Atmosphere Higher Education

HELLO

At Atmosphere Commercial Interiors we’re passionated about delivering smart and effective educational solutions. Your space needs to be flexible and functional, while allowing creativity and innovation to thrive. Interactivity and being able to transition easily from mode to mode are important features for an ever-changing classroom and something that we strive to accomplish through design and furniture selections.

With years of experience and research behind us, we’re here to design an environment that best supports your educators and students.

We can’t wait to work with you.

ENGAGING SPACES

New data from ongoing Steelcase Education studies shows that classrooms designed for active learning—i.e., where physical space supports a focus on engaging experiences for students and faculty— have a significant effect on student engagement.

Students now expect a range of postures, the ability to move, and a safe and supportive space for teaching and learning.

MAKER SPACES

The maker space is an incubator for problemsolving, creativity, and collaboration.

With this variety of activities taking place, often simultaneously, it makes sense to create spaces within the maker space that accommodate quiet, individual work as well as group work and construction.

This variety of activities also calls for versatility from your maker space furniture. It’s fitting that designing and furnishing a maker space is analogous to the projects the students undertake, just on a bigger scale.

IN-BETWEEN SPACES

Every space is a learning space!

Learning can and should happen everywhere on campus through in-between spaces to turn underutilized, informal areas into so much more than transition spaces.

WHY & HOW TO GROW ACTIVE LEARNING

Already back in 1852, at least one thought leader, John Henry Newman, asserted that true learning “consists, not merely in the passive reception into the mind of a number of ideas hitherto unknown to it, but in the mind’s energic and simultaneous action upon and among those new ideas.”

institution’s biggest challenges and the most demanding metrics they face.

Why then is learning still stagnant in so many of today’s schools, colleges and universities, while others are successfully embracing active learning and rapidly growing their investments in its methods and learning spaces?

According to recent Steelcase research involving 34 schools ranging from kindergartens to universities, the overarching denominator of success is leadership — specifically, administrative leaders who fully recognize and promote the purpose and value of active learning. These change champions realize active learning is about more than just the trendy ideas of some teachers. Instead, they recognize active learning has a much bigger part to play, effectively tackling some of their

“All schools are driven by various success factors,” observes Sharon Beaudry, an experienced educator who conducted this research project as a Steelcase Fellow. “It might be enrollment. It might be retention. It might be graduation rates, testing scores or engagement metrics. And increasingly, schools are incorporating active learning as part of the formula in achieving these goals.

“One of the most important findings from this research is that leaders at schools where active learning is successfully growing have been able to tie it directly to a range of success factors. Because of that, it has become an important part of their strategy for addressing key goals for their institution.”

Of course, no leader can do it alone. At the same time, without administrative leaders as its proponents, significant growth of active learning at an institution is essentially

impossible. By providing vision, guidance and empowerment to cross-functional teams, leaders are irreplaceably important for making change happen.

Significant Variances

Of the 34 schools included in the research, 97% had little to no previous exposure to active learning classrooms. After receiving an active learning classroom through Steelcase’s grant program, 25% became what Beaudry terms “high-flyers”— schools that invested in an average of 30 more active learning classrooms after receiving their grant. An additional 22% of the schools were “progress makers” with growth of 10-20 more active learning spaces at their institutions. In contrast, more than 50% — the “well-meaning teams” — achieved very little or no growth, despite the best efforts of advocates.

Why such a range of difference? What insights can be gained from this research to benefit other institutions hoping to successfully seed and nurture active learning? How can active

learning go beyond isolated occurrences in just a few classrooms to becoming a norm throughout an entire institution? Those were among the questions this research focused on answering.

Uncovering the Growth Factors

Analysis of the synthesized research revealed 11 key factors that are fundamental for successfully growing active learning in any type of institution:

KNOWLEDGE & TRAINING

Active learning knowledge: Make the benefits and outcomes of active learning widely known and understood, within and beyond the teaching staff.

Multiple training methods: Transitioning to active learning can be challenging for educators. Develop systematic, institutional approaches to training, including incentives, to ensure widespread cultural change.

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GROWTH PRACTICES

Innovative culture: Motivate a majority of staff to embrace active learning versus sticking with traditional methods and approaches. In successful schools, staff were excited to cross thresholds and be part of the journey toward more progressive learning.

Standardized technology approach: Avoid overloading active learning classrooms with complicated technologies. Instead, take a standardized, user-centered approach. In addition to easier adoption, this approach avoids giving active learning a reputation within the school of being too complex or a pricey investment for only a privileged few.

General classroom use: Don’t limit your grantprovided active learning classroom to just one department or one educator. Instead, ensure it is used in rotation by multiple classes and educators, extending the experience broadly and laying a foundation for growth.

Priority scheduling: Assign active learning classrooms only to educators with activelearning training, reducing the risk of use for lecture-based classes — a waste of both learning opportunities and resources.

SUCCESS METRICS

Tied to student success factors: Tie active learning to student success factors and incorporate it into your overall strategy and facilities master planning efforts.

Showcase marketing: Showcase active

learning spaces to generate internal and external enthusiasm and enhance recruitment efforts, recognizing that expectations for more active learning are accelerating from kindergarten on.

TEAM AND INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT

Leadership champions: Leaders who maintain a rigorous focus on active learning and inspire others to become its torchbearers play a monumental role in the success of active learning. In contrast, without leaders’ enlightenment and involvement, the facilities team often blocked efforts to proliferate active learning spaces.

Multifunctional planning team: Involve multifunctional teams. Ideally these include people in administration, teaching, IT, facilities and procurement. Less successful schools have a narrower, top-down approach, often limited to facilities and finance.

Funding strategy: Create a planned funding approach for active learning growth, tying it

directly to student success metrics and the strategic plan versus relying on grants or remnant departmental funds.

Assuring Impact

Paying attention to only a few of the growth factors while ignoring the others will rarely lead to success, emphasizes Beaudry; it’s the combination of factors that makes the difference. That said, the research underscores the necessity of buy-in and involvement from leaders.

“Time and again, throughout all of these different factors, we could see that it’s the leader that is able to pull the levers to make this happen in a meaningful way,” she notes. “But they can’t — and shouldn’t — do it alone. That can too easily backfire as a heavy-handed, top-down approach. But when you get leaders involved and they’re bringing in a team of people with multiple voices heard, that’s what really drives successful active learning initiatives.”

Steelcase B-Free Bench

Global River

Steelcase Flex Markerboard Smith System Flowform

UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA

The University of Arizona Student Success District drives students’ 24/7 development through an array of services and spaces based on collaborative, hands-on learning with deep technological engagement. Inspired by the design of technology company campuses, the District will encourage students to move seamlessly between spaces that provide a full range of services and expertise allowing them to reach their academic and career goals.

The first space completed, the Bartlett Academic Success Center, features centralized student services, mentoring and tutoring, and career counseling. A kit of parts was provided to seamlessly integrate crosscampus departments under one roof, with slight variations occurring in each. A variety of settings can be found throughout the building including lounge, collaboration, classroom, private offices, open offices, and conference spaces.

University of Arizona design by Miller Hull photography by Chipper Hatter

University of Arizona design by Miller Hull photography by Chipper Hatter

Eastern New Mexico University

Madison College, Wisconsin

Tufts University School of Medicine, Arizona

PROJECT PROCESS

1. EXPLORE

Define project scope

Determine project team Refine roles + responsibilities

Discovery workshops Workplace surveys

Test + evaluate pilot spaces

2. PLAN

Socialize schedule

Identify key milestones

Validate space requirements

Concept review

Product specification

Finalize finish selection

Installation drawings

Quote formatted for review

Delivery + install sequencing identified

3. PROVIDE

Orders placed, tracked and reported Site verification

Pre-install meetings

Floorplan + installation drawings complete Installation schedule finalized Communicate real-time progress Order status reports

4.

EXECUTE

Product arrival

Warehousing + delivery Walk-through Project closed On-site services + training Move-in experience

5. SUPPORT

Post-occupancy surveys

Measure space against goals + intent Measure performance Facility support

University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire photography Andrea Paulseth, Volume One

ABOUT US

Since it’s inception, Atmosphere’s success has been fueled by people who pursue expertise while navigating the commercial furniture world with passion and an eye for precision. We value a learning mindset and continuous innovation to enable the growth and enrichment of our teams, partnerships, and local communities.

From small start-ups to top Fortune 50 organizations, the clients that we support each have unique brands, stories, and project needs. As we continue to expand into new markets, we remain agile as an organization to best serve our clients so that no matter the size or scope, each project receives meticulous attention and an exemplary and distinctive outcome.

Our guiding purpose is to connect people through creative applications of architecture, furniture, and technology; and deliver environments that are compelling, highperforming, and human-centric. Today, team members across sales, project management, design, installation, and operations support clients and projects around the globe. Because of our partnership with Steelcase, the global leader in the commercial furniture industry, our distribution network is unmatched in scope and experience.

Let’s work together to create better work experiences.

CONNECT

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