Instructional space usually connotes lecture halls, classrooms, studios and laboratories, but with both instructional techniques and technologies undergoing rapid modification, audiovisual and computer facilities must now be added to the traditional venues. The consensus from nearly all areas of the campus is that the need to expand instructional space has not kept up with the growth of student populations and programs.
Providing sufficient space to accommodate the campus's growing population is only one problem. A second clear problem is space reallocation. As new buildings are built, or old ones remodeled, the University needs to have clear criteria and procedures for reassigning vacant space. A third consideration is the age and condition of existing facilities. Fully one-quarter of the gross area of campus buildings is over forty years old. In 1991 it was estimated that just over 70 percent of NCSU's buildings were in need of some degree of remodeling to bring them up to current standards for accessibility, use, and safety. The estimated total cost to restore facilities to satisfactory condition was nearly $140 million.
Table 9.2 compares the availability of classrooms, studios, student laboratories, and workstations (seats) for 1981 and 1991, a period of rapid growth in University enrollment.
Number Average stations Area
Year of rooms Stations per room (in sq. ft.)
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110 Classrooms 1981 281 14,607 52 220,775
1991 246 13,971 57 202,821
1993* 250 14,281 57 208,491
210 Laboratories 1981 193 4,142 21 248,319
1991 226 5,224 23 240,090
1993* 236 5,567 24 255,531
* Through May 1993
Since 1981 both the number of laboratories and the available stations have increased at a rate comparable to that of the student enrollment (station increase from 1981-1991 was 34 percent). Moreover, on the average, the hours of laboratory use have also steadily increased. It is important to recognize, however, that in some key core courses (e.g., chemistry and physics), there is serious overcrowding in laboratories. In addition, space alone does not define the adequacy of these fundamentally important teaching facilities. Much of NCSU's inventory of laboratory equipment is now well beyond its useful lifetime. The modest laboratory fees charged do not adequately address this issue.
Furthermore, the situation with classrooms has been much less satisfactory than the situation with laboratories. The data show a 2 percent loss of seats and a net loss of thirty classrooms. This is despite additions in the College of Textiles and in Caldwell Hall. In Harrelson Hall alone (the largest classroom building on the north side of campus) consolidation, renovation, and reallocation have resulted in a net loss of seven rooms and 165 stations. The major building projects during the last decade, major expansions to the library and gymnasium, additions to Scott and Williams Halls, and the construction of Caldwell Hall, all on North Campus, have not added significantly to classroom space. On the south side of the main campus, construction of Jordan Hall and a new wing for Robertson Hall have added only modest amounts of classroom space. On the Centennial Campus only the new College of Textiles complex contains dedicated instructional space.
Although teaching larger classes is not the solution to the problems, the University has been able to compensate for the loss of classroom space to some extent by increasing the efficiency of its room use and station occupation. Tables 9.3 and 9.4 show a dramatic increase in the average hours of use of instructional facilities and workstations, but the increase has not been uniform. Unlike laboratories, many classrooms are used to less than optimum advantage.
Year Day Night Total
---- ---- ----- -----
110 Classrooms 1981 16.0 1.1 17.1
1991 28.1 2.8 30.9
210 Laboratories 1981 8.8 0.8 9.6
1991 10.9 1.2 12.1
Year Occupancy rate
---- --------------
110 Classrooms 1981 58.1%
1991 63.2%
210 Laboratories 1981 65.9%
1991 75.8%
Although the University does monitor the use of classrooms and laboratories (enrollment data is assembled to produce utilization indexes for each room for each class period), no systematic use has yet been made of the data to reallocate space to programs where demand has been increasing faster than average. Also, there currently exist no institutionalized standards for establishing how much space any program or department should be assigned.
The introduction in 1987 of a computerized scheduling procedure was intended to help departments locate open classrooms. Since the procedure is not interactive, however, it has been only minimally successful.
Finally, NCSU has very few interior lounges where students and faculty can meet informally to exchange ideas and communicate on a different level than in the classroom. While these types of spaces on campus are not assignable to a particular function, the committee feels that they are essential to both the educational experience and to promoting a sense of community among the students and faculty.
To gather data on the instructional support available at NCSU, during fall 1992 the Educational Support principal committee of the self-study surveyed all NCSU deans, department heads, and program coordinators. The survey asked six questions to elicit responses on the scope of instructional support at NCSU, the adequacy and effectiveness of the support, accessibility, and suggestions for departmental or University efforts to improve the level of instructional support. Response was nearly comprehensive (see self-study library for detailed response to this survey). Six key issues emerged from the survey data: the supply of classroom and laboratory space; the quality of classroom and laboratory space; the availability of audiovisual and other teaching aids; the quality and quantity of instructional supplies and equipment in laboratories and classrooms; policies concerning allocation of instructional space; and policies concerning construction, maintenance, and renovation of instructional space.
General classrooms, called 110 classrooms, are centrally administered, but specialized teaching classrooms, laboratories, and studios are administered directly by the departments in which they are housed. In order to ensure that adequate classrooms are available, a Classroom Improvement Committee was established in 1985. This committee, which has both faculty and administrative representation, annually solicits improvement requests for 110 classrooms. The committee also oversees classroom inspections to identify needs.
The Classroom Improvement Committee is charged with identifying and prioritizing classroom improvement projects and has traditionally addressed a variety of deficiencies ranging from repairing seating, flooring, chalkboards, etc. to addressing health, safety, and classroom technology issues.
In 1992-93, $192,800 was spent on projects identified by the committee. Additional funding for classroom improvements was supplied by other campus units, including Physical Plant and academic departments.
The Classroom Improvements Committee is currently developing minimum classroom standards to be applied in the annual identification and prioritization of improvement projects. The committee is also developing concepts for "master classrooms," which will permit development and testing of innovative technologies in instruction. This effort is being spearheaded by the Environmental Policy Committee of the Faculty Senate.
The currently proposed classroom standards address requirements such as appropriate student seating (including provisions for left-handed seating and access by the physically challenged), adequate lighting; an appropriate classroom environment including temperature, removal of acoustic and visual barriers; and adequate teaching tools, including chalkboards, projection screens, and audiovisual equipment.
The University is currently developing a comprehensive space plan to identify space needs campuswide, including classroom needs. Although enrollment has been gradually increasing, some classroom space at NCSU has been usurped for other purposes. And even though utilization rates of existing classrooms have increased, surveys indicate that there is a significant deficit in the amount of classroom space available on campus. In the past ten years, NCSU has seen a 2 percent loss of seats and a net loss of thirty classrooms. Space planning will result in a comprehensive plan including recommendations for additional classroom space, but in the meantime, this deficit is not being addressed.
Recommendation 9.16: NCSU should give high priority to increasing the amount and quality of space for classrooms and laboratories available on
campus.
Responses to the Educational Support committee's survey indicate that the quality of instructional-support facilities varies greatly from college to college, and even within colleges at NCSU. Although survey responses confirm that NCSU houses many excellent facilities with correspondingly excellent instructional support services [5.3.1], respondents also indicated that some classrooms or laboratories are inadequate. NCSU has classrooms and laboratories with inadequate or inappropriate equipment. Some are difficult to evacuate. In addition, some laboratories had badly wired electrical devices and lacked appropriate hoods and sinks. Respondents were also concerned about disruptive faults such as noisy window air conditioners, flickering lights, or computer-controlled lights that go out in the middle of lectures. After receiving responses to the survey, the Steering Committee of the self-study forwarded troublesome comments to appropriate persons, and actions have been taken to correct the most serious problems.
Recommendation 9.17: NCSU should give high priority to completing a comprehensive space
plan that addresses not only expansion, but also renovation and maintenance, both of facilities and
equipment.
Responses point to a broader and more pervasive issue: a lack of communication between faculty and administration about classroom quality and state of repair, and uneven distribution of resources for classroom maintenance and renovation. This issue arises as a negative consequence of the decentralization of responsibility for many classrooms. Ideally, all colleges on campus should be as well equipped as the best, and all faculty and students should be satisfied with the results. Apparently decentralization does not provide an adequate solution.
Recommendation 9.18: NCSU should implement universitywide minimum standards for the
quality of all classrooms and instructional-support services.
Furthermore, there is concern that some classrooms are not fully accessible to faculty or students [5.1.1]. Limitations range from building designs that do not guarantee access for the physically challenged, to such administrative issues as classrooms that are locked during school hours and difficult access to audiovisual equipment.
Recommendation 9.19: NCSU should ensure that faculty who teach courses in classrooms outside their "home" buildings are provided with easy access to classrooms and audiovisual
equipment.
In addition, although some facilities are seen as the province of a single department, many are actually used for the overwhelming benefit of students of other departments. As such, they should qualify for general University support separate from departmental budgets.
Recommendation 9.20: NCSU should provide funds so that its Classroom Improvement Committee can identify and provide for the repair of below-standard
facilities.
Perhaps a greater concern is that the faculty do not currently feel empowered to change situations with which they are uncomfortable. Many said that they had never communicated their judgment of the facilities until they filled out this survey. On the other hand, several colleges and departments elicit faculty and student response by constituting laboratory- and classroom-development committees [5.1.1]. Perhaps not coincidentally, in these units the responses to the survey indicated that quality of instructional support services was good. Other academic units that do not request feedback from the principal users of the facilities received less favorable responses.
Recommendation 9.21: NCSU should regularly upgrade and modernize its core teaching laboratories and classrooms, and should replace some facilities and equipment as soon as
possible.
It is difficult to define "efficiency" in the use of classrooms and equipment (survey respondents had conflicting opinions on this subject). In general, however, respondents who thought their academic unit is well staffed and equipped also felt that the use of the facilities and services is efficient. Those who rated the facilities and services adequate but the use inefficient usually said that funding is inadequate to realize the potential benefits of the instructional facilities [5.3.2].
Recommendation 9.22: NCSU should equip teaching laboratories and classrooms with the instructional supplies and equipment that are appropriate to allow the faculty to supply excellent
instruction.
A general concern that arose in responses to the survey is inadequate audiovisual equipment in the classroom. Although general classrooms are managed centrally by the University, many departments have invested in audiovisual equipment. In some colleges, such as the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, an educational media center provides excellent instructional-support services.
But considerable disparity in the availability of audiovisual equipment exists across departments. Departments with limited financial resources are disadvantaged. Faculty who must cross campus to teach a class in another department must either negotiate with the other department to use equipment, or carry their own. The difficulty in ensuring adequate equipment has a detrimental effect on teaching effectiveness. Many believe that a universitywide instructional technology unit would solve many of the problems related to the quality and accessibility of audiovisual equipment.
Recommendation 9.23: NCSU should develop an instructional-technology service distribution system with appropriate management to provide audiovisual services across the
campus.
Recommendation 9.24: NCSU should correct problems of access for all members of the University
community.
