Academia is known
for leading edge thinking, but how about leading edge lab space,
class room space and computer resources. My experience is “not so
much”.
We saw some pretty
creative and leading edge student support areas, class rooms and labs
when we were at Purdue a few weeks ago. Granted this was their newest
building, with cutting edge building design, glass walls, white
boards everywhere (even the horizontal work spaces), fully decked
computer and projection resources in the class rooms, even social
media enabled lectures, where the students could tweet questions or
requests for greater explanation.
We later walked
through the Chemical Engineer building where we saw the typical 50's
architecture and less than cutting edge equipment. I know our tour
was carefully crafted to put the best possible Purdue in front of the
prospective student (and their parents).
But there were some
ideas there that I'd love to implement in my work space.
