Rice University introduces ‘classroom of the future’

Rice University recently completed updates to Herring Hall’s Room 129 to create a brand new experimental learning space that is being dubbed “the classroom of the future” by Dean of Undergraduates John Hutchinson. Everything in the space – including tables, chairs, projector, podium and whiteboards – is on wheels and can be arranged into any configuration that is conducive to an instructor’s teaching style. The room can hold up to 50 students and will allow faculty to experiment with many different teaching models. Some faculty may elect to teach in the space for an entire semester, while others may want to hold only a few sessions in the space for student performances, poster presentations, critiques and other uses. Four instructors are trying out the space this semester, and the Center for Teaching Excellence will create requests for proposals for others to use the space in the future. (Photo by Joshua Eyler.)