3 Ways to Design with Data
by room2learn
Tick tock tick tock! We can all hear the time passing by as we inch closer to the start of the school year. Whether you’re an educator, teacher, or designer, a new school year gives you the opportunity to redesign your classroom — anything from changing the layout to adding new, smaller hacks to improve engagement.
We’re big fans of trying out different layouts and seeing what happens, but there are ways to design in a more analytical, strategic way. In other words, we want to share three ways you could design with data in mind.
Let’s take a closer look!
The first method we’ll introduce is the Classroom Observation Protocol for Undergraduate STEM (COPUS). This process measures student-faculty interactions in the classroom setting based on the types of activities performed. Researchers observe each class with an Excel worksheet (included on the site) and a 30-second timer. During each 30-second interval, researchers check off activities performed by the instructor or the students on a list. All the information gathered could then be transformed into graphs that show the breakdown of class activities.
The image below is a visual representation of two sample courses with different instructional approaches: the lecture-based course is primarily composed of the instructor lecturing and few interactions between students and the instructor (some question-answer). However, the active-learning model shows a diverse distribution of activities and a lot more interaction between the students and the instructor.
Here at room2learn, we want to take this one step further. We know that space impacts learning, so after using this strategy, we invite you to think about how the layout of your room has impacted these activities and how a simple change in layout may shift your teaching practice.
Let’s move on to the next two strategies!
One of our favorite resources at room2learn is Edutopia. They have tons of great resources on tips and tricks to redesign your classroom space. We’ve taken two of their most effective “design with data” strategies and broken them down for you.
The first is “classroom flow!”
With “Classroom Flow,” the main concept is similar to COPUS as it involves observing the classroom in session. However, this exercise focuses more on having observers map out the way students and teachers move in the classroom. Here’s how to do it:
- Find an honest colleague or student who is free during a time that you teach!
- Ask them to come and observe how you and your students move in the classroom.
- Draw or design a diagram of your classroom, making sure to include any and all furniture and give it to your observer.
- Ask your colleague or student to observe you and your students and draw where everyone moves. Make sure to use one color for you and one color for your students!
- Meet with your colleague and discuss what they noticed!
After outlining the movements in the classroom, you can easily see which parts of your classroom could use some redesign or extra attention, especially if you have one area of the map where movement is heavy. The map could also be used as a tool to identify underused spaces that could be transformed for new activities. For an example of how an architect observes a classroom, check out this blog post here.
The next strategy uses our favorite brainstorming and designing tool — post-its! This is a great way to collectively brainstorm ways to improve a space or to solve an existing problem. Here’s one way to use sticky notes in tandem with the “classroom flow” strategy:
- After you’ve highlighted pain points in your classroom, post up sticky notes in that area.
- Then, ask students to brainstorm ways to solve that specific pain point. Having students generate ideas right in that area can help them come up with more viable ideas.
If you read our post from two weeks ago, you know we are passionate about including students in your redesign process. Collecting real data from your classroom is an additional way to ensure that your classroom redesign is addressing the actual needs of your students. Happy designing!
Have you collected data about your classroom space in an innovative way? Let us know at www.room2learn.org or Tweet us at @HackClassrooms!
