Learning behaviors within the college union has long been critical to the mission of college student union facilities and those who work within them. The rising costs of construction and renovation have created pause as administrators seek data and answers to justify expenses for these facilities. This study aimed to develop an instrument to…

This dissertation explored the current perceptions and preferences for residence hall construction lifespan standards among campus master planners and housing administrators in higher education. Historically, universities have built residence halls with the intention of spanning many decades (Guckert & King, 2004). However, there has been a…

School planning and design implicitly enters the realm of urban development when public school districts make land-use decisions on where to locate, construct, operate, maintain, and close their facilities. Moreover, schools and their campuses can impact the physical environment, influence urban design and development patterns, affect the local…

Today's educational structures require teachers to move from isolation to collaboration to improve knowledge, skills, and instructional practices for effective teaching and learning. To do this, many schools across the United States have implemented professional learning communities as the framework for collaboration. The purpose of this framework…

The purpose of this study was to examine the implications of the start-up experience for the evolution and sustainability of charter schools. I conducted interviews of founding members to identify the how design decisions were made, the successes and challenges that came about, and how these experiences informed school design. Interview data and…

Post-secondary educational spaces are often thought of as a backdrop to where education takes place. Architectural designs are seen as neutral sites; however, higher education institutions are sites of ideological production and therefore, fundamental exercises of power (Ford, 2017). The study of campus landscapes is relevant to uncovering and…

Engineering education has a long and well-researched history; however, recent declines in the number of undergraduate students entering and matriculating through to graduation has commanded the engineering education community's attention. To help counter the declining number of students entering and persisting in engineering, an engineering…

College and university campuses are designed and maintained by experts in facilities management and planning. What is lacking in these processes is expertise in learning environments and creating spaces that are healthy and inclusive. University organizational structures aid in the autonomy of academic freedom and the nimbleness of research…

Little has changed about the physical properties of public schooling in the United States since the industrial revolution--desks, rows, and teachers at the front of the room (McCoy, 2007). Foote (2019) has argued there is no better way to create a more modern learning space than to do a complete redesign. Given the dramatic redefinition of…

This three-article dissertation explores educational innovation in charter schools. A common frame of reference for each article is the consideration of the influence of Dr. Benjamin Bloom's 2 sigma problem--the observation that one-on-one tutoring, though often cost prohibitively expensive, produces outcomes two standard deviations higher than…

This dissertation was conducted to explore the influence of architectural design on educators' and students' behavior and perception about their learning. The study began with four principal questions, concerning a new academic building at the University of Kansas. However, the inquiry process took me to different directions. The questions focused…

Drexel University, a private university in Philadelphia, is expanding its campus to attract more students, faculty, and researchers. The current President, John Fry, envisions transforming West Philadelphia into an innovation district. The university is working with real estate developers on a $3.5 billion real estate project at Schuylkill Yards,…

Facility design and the planning steps within this process are part of continued discourse among school design professionals and school officials. Historically, schools often mirrored architectural designs of a time-period or as a response to economic trends. The discourse has evolved over time, and recently, there has been an increasing focus on…

Faculty at colleges and universities across the nation are under pressure to provide engaging classroom environments suited to a diverse student population in order to increase student retention. Faculty professional development is often supported by Centers for Teaching and Learning (CTL). Larger, well-funded schools have created CTLs with…

This dissertation blends architectural history with disability studies to better understand the social construction of disability during childhood in the early twentieth century. Open-air schools and classes emerged as an educational experiment in the United States in 1904 and were abandoned by 1945. These spaces sought to improve the education of…