University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

The new furniture and computer stations in Knox Hall make for more inviting study areas for students. Photo: NANCY J. PARISI

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• “We’re trying to create this environment so students want to be here from 7 in the morning until 10 at night.”

  John Pfeffer

  Service Area Leader, Instructional Technology Support Services

By CHARLOTTE HSU

Published: September 9, 2009

Students sitting on the floor with books splayed around them used to be a familiar sight in Knox Hall. In the building’s lobbies, they would carve out makeshift study spaces by simply gathering in groups and staking claim to a spot on the ground.

But improvements that took place this summer are helping to make those uncomfortable sessions a thing of the past. A series of renovations has transformed public spaces and classrooms in Knox and other facilities, outfitting them with new technology and making them more comfortable places to learn.

Workers installed computer stations and furniture in public spaces in Knox and the Natural Sciences Complex, both on the North Campus, and in Diefendorf Hall on the South Campus. In addition, 17 classrooms in six buildings were outfitted with projectors, document cameras and other state-of-the-art equipment. A new system allows Instructional Technology Support Services staff to monitor, from a central office, the status of devices in classrooms. The system provides information, for instance, on the remaining life of bulbs in projectors so staff can replace bulbs before they go out.

With these projects, the university is moving forward with implementing its vision, driven by UB 2020, of building campuses with a diverse landscape of learning spaces that create opportunities for members of the campus community to exchange ideas.

The classrooms that were updated with new technology this summer are among about five dozen that have been upgraded over the past five fiscal years. Three received what John Pfeffer, service area leader for Instructional Technology Support Services, calls a comprehensive “fit and finish” renovation. Room 218 in Norton Hall was one of the spaces receiving this special treatment. In that classroom, workers renovated the ceiling and covered parts of the wall with fabric to improve acoustics. New furniture includes tables and chairs on wheels, so students and faculty members can easily rearrange the furnishings for group activities.

The remodeling of public spaces in Knox, the Natural Sciences Complex and Diefendorf also should catch students’ attention. The two lobbies in Knox—upstairs and downstairs—now house informal study lounges, complete with chairs, couches and large LCD screens on which students can display images from their laptops for peers to see. The Natural Sciences Complex features similar study spaces. In addition, workers have installed “quick-connect” stations, which come with computers students can access, and “study bars”—counters where students can sit and plug in their own computers between classes. The rotunda in Diefendorf has been outfitted with study bars as well.

“When you walked through Knox, when classes were changing, students were trying to get together, but they had to sit on the floor to do it,” Pfeffer says. “As part of the UB 2020 master planning effort, a private consultant came and looked at our informal learning spaces, and one of the recommendations they came forth with was that we needed to do something about these dark, dank hallways and kind of open them up and make these spaces more inviting to students because the students are here not just for class,” Pfeffer says. “We’re trying to create this environment so students want to be here from 7 in the morning until 10 at night.”