Digital Workspace

Turning University Common Areas into Collaborative Environments

Collaboration tools help students work together outside of the classroom.

Nancy Mann Jackson is a former college instructor and a freelance writer who regularly covers education, healthcare and finance.

In 2023, when Quinnipiac University undertook an extensive renovation of its Communications, Computing and Engineering building, a focus on student collaboration was central to the project. In recent years, the Hamden, Conn., campus has evolved to integrate modern collaboration technology, and spaces in which to use it, in every corner.

The newly renovated CCE, for example, includes the Maker Space, which is one large Zoom Room with multiple cameras and monitors that connect to other nodes in the university’s Innovation Hub, says Lynn Byers, professor of mechanical engineering at the school and director of its mechanical engineering program. “While they are working in the Maker Space, students can collaborate across campus with resources such as the Marketing Insights and Behavioral Research Lab in the School of Business and the Agency in the School of Communications.”

The building also includes collaborative classrooms and smaller huddle rooms equipped with the latest interactive technologies.

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Collaborative Spaces Create Modern Learning Environments

Like Quinnipiac, other institutions are working to integrate collaborative environments across their campuses, making it easier for students learn from each other and sending a positive message to prospective students and parents about an institutions’ investment in offering a modern experience. The emphasis on collaborative spaces and technology allows students to work with others from various disciplines, mimicking the modern workplace and fostering creativity, innovation and problem-solving, Byers says.

“Pedagogical norms are evolving to require students to spend more time doing active-based, project-based or collaboration-focused assignments,” says Michael Fischer, senior director for research, discovery and design at EAB. “Students have a greater desire to spend their limited time on campus in social settings, with digital engagement actively driving up in-person activity.”

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While Quinnipiac’s entire CEC building was renovated with collaboration in mind, institutions can achieve the same effect in cafeterias, hallways and dorm study areas.

“Every space on campus can become a collaboration area if students desire it,” Fischer says. “Alongside the evolution of libraries and study rooms, we have seen increased demand for collaboration capabilities in dining facilities, individual residential hall floors and even outdoors, assuming the climate is right.”

Institutions achieve the greatest ROI when they work to make “dead space” on campus more collaborative, Fischer says. For example, that may mean installing more flexible and comfortable furniture, more power outlets, and monitors in a hallway and atrium to provide students with places to work together.

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Selecting the Right Tools Doesn’t Have To Be Complicated

Determining the right tech tools needed to build out collaborative spaces doesn’t have to be challenging. Some institutions have experimented with new technologies, but “the proven infrastructure remains surprisingly low-tech,” Fischer says. Generally, students will gather and collaborate when there are tools available such as whiteboards or digital screens with easy screen-sharing capabilities, easy-to-book space both in the moment and on short notice, and reliable access to the internet and to power.

EXPLORE: Learning spaces need the right technology to make students feel connected.

At Quinnipiac, students regularly use group study areas with large whiteboards, modular furniture that can offer flexible seating arrangements for group activities, and digital smartboards that allow real-time annotation and sharing.

“Students tend to find natural ways to collaborate once they can find the space and technology they need,” Fischer says. “Identifying available space for collaboration that has the necessary technology can be challenging for students amid busy campuses and crowded floors. Hardware that makes it easy for students to identify available space by technology type, in a similar fashion to locating a parking spot in a modern parking garage, can speed up the time to collaborate.”

Include End-User Input in Planning Collaborative Spaces

In planning for more collaborative tech spaces, it’s ideal to seek input from those who will be using the spaces. Quinnipiac’s renovation started with a needs assessment and assembled a team that included the provost, deans, faculty, facilities representatives and IT representatives, as well as an external architect and engineer. The group regularly consulted students and faculty who would be using the spaces for their input.

Along with careful planning, Fischer advises, it’s important to avoid overinvesting in technology.

“Prototyping and piloting are crucial to determining how students engage with the technology in your unique context before rolling out more widely,” he says. “Also, let students and other stakeholders lead the way: Observe how they use the common or collaboration space, or how they celebrate or complain about your existing technologies, and lean into existing uses instead of attempting to create blank-slate changes.”

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