Sep 08, 2008
This past summer, the Facilities & Management department renovated a total of 28 classrooms from FIU's three campuses to make the rooms more presentable and conducive to learning.
"We identified renovations of the classrooms as a top priority due to the dilapidated conditions of many of our classrooms and the University's commitment to undergraduate education, even during a time of severe budget cuts," said Provost Ronald Berkman in an e-mail to The Beacon.
Whereas several classes used to feature cracked chairs, stained carpets and discolored walls from years of students' heads resting on them, these classrooms now have new carpet, marker boards, furniture, lighting, technology and colored walls.
Academic Space Management and Facilities & Management evaluated which classrooms on the FIU campuses required renovating. Both departments based their decisions on classrooms' age, condition and frequency of use.
At University Park, 19 classes located in Deuxieme Maison, Chemistry & Physics and Owa Ehan received numerous upgrades. Six Academic One classrooms at Biscayne Bay Campus and three Engineering Center classes were remodeled as well.
According to Academic Space Management Director Gloria Jacomino, DM and OE classes were restored because of old age while CP classes needed to be remodeled due to size and frequent use.
One of the larger classrooms involved in the project, CP 145, holds over 200 students. Student Betty Nguyen has taken classes in CP 145 before and will be taking General Chemistry 2 in the same classroom this fall.
She didn't notice the new acoustic panels installed, but said they can now hear their professor more clearly than ever.
Associate Professor of Chemistry Jeffrey Joens noticed the new painting and seats, but said that teaching in CP 145 has not become easier because new technology has not been added to the classroom.
However, some classes, like DM 190, have received updated technology and equipment. University Technology Services installed a new multimedia podium in Associate Professor of English Maneck Daruwala's class, and she mentioned teaching in the classroom is now more effective and comfortable.
"The new overhead projector is great when I want to show a video," Daruwala said. "There are just so many tools to teaching this class, the technology is helpful. I really like the classroom."
One of the key goals of the project was enhancing student learning by providing teachers with more resources.
"This is exactly what we need to do," Daruwala said. "The whole goal is to improve the teaching and learning environment. You walk in, you feel you are like in a professional learning environment."
Each of the classrooms renovated needed specific changes, but the Classroom Design Standards Committee, made up of faculty, staff and one student representative, created general standards each class needed to meet.
They decided every classroom needed carpet tiles, tablet armchairs with wider tablets, blue and yellow colored walls, larger marker boards, a table for wheelchair users, new media and easily accessible emergency phones.
The committee's student representative and Student Government Association Chief of Staff Anthony Rionda said one of the features students will enjoy the most is the wider tablets. Students will have enough space to place their laptops and a book at once.
Heading into fall, the goal was to be approximately "98 percent done" with the project, according to Jacomino. All the major construction is complete, but a few classes, like DM 190, are missing minor details like a few tablets.
"The budget for the renovations was $779,000," Berkman said. The $779,000 came from Public Education Capital Ooutlay funds, which are used for construction and renovaions projects. Future classroom renovations are something that Jacomino feels is necessary but contingent on FIU's financial standing. "It's going to be a matter of funding being available and also the timing as we go into the rooms that need more renovations," Jacomino said. "We need to do more of this."
Berkman shares the same sentiment and noted that "out of the 181 general purpose classrooms we have, 171 need some level of renovation," which ranges from a paint job to furniture upgrades. "Yes, there are more classrooms that need renovation," he said. "The renovations will have to be planned over a period of time since we cannot put off many classrooms at the same time. They will also depend on available funding."