The Smart Classroom – an Industry-Academia Collaborative Attempt to Design the Future Teaching and Learning Environment
Musabbir Chowdhury, Niagara College Canada (Canada)
Abstract
The immersion of technological singularity in our daily life cannot be ignored anymore. Companies around the world are busy connecting their products and services with the Internet of things. With that in mind, initially funded by the National Research Council Canada, an Ontario based Furniture Company name Borgo partnered with an academic research partner, the Niagara College based Productivity and Innovation Lab, to ideate the future classroom’s design. The study explored the how the world of connectivity can be integrated with the design of future classroom to foster a better teaching and learning environment. The researchers explored how common classroom variables such as sound, temperature, shape, light, color, flooring, plants and so on can be leveraged to foster a better teaching and learning environment. In addition, the study also investigated how the new generation furniture can support modern pedagogical teaching and learning practices to maximize the knowledge dissemination and retention. The study focused on the classroom design for the higher education (both graduate and undergraduate), collected data from Ontario students and faculty members, and also made recommendation for subsequent steps.