University of Gloucestershire, Centre for Active Learning (CeAL) CETL, Cheltenham

What Are Your Top Tips..

...For a successful new build? For embedding IT? For installing technology?

Consult everybody - especially students - very early on. Right back at the beginning during the planning stage of the building students provided some great feedback; they were asked what they would like to see in the new building, what kind of features. They wanted a building that was open 24/7. They wanted long opening hours, they wanted it to be welcoming, and they wanted coffee/drinks to be available. They wanted it to be stylish. One student said they would like it to be like Starbucks in terms of being comfortable and focussed but sort of themed. The University have taken a huge amount of care with the use of colour, furnishing and decoration inside. It is already a stylish and interesting space. All of that came out of the consultation. Students were saying things like 'we want a wicked building', 'we want an awesome building' and that that would make them feel good about their learning and their interactions with the University. They wanted somewhere they would feel that they wanted to be. So consultation with the students has been important.

Foster innovation but not for innovation's sake. Be reasonably well grounded in something that has been tested already. Foster active styles of learning in the right kind of space and take it on a bit further.

Visit other places. Some innovative types of furniture and furnishings are not as well received by staff and students as others. Some seating may not be comfortable over long periods, the CETL have gone for innovation but grounded in something that was known would work in terms of comfort.

Consult staff frequently. There wasn't 100% agreement all the time because it would end up with something that you had got already (only nicer perhaps). The CeAL wanted to position the building with a little more innovation than most of the academic staff would have suggested, but without being so radical that nobody would want to use the space.

There is a bit of a leap of faith, there is a point at which you have to abandon total security and say 'well, actually we are going to do something that is a little different'. The Centres for Excellence in Teaching and Learning were encouraged to be innovative, to take risks, and the CeAL has done. There has been a bedding-in period as far as the technology is concerned. It is very easy to use but there have been lots of training sessions for academics to show what they can do in the building. More and more people are now using it.

Think about the future use of the space. This space isn't big enough! But the size was constrained by the site. Many requests have been received from national and international academics who want to do research with the CETL and extra desks have been squeezed into the postgraduate office and additional space is being sought elsewhere on the campus. Originally one desk was allocated for a visiting scholar and now three or four at a time are needed.

Pilot ideas. The same philosophy is now being developed on the University's new campus in Gloucester.