University students spend 20 to 30 hours a week in classrooms and labs. At Intellis, we understand that educational institutions strive to match their students' dedication with a commitment to creating a healthy, safe, stimulating, and supportive environment that meets the individual needs of all higher education students.
4 Ways to Enhance Classroom Environments in Higher Education
Creating an optimal learning environment for college and university students is essential for their success. In this blog, we'll discuss the top environmental conditions that impact student well-being and academic achievement. Addressing these key areas, facility planners can enhance the overall student experience and pave the way for even greater success.
Read on to discover how improvements in lighting, indoor air quality, thermal comfort, and acoustics can contribute to a healthier and more productive learning environment.
Explore Facility Planning Solutions for Higher Education.
Recent studies indicate that the challenges of managing and maintaining educational facilities are mounting. College and university buildings, on average, are more than 42 years old and have been rated a troubling D+ for infrastructure. According to America's Infrastructure Report Card, deferred maintenance and dollars for capital renewals are growing daily. So what can facilities leaders do?
Schedule a demo to discover how our software improves higher education facilities.
4 Environmental Conditions to Improve Student Success
Here, we discuss four key areas of focus that will help create healthier and more effective learning environments.
1. Lighting
Poor lighting can be a massive distraction to student learning. Lighting in the classroom should be high enough for students to see optimally, but natural enough to be soothing.
2. Noise
Noisy distractions from hallways and nearby rooms can disrupt students' ability to focus and hear.
3. Temperature
Poorly regulated temperatures make it difficult for anyone to focus and do their best when shivering or sweating. Stuffy, warm rooms naturally lead to drowsy learners, and a chilly environment may keep students alert. Still, it will also make them uncomfortable and hinder their ability to perform at their optimal level.
4. Air Quality
Poor air quality can have significant consequences, including increased illness among students and faculty, a rise in absenteeism, and severe repercussions for students with asthma, allergies, and other breathing difficulties.
Discover Solutions Built for Higher Education
As a facility manager, planner, director of finance, or chief operations officer working in higher education, we know your mission is to provide students and staff with the best possible learning environment. Your students deserve the best, and the best isn't humid classrooms, poor lighting, or bad air quality.
An improved indoor environment and air quality can benefit everyone, especially college and university students, who are more susceptible to infection than adults. Every aspect of your physical assets—from building design to cleanliness, lighting, and ventilation—impacts the mental state of students and staff in educational facilities.
Managing and planning facility maintenance at higher education institutions demands organization, accountability, and reliability. Our facilities management and capital planning software offers multi-site functionality to help you manage affiliate sites across networks, buildings on campus, outdoor fields, and everything in between.
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Additional Resources
- Challenges in Higher Education Facilities Management
- Leadership in Educational Facilities
- The Best Way to Do Capital Planning for Colleges and Universities
Environmental conditions are crucial to student success and the creation of a healthy learning environment. College and education facility managers, planners, and university business officers can improve four critical ecological conditions to enhance student success: lighting, indoor air quality, thermal comfort, and acoustics. These conditions can enhance academic performance, reduce absenteeism rates, and foster a healthier learning environment.
