Newham College of Further Education, London
| Contact Details: | Philip.Badman@newham.ac.uk Brian.Cooper@newham.ac.uk |
| Type of Project: | Refurbishment to create two 'concept classrooms' on the East Ham and Stratford campuses. The East Ham development centres on three c.50m2 classrooms being converted into one new learning suite. The work at Stratford will begin summer 2007. |
| Start/End Date: | East Ham Campus trial due to open March 2007. Stratford Campus trial site will go into construction over the summer 2007. |
Success Factors
The evaluation will be a mixture of learner feedback, teacher feedback and observations from a pedagogical point of view by internal quality assurance staff. The college has a discrete faculty called QUILD, the faculty of Quality Improvement and Learner Development and QUILD has a cadre of Professional Learning Advisers (PLAs) whose job is to circulate around classes on formal teaching and learning observations emulating exactly the Ofsted inspectoral approach.
It is the sort of observations QUILD is making that first gave rise to the concern about an overly didactic approach and not enough active learning being promoted. What the college hopes to see is that they are turning that around so that learners are taking much more self-responsibility for their learning and are much more actively involved in their learning.
What Is Innovative About The Design And Use Of The Building?
The innovation about the design is the use of the glass pod in the centre of the classroom/space. It's a floor to ceiling glass pod: you can see straight through it so there is no hiding space for anyone. Everything that goes on is open and transparent throughout the whole of the area.
There are two glass areas. There are no doors - it is all open but the glass is acoustic panelling to absorb any noise. Ceiling acoustic panelling also absorbs noise transfer.
It is a big open space but it's got lots going on inside it and everyone can see everyone else doing whatever they are doing. The innovation was no hiding place, no way the lecturer can stand at the front of the class and chalk and talk.
For the cabling they have used a stainless steel wall trunking that you can't see - it is blended in with the wall and with the covering. There is floor trunking into the i-desks and on all the peripherals there is wall trunking around.
