Regis provides outdoor learning options on campus
Outside spaces help faculty, students engage through a safe, effective class environment
When the going gets tough, the tough head outdoors.
As part of a multifaceted effort to provide students with the safest and best possible academic experience, Regis University has established 22 outdoor teaching spaces for use in pleasant weather during the fall semester. Faculty members who choose to hold class outside may reserve the spaces to provide socially distanced learning in the fresh air of the Northwest Denver Campus.
Each outdoor course has an indoor classroom associated with it, so faculty members may move classes to those socially distanced and sanitized indoor spaces if they wish.
As of the Aug. 17 start of the fall semester, 46 faculty members had scheduled 210 separate class sessions to meet outside during the first week.
“Outdoor teaching spaces are not just a means for reducing the risk of COVID-19 transmission, although it is one of many strategies that has been shown to be effective. Given our fortune to live in a state with 300 days of sunshine, outdoor learning is also a way to keep our spirits up and enjoy fresh air. Teachers have been taking it outdoors for years. This year it’s more important than ever, so our formalized approach enables us to assure teachers can use the great outdoors safely as a classroom.” - Provost Janet Houser, Ph.D.
Along with Regis’ use of Swivl technology for hybrid learning models, the outdoor teaching spaces allow the University to flexibly meet the needs of students while maintaining a safe and comfortable learning environment.
Following his first outdoor course on Aug. 17, Fred Gray, Ph.D., professor of physics and astronomy, noticed that the benefits of outdoor teaching included student safety — and more. “It seems like the outdoor environment lends itself naturally to an effective ‘flipped classroom’ model of education, where students learn by actively working through problems rather than by passively listening,” Gray said.
Provost Janet Houser, Ph.D., said outdoor teaching also has the potential to boost student wellbeing. “Given our fortune to live in a state with 300 days of sunshine, outdoor learning is also a way to keep our spirits up and enjoy fresh air,” she said. “Teachers have been taking it outdoors for years. This year it’s more important than ever.”
The University has made special accommodations to meet the needs of faculty members and colleges. Group music classes, for example, will take place in a large, soft-sided tent in the parking lot west of Claver Hall. Because these music courses likely will need to be held outdoors throughout the semester, the tent will use outdoor heaters to maintain a fresh-air environment that’s comfortable for students.
“I want to facilitate the experience of learning through in-person connections that our students want and need, but to do that in a way that reduces (to the extent possible) the very real risks of COVID-19 to them, to our faculty and staff, and to the community. Furthermore, it seems like the outdoor environment lends itself naturally to an effective ‘flipped classroom’ model of education where students learn by actively working through problems rather than by passively listening.” - Fred Gray, Ph.D., professor of physics and astronomy