Introduction to Findings

When I came to teach at Midwestern Community College as a new hire one year ago, I had already been teaching for close to thirty years, with most of those years at one university. The contrast between my new campus and my old campus was pronounced. My former university is a small to mid-sized four-year urban, religious, liberal arts university. On the same site for over 125 years, it is a patchwork of renovated old buildings and new construction, all constrained within the confines of a land-locked urban footprint. The values of tradition, student diversity, and innovative programs are promoted rather than beautiful architecture, interior spaces, and learning environments.

Most of my classrooms at the university were on the lower level of a 100-year-old residence hall. The classrooms were overheated, stuffy, and had little ventilation. The windows were difficult to open – they were either painted shut or had challenging to open, fingernail-breaking storm windows. I often asked a taller, stronger student to help open the windows. The classroom consisted of tables for two students arranged in a traditional lecture-style layout. A few of the classrooms were arranged in a U, with central seating, as well. One highly sought-after classroom was arranged with group tables. 

The university has a range of modern, well-ventilated, climate-controlled classrooms with curtain wall windows to older classrooms that have been retrofitted and renovated, yet still lack basic amenities such as air circulation. As the students and I endured the heat and stuffiness together and mostly encouraged each other to remember to dress in layers – I did not realize that the classroom conditions, themselves, could have a profound effect on student success (Horn, & de la Rosa-Pohl, 2022; Veltri, Banning & Davies, 2006).

As I transitioned to my new classroom at Midwestern Community College – large, bright, well-ventilated with integrated, user-friendly technology, I was thrilled! I even brought visiting friends and family to see it. I spent my first couple of weeks at Midwestern walking through the campus, exploring open spaces and study nooks. Signs for the Japanese Garden piqued my interest as well. During my first venture to the garden, I ran into two of my department colleagues, who integrated a walk through the garden into their daily routine. My enthusiasm over teaching in such a modern and beautiful space was a key factor in why I became interested in how this specific college space has an impact on the wellbeing and sense of belonging of current college students, taking classes on the physical campus.

Taking prompted photographs of campus space helped students reflect on how they use campus space. The photographs were used to spark conversation about space through semi-structured interviews where the participants were invited to reflect upon the meaning of their photographs (Glaw, et al., 2017). The following insights about space were gained inductively (Banning,et al, 2010) with the intention of learning about the use of space from the student perspective. During the interviews, three themes emerged: the use of space as a resource, as an informal learning space and as a restorative space. 

Former University                                                                                                                                                   New Community (MCC) College