listed classrooms with the oldest date of renovation. Added to this list, are other classrooms on campus which received complaints by faculty, staff, and students. (Complaints may include broken chairs, tables, carpet issues, and white board problems, just to name a few).
- A presentation is made to the Academic Department heads to get their input to help select a classroom to renovate. A follow up email is sent to the Academic Department heads which they are encouraged to forward to faculty whom they think can also help in the selection process. The email will include one or two "candidate" classrooms that are found to have the biggest issues. An explanation is included in the email as to why these classrooms are seen as having a high priority. (Multiple broken tables and chairs that have been patched and just need to be replaced, torn seating in a room that just looks bad, poor layout so the learning experience is sub-optimal.)
- Using the information gathered from the email survey, renovation quotes for the top two classrooms are requested from furniture vendors, audio/visual vendors, and construction companies. The quotes will not necessarily be complete, but they will help the decision makers get an idea of what the costs are for the work.
- With data from the stakeholders and the rough cost estimates, a presentation is given to the Council of Built Environment and Executive Team for a decision on what classroom should be selected. The selection of the classroom should take into consideration the layout of the classroom; does it need to be changed to provide a better learning environment? Will the renovation be able to keep the same number of seats or increase them? It should be noted, reducing the number of seats in a classroom can create problems for the University. And finally, is the renovation within budget or will more money have to be requested?