Campus Space
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
DEPARTMENT REPRESENTATIVE ANNUAL PROJECT 2018 CAMPUS SPACE AUTHORS 1 RATIONALE 2 AIMS 2 METHODOLOGY 3 OFF-CAMPUS SPACE 4 OFF CAMPUS CASE STUDY: LeSoCo 2016 - 2018 5 CONTEXT 5 PROBLEMS 5 POSITIVES 6 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ANY FUTURE OFF CAMPUS EXPANSION 6 PRACTICE BASED SPACE ON CAMPUS 8 GENERAL ACCESS 8 EQUIPMENT AND AVAILABILITY 9 OTHER ARISING ISSUES/ RECURRING PROBLEMS 9 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PRACTISE BASED SPACES: 10 INNOVATION AND ACCESSIBILITY IN LEARNING AND TEACHING SPACES 11 General: 15 Expanding off-campus: 15 Practise based spaces: 15 Improving access to learning and teaching spaces: 15 Appendix 16 AUTHORS Claire Wong: Undergraduate, Sociology Lucy Cowling: Postgraduate, Art Natasha Rowan: Undergraduate, ECL, American Literature Nathaniel Okenwa: Undergraduate, Computing Nikolaos Akritidis : Undergraduate, Media Sahar Gerstel: Undergraduate, Design 1 RATIONALE Campus Space has been a recurring topic in the Department Representative Annual Reports. As Department Representatives, we are invested in ensuring that spaces on campus are accessible and equipped to meet students’ needs, as a good allocation and maintenance of space is foundational for students to have a good experience whilst studying at Goldsmiths. Many previous reports placed an emphasis on an internal investigation of learning and teaching space. It therefore seemed useful to explore new areas, opening up debate around future potentials for Goldsmiths to grow and improve. It is for this reason that the 2018 report places its emphasis on off-campus expansion, both analysing current off-campus locations and suggesting possible future sites, practice based space on campus and a comparison between the accessibility of Goldsmiths’ learning and teaching spaces with that of other universities elsewhere in London. AIMS 1. Investigate if there is student demand for off-campus teaching and study space. 2. Identifying flaws in communication between college, staff, and students in previous off-campus satellite locations, notably LeSoCo in Deptford. 3. Map inadequacies in practice-led (studio) spaces. 4. Determine what defines the most innovative and fully inclusive learning and teaching space, testing this definition against current locations on the Goldsmiths campus. 5. Provide recommendations of practical improvements to campus spaces and strategic improvements to communication between the college, staff, and students. This report focuses on three key themes; off-campus study space, full accessibility in specific learning and teaching rooms, and practise based spaces on campus. These three areas were deemed most important as they address both the newer developments that have not yet been researched in previous reports, such as the current expansion of Estates to off-campus locations and new innovations in teaching space, but also continue to highlight issues that constantly need to be re-addressed in order to give Goldsmiths students’ the best experience whilst utilising campus space, such as accessibility and functional studios. For off campus study space, we offer an explicit focus on key areas in South East London where students would like these spaces to be. LeSoCo is treated as a pilot of such off-campus expansion, and it is therefore important to analyse it as a case-study for successful and less successful implementation and communication. For accessibility in learning and teaching spaces, we will focus on the “ideal” accessible learning and teaching room; and seeing if Goldsmiths can follow suit of other London universities excelling in this area, such as Westminster University. In our section concerning practice based spaces on campus, we have focused specifically on what technical and electrical equipment students feel can be improved in those departments with practice-based programmes such as Photography, Media, Computational Arts, Design, Theatre and Performance, Music and Art. 2 METHODOLOGY A range of qualitative and quantitative research methods have been employed to gather data. To identify our three focuses, we analysed the results of the Student Voice Survey 2018, being steered by significant peaks in respondents answers’ (ie. 48.79% said they would use off-campus study space) or anomalies in data (ie. 19.09% said they know there is study space available but they do not use it). This survey was answered by 1117 students. It also generated 1075 qualitative text comments to the specific questions regarding campus space, some of which have been included in data analysis and recommendations. Additional research methods were used to be able to further analyse this initial data. Regarding the possibility of off campus spaces, a Facebook survey with multiple choice answers was put out to students, asking them to select locations they would consider going to to study off campus. Regarding LeSoCo as a case-study, three in-depth interviews were conducted with MFA Fine Art Alumni that graduated in 2017, as this was the year that was most affected by the move from the Laurie Grove Baths on campus to Deptford. This has been supplemented with numerous testimonies of students that currently have their studios there. Regarding practise based spaces, ten open ended informal interviews were held with students, some individually, some in pairs and some in groups of three. Additionally, unstructured interviews have been conducted via email to key staff members. Specifically, Lynne Tucker (Chief Information Officer) and Professor Osita Okagbue (Department Head of Theatre & Performance). An unstructured interview with the Acting and Filmmaking Society also took place. The student interviews offered rich, qualitative findings, as they were the most efficient way for us to consider student priorities and responses to their practise based spaces. For accessibility in specific learning and teaching areas, we have gathered testimonies of lived student experiences. 3 OFF-CAMPUS SPACE When looking into off- campus study spaces, a survey was sent to students, giving six options for neighborhoods surrounding the campus, assuming these are the areas with higher populations of Goldsmiths students. Peckham received the most votes, Greenwich come second and Camberwell and Brockley tied in third place. Students prefer to have study space close to where they live, which they can use as self-directed space, instead of travelling all the way to the library or other spaces on campus. Off-campus study space could be a hot desk space/common working space, where there are large tables and individual ones for students to use. With the same facilities as in the library: printers, small cantine, internet, desks. 4 OFF CAMPUS CASE STUDY: LeSoCo 2016 - 2018 CONTEXT Commencing in September 2016, the MFA Fine Art programme moved from the Laurie Grove Baths to the former gym and fitness buildings of Lewisham Southwark College (LeSoCo), situated between Deptford Creek and Deptford Bridge DLR station. This satellite campus on Deptford Church Street is located 0.7mile - a 15 minute walk - from the main campus. In September 2017 all other students and teaching staff joined this off-campus location. Apart from the PhD students, the entire Postgraduate Art Department is located outside the ‘one campus college’ model. This equates to just under 200 students and staff, roughly 25% of the entire Goldsmiths Art Department. The reason for this move is that the former Victorian baths that housed the MFA Fine Art and Curating studios, are currently being redeveloped into the Goldsmiths Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA). Repurposing former practice-led studio campus space to create a new public art institution, on a campus where lack of space is an ongoing problem, naturally presented itself as a contested issue. However, this large scale development of new studio practice and teaching spaces could also be an exciting pilot for further off-campus expansion. Therefore, it is important to analyse which aspects of the move worked well, from the communication to the implementation - as well as where improvements can be made when such situations will arise again in the future. PROBLEMS Initial communication ❏ Throughout the 2015/2016 academic year it was known that a section of the studio spaces in the Laurie Grove Baths would be moved, but no further information about this was communicated with the affected students. ❏ The move to Deptford was not mentioned in the Student Staff Forum or Learning and Teaching Meetings earlier that year. ❏ The first mention of the Deptford site did not come until June 2016, communicated through email by a faculty staff member. This email also announced a meeting between students and staff the following week. ❏ Due to opaque communication, a general sentiment arose that faculty staff were ‘siding’ with management, against the best interest of the student body. Subsequent management of situation ❏ At the meeting between senior management, faculty staff, and students questions raised got “shouted down” by fellow students, with staff not being able to facilitate a ‘safe’ environment for those to adequately voice their concerns. ❏ Management was unable to provide the requested information, for instance only coming with initial floor plans of the new building, but no photos, indication of how space would be allocated, timeline of who would move when or knowledge of which facilities would be in place. 5 ❏ The first walk-throughs of the space got planned outside of term time, in the summer holiday. As a result, many students were not able to attend. ❏ In the 2016/2017 academic year, only half the MFA Fine Art students were moved, as the facilities were not yet fit-for-purpose to host the full amount of students. This was disruptive. ❏ As the studios have been repurposed from a former fitness building and the rental from LeSoCo is only temporary, not all features of the building or subsequent refittings have made it fully fit for purpose. Some notable examples: - Still no (stair)lift for those with extra accessibility needs to reach the first floor. - All food was banned between September - December 2017 due to a mouse epidemic. - None of the taps supply decent drinking water. - There was a leak in the hot water system that caused there to be no heating for most of January 2018.