Most Important Classroom Attributes

All faculty were also presented with one open-ended question asking them to describe their most important features of the classroom. A total of 481 comments and verbatim responses were coded into themes. Many responses were an elaboration of one or more of the options presented in the quantitative matrix. The most common themes are presented below. Please note that percentages will total more than 100% due to comments containing multiple themes.

• Technology (249 comments, 52% of all comments)
  • Slightly more than half of all faculty comments indicate some form of technology in the classroom as being the most important (88 comments were related to general/non-specific technology, 3% of technology comments).
  • Many times faculty express that they would like to have “working” or “reliable” technology while others prefer technology that is “easy to use”.
  • This mostly concerns audio/visual equipment and/or computers available to project images and videos onto a screen (48 comments were related to general audio/visual needs, 19.3% of technology comments).
    • Several comments specifically mentioned projectors (56 comments, 22.5% of technology comments) and screens (34 comments, 13.7% of technology comments)
  • The ease of access and functionality of Canvas (10 comments, 4% of technology comments) is also mentioned especially for online
  • Ability to reliably access Internet (25 comments, 10% of technology comments) was a common theme as
  • Many faculty noted that electrical outlets (22 comments, 8% of technology comments) were crucial to technology use for both instructors and students.
  • Other comments (27 comments, 8% of all technology comments) stated the importance of compatibility between software and equipment, a smart board or smart podium, software for various teaching needs/disciplines, and the ability to record lectures and student presentations.

• Ability to customize/rearrange space (167 comments, 35% of all comments)
  • The next most important classroom characteristic is being able to have “various configurations” of furniture and the overall space with slightly more than one-third of all faculty comments reporting this
  • Many faculty list this feature in order to be able to better “interact with students” as well as “creating spaces for small group activities”.
  • Faculty describe a need for their space to be “flexible” and a desire for students to be “collaborative” in the classroom.

• Space Size (121 comments, 25% of all comments)
  • Somewhat related to the ability to rearrange a classroom is the importance of the size of the space to
  • Many faculty mention having “adequate” or “enough” space that allows “easy movement” of students into different formations.
  • Faculty also speak to having enough space for students so they “are not cramped” as well as having enough space in between students when taking exams.

• Writing surfaces (95 comments, 20% of all comments)
  • One out of five comments reflect on a specific aspect of writing surfaces in the classroom as being a top
  • More often faculty refer to white/chalk boards but a significant amount also refer to having adequate desk/table space for students to be able to take notes or complete
  • The most frequently mentioned priority was having “enough white or blackboard space”. Most do not indicate a preference but refer to it as a white
  • Many also speak of making sure that there is chalk available, “access to markers that work”, and “functional erasers”