Penn State Behrend held Instructional Space Town Hall meetings on February 13 and 16th, with a total of 19 individual in attendance.
They responded to the three questions we have asked at each Town Hall meeting:
- What elements of the current model work?
- What challenges have you encountered with the current scheduling model?
- What should Penn State’s top 5 priorities be?
The four schools at Behrend work very well together and they make very good use of the General Purpose Classrooms (GPC). The school of Engineering is growing and there are not enough GPCs or labs available to accommodate their growing needs. More classroom spaces in general, and specifically rooms that hold 50-100 students, are required.
The top priorities indicated at Behrend were as follows:
- Student needs, including their ability to make satisfactory academic progress.
- Maximize use of instructional facilities
- Faculty research needs
- More creativity with scheduling part semester courses, first year seminars, etc.
In the general discussion, there was an emphasis on the fact that new hires expect to teach in technology classrooms. There was also agreement that students should not have to pay extra money to take courses in the summer because there were not enough seats offered during the regular academic year.
Thanks to Mary Ellen Bayuk, College Registrar, for the notes on this town hall meeting.