Learning Landscape
Planning for our campus centers has been inspired by the idea that today’s students learn in a variety of new ways and in all sorts of different places, formal and informal, traditional and cutting-edge.
We know that learning at the university level has become increasingly collaborative, interactive, technology-intensive, and project-based to prepare students for the demands of modern workplaces. At the same time, the learning styles of an increasingly diverse UB student population require a broader variety of learning opportunities.
The plan will define ways to use academic space more effectively and efficiently, providing more centrally scheduled, flexible classroom spaces to meet the needs of modern teaching and learning methods and to serve a growing student body.
Such classrooms will be part of a complete network of interconnected formal and informal learning spaces on each campus.
The plan also shows how a critical mass of informal learning spaces can activate the street-level of each campus with people, light, and media all day and night, promoting safety and creating high visibility for learning opportunities.
Specialized spaces like “study hubs,” “technology hubs,” and “teaching hubs” can provide the flexible, technology-equipped places today’s learning styles require.
The learning landscape concept also acknowledges the role that dining spaces and gathering spaces play in the everyday life of students and incorporates these into the campus design.
