Annual Classroom Report AY 2015 - Rice Universityce o Te esrar 3. Room Inventory (as of 21 Aug 2015)...

Rice University AY 2015 Classrooms Report

(Fall 2014 / Spring 2015 / Summer 2015)

Office of the Registrar

Chris Higgins, Classroom and Scheduling Manager

Table of Contents

1) Space Task Force Summary pp 1-3

2) Room Inventory pp 4-6

3) Room Size Distribution Graphs pp 7-8

4) Room Use and Seat Utilization Graphs – Fall and Spring pp 9-12

5) Room Use Summary – Summer p 13

5) Classroom Quality Management Team p 14

Office of The Registrar

Space Task Force Summary

In 2013, at the request of the Provost, Rice formed a multi-disciplinary Space Task Force, which was directed to

• recommend improvements to standards, practices, and processes affecting all Rice-owned spaces. • benchmark peer institutions to determine standards, decision processes, and best practices. • develop strategic approaches and processes to improve the use of existing space and to increase Rice’s

ability to leverage space opportunities as they arise.

To benchmark, the task force considered the best practices at several peer institutions:

• Carnegie Mellon University • Princeton University • Stanford University • University of California at Berkeley • University of Michigan • University of Notre Dame • Massachusetts Institute of Technology • University of Southern California

Each institution explicitly states that the President or Provost owns all space, with the Registrar managing instructional space and departments scheduling instructional labs.

Space utilization is commonly measured by use as a fraction of available hours. A majority of the selected peer institutions have specific utilization targets for general purpose classrooms. Schools consistently struggle with significantly below average room use in two areas -- non-peak hours and departmentally controlled instructional areas.

To increase utilization of instructional space, universities use different tactics, including limiting the number of classes that departments can schedule in “prime time” (typically 10am to 2pm) and providing room maintenance expenses for Registrar-scheduled spaces to incentivize departments to convert space to Registrar control.

Among the Space Task Force’s recommendations to the Provost are the following policies:

• The Provost administers all space owned or leased by Rice. • Day-to-day management is delegated to the Deans and Vice Presidents. • Space is assigned to activities not individuals, and it may be reassigned as activities change. • Space assignments are not permanent. Space that is vacant or deemed underutilized is subject to

reassignment or repurposing. • A University Space Committee should be established to review high level space policies, standards,

practices, and issues. • All space decisions should be made within the context of the strategic, financial, and campus master

plans, and include a periodic review of the highest and best use of space. • Priority in space allocation will be given to:

o Meeting a strategic need or programmatic goal o Collaborative, shared, or multi-use spaces o Improving efficiency or productivity o Establishing/maintaining an inventory of “swing space” to meet emerging needs o Limiting use of rental space o Practices that support the Facilities and Administrative rate negotiations with the federal government

Office of The Registrar 1


• Responsibilities: o The Provost

Owns and administers all space Approves space management principles, policies, and standards Annually reviews space allocation on campus

o Registrar Manages and schedules all instructional classroom spaces

o University Space Committee Should be established as a standing university committee that advises the Provost Should meet three times annually to review space standards, practices, policies, and case

studies; to examine long-range space-planning issues; and to review space utilization reports

Additionally, the task force supports adoption of the recommendations made by the 2010 Classroom Task Force chaired by the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs:

• Standard Time Blocks

A course with an irregular meeting pattern overlaps many other courses, which reduces the number of options for students and makes it difficult to assign classrooms efficiently. Thus, departments must assign courses to Standard Time Blocks, as defined by the Registrar in the Schedule Rules and Definitions. This applies to courses taught Monday through Friday, 8am to 5pm. The Provost must approve exceptions.

• Anchor Courses

A best practice for space allocation first assigns space for very large courses, followed by assignment for all other courses. Most of the largest course Rice offers are service courses in CHEM, MATH, PHYS, BIOS (BIOC and EBIO), and STAT. These courses should be anchored with unchanged day/time meeting patterns from year to year. Fixing the schedules of these Anchor Courses provides a stable base around which all other Rice courses and classroom assignments can be built.

• Courses Offered During Prime Time

No more than 2/3 of a department’s course offerings may be scheduled during prime time to prevent exhausting the classroom supply during these periods. Prime Time is defined as 10:00 to 11:50am and 1:00 to 1:50pm on Mon/Wed/Fri; and 9:25am to 12:05pm and 1:00 to 2:15pm on Tue/Thu.

• Departmentally Scheduled Rooms That Could Be Used For Instruction

Rooms used for teaching fall into two categories – those that are Registrar scheduled for classes and those that are departmentally scheduled for classes, meetings, events or other group uses. All departmentally scheduled lecture halls, or other rooms that could be used for instruction, should be made available to the Registrar to schedule for use in the mornings (up until 12:00pm). The standard scheduling practice would be to give priority to the department’s own classes in rooms adjacent to their department. The Classroom Committee would assume responsibility for maintaining the technology in Registrar-scheduled instructional spaces.

• Increase Utilization

The Registrar should regularly assess opportunities to increase utilization of instructional spaces, including teaching laboratories. To inform stakeholders about the opportunities to increase utilization of instructional spaces, the Registrar should produce an annual utilization report. The report should specifically address classrooms with the lowest weekly hours scheduled and attempt to determine the causes.



• Classroom Maintenance and Renovation

A set of generally standard hardware and software technologies are present in over 100 Registrar-controlled classrooms. Managing the technology and physical lifecycle, maintenance, and support in the Registrar-scheduled spaces is overseen by a Classroom Committee (the “Classroom Quality Management Team”) with membership from the Registrar, Vice Provost for Information Technology, and Facilities, Engineering, and Planning. Funds for upgrading classrooms are provided through the annual capital budget and the committee sets priorities and oversees implementation. The committee should continue and be expanded to include faculty.

Rice should plan for a few classrooms to be unused each semester. This enables maintenance and renovation work to occur throughout the year instead of only during the summer.

Please see http://registrar.rice.edu/facstaff/SpaceTaskForce/ for additional information on the Space Study Task Force and its report.

Low classroom utilization rates may be caused by any of several factors, including room location, amount of natural and artificial light, noise, room quality, sub-standard audio-visual systems, periods of departmental room control, and even departmental class scheduling. In order to determine whether classroom utilization improvements are necessary, relevant metrics such as classroom usage rates must be monitored and evaluated on a routine basis. This AY 2015 Rice Classrooms Report facilitates that evaluation, and supports the Space Task Force’s recommendation that the Registrar provide an annual report to inform stakeholders of utilization improvement opportunities.


http://registrar.rice.edu/facstaff/SpaceTaskForce/

Room Inventory (as of 21 Aug 2015) Following is a table showing the current inventory of rooms scheduled by the Office of the Registrar (OTR). Shading is used on some records as an aid in comparison.

Building Room Room Type # of Seats Responsible Group AV System

Abercrombie Engineering Lab

AEL A116 Computer lab 14 OTR None AEL A121 Classroom 22 OTR Full AEL A141 Computer lab 24 OTR None AEL B209 SCALAR classroom 16 OTR Laptop Req

Anderson Biology Lab ABL 123 Lecture hall 53 OTR Full ABL 131 Lecture hall 120 OTR Full

Anderson Hall ANH 117 Lecture hall 65 OTR Full

Baker Hall

BKH 102 Classroom 35 OTR Full BKH 116 Classroom 43 OTR Full BKH 229 Classroom 30 OTR Full BKH 233 Classroom 20 OTR Full

BioScience Research Collaborative

BRC 282 Classroom 66 OTR Full BRC 284 Classroom 50 OTR Full BRC 285 Classroom 24 OTR Full BRC 286 Classroom 32 OTR Full

Brockman Hall BRK 101 SCALAR classroom 144 OTR Full BRK 103 Classroom 30 OTR Full

Brown College BNC 145 Conference room 12 OTR/College Laptop Req BNC 146 Conference room 10 OTR/College Laptop Req

Dell Butcher Hall DBH 180 Lecture hall 87 OTR/Dept Full DBH 214 Computer lab 25 OTR Full

Duncan College DCC 113 SCALAR classroom 60 OTR/College Full

Duncan Hall

DCH 1042 Classroom 46 OTR Full DCH 1046 Classroom 46 OTR Full DCH 1055 Lecture hall 240 OTR/Dept Laptop Req DCH 1064 Lecture hall 73 OTR Full DCH 1070 Lecture hall 73 OTR Full DCH 1075 Classroom 35 OTR Full DCH SYM II Computer lab 22 OTR Laptop Req

Fondren Library FON 412 Classroom 22 OTR None

George R. Brown Hall GRB W211 Classroom 40 OTR Full GRB W212 Classroom 40 OTR Full

Gibbs Rec and Wellness Center GRW 160A Classroom 30 OTR/Dept Full GRW 220 Classroom 26 OTR/Dept Full

Hanszen College HNZ 201 Conference room 10 OTR/College Full HNZ 202 Classroom 14 OTR/College Full HNZ 207 Conference room 32 OTR/College Full

Herman Brown Hall

HBH 21 Classroom 15 OTR Full HBH 22 Classroom 15 OTR Full HBH 227 Lecture hall 46 OTR Full HBH 423 Classroom 17 OTR Full HBH 427 Classroom 27 OTR Full HBH 453 Classroom 17 OTR Full


Room Inventory (as of 21 Aug 2015)


Herring Hall

HRG 100 Lecture hall 197 OTR Full HRG 125 Classroom 30 OTR/Dept Full HRG 126 Conference room 24 OTR/Dept Full HRG 128 Conference room 7 OTR Laptop Req HRG 224 Conference room 22 OTR/Dept Full

Herzstein Hall

HRZ 210 Lecture hall 125 OTR Full HRZ 211 Classroom 20 OTR Full HRZ 212 Lecture hall 123 OTR Full HRZ AMP Lecture hall 288 OTR Full

Humanities Building

HUM 117 Classroom 70 OTR Full HUM 118 Classroom 24 OTR Full HUM 119 Classroom 35 OTR Full HUM 120 Conference room 17 OTR Full HUM 226 Conference room 24 OTR/Dept Full HUM 227 Conference room 24 OTR/Dept Full HUM 327 Conference room 24 OTR/Dept Full HUM 328 Classroom 30 OTR Full

Keck Hall

KCK 100 Lecture hall 265 OTR Full KCK 101 Classroom 30 OTR Full KCK 102 Lecture hall 69 OTR/Dept Full KCK 105 Classroom 20 OTR Full KCK 107 Classroom 20 OTR Full

Keith-Wiess Geological Lab KWG 100 Lecture hall 68 OTR Full KWG 128 Classroom 18 OTR Laptop Req KWG 130 Computer lab 18 OTR Full

Lovett College LVC COMMNS SCALAR classroom 184 OTR/College Laptop Req

Martel College MLC 101 Conference room 16 OTR/College Full MLC 103 Conference room 12 OTR/College Full MLC 104 Conference room 12 OTR/College Full

Mechanical Engineering Building MEB 128 Classroom 48 OTR Full

Mechanical Laboratory MEL 251 Classroom 45 OTR Full MEL 254 Classroom 39 OTR Full

Rayzor Hall

RZR 106 Classroom 28 OTR Full RZR 121 Classroom 24 OTR Full RZR 123 SCALAR classroom 39 OTR Full RZR 202 Conference room 12 OTR/Dept Laptop Req RZR 204 Classroom 24 OTR Full RZR 205 Classroom 24 OTR Full RZR 302 Conference room 12 OTR/Dept Laptop Req RZR 304 Classroom 24 OTR Full RZR 305 Classroom 24 OTR Full RZR 310 Conference room 12 OTR/Dept Laptop Req

Ryon Engineering Lab RYN 102 Computer lab 20 OTR Full RYN 201 Lecture hall 70 OTR/Dept Full


Room Inventory (as of 21 Aug 2015)


Sewall Hall

SEW 101 Computer lab 24 OTR Full SEW 133 Computer lab 14 OTR Full SEW 207 Computer lab 12 OTR Full SEW 301 Lecture hall 168 OTR Full SEW 303 Lecture hall 45 OTR Full SEW 305 Lecture hall 45 OTR Full SEW 307 Lecture hall 45 OTR Full SEW 309 Lecture hall 82 OTR Full SEW 460 Classroom 20 OTR Laptop Req SEW 462 Conference room 17 OTR/Dept Laptop Req SEW 560 Classroom 20 OTR Full SEW 562 Conference room 19 OTR Full

Space Science and Technology SST 106 Classroom 54 OTR Full Tudor Fieldhouse TUD 201 Classroom 30 OTR Full

Wiess College WSC 123 Conference room 14 OTR/College Laptop Req WSC 146 Conference room 30 OTR/College Laptop Req

Totals 103 rooms 4768 seats

Summary and Legend:

# of Rooms # of seats Type of Room OTR OTR/Dept OTR/College Total Classroom 45 1 1 47 1443 Lecture hall 17 4 0 21 2347 Conference room 3 9 9 21 362 SCAL@R classroom 3 0 2 5 443 Computer lab 9 0 0 9 173 Total 77 14 12 103 4768 Notes about schedule responsibility: A) Rooms labelled “OTR” are scheduled around the clock, all year, by OTR. B) Rooms labelled “OTR/Dept” are usually scheduled by an academic department 12:00/12:05pm – 6:00pm

on class days in Fall and Spring semesters, and by OTR for the remainder of the time. Notable exceptions: • DBH 180: OTR on class day mornings in Fall and Spring, and all day during final exams and in Summer • DCH 1055: OTR on Tuesday and Thursday mornings in Fall and Spring • GRW 160A and 220: OTR 8:00am – 5:00pm on Fall and Spring class days, excluding 12:00/12:05 - 1:00 • KCK 102: OTR on class day mornings in Fall and Spring • RYN 201: OTR through 2:00/2:15pm on class days in Fall and Spring, and all day during final exams

and in Summer C) Rooms labelled “OTR/College” are scheduled by OTR 8:00am – 5:00pm on class days in Fall and Spring,

and all day, every day in Summer. One exception: • LVC COMMNS: OTR in MWF 10:00-10:50am and 2:00-3:50pm, and TR 9:25-10:40am and 2:30-3:45pm

time slots in Fall and Spring


Building Room TypeAbercrombie Eng Lab 4 Herring Hall 5 lecture (usually slope/tier) 21Anderson Biology Lab 2 Herzstein Hall 4 classrooms (flat) 47Anderson Hall 1 Humanities Building 8 SCAL@R rooms 5

Rayzor 123 39 Baker Hall 4 Keck Hall 5 conference rooms 21Mech Lab 254 39 BioScience Rsrch Collab 4 Keith-Wiess Geology Lab 3 computer labs 9

Humanities 119 35 Brockman Hall 2 Lovett College 1 total # of rooms 103Duncan 1075 35 Brown College 2 Martel College 3

Baker 102 35 Dell Butcher Hall 2 Mechanical Eng Building 1BRC 286 32 Duncan College 1 Mechanical Laboratory 2

Hanszen 207 32 Duncan Hall 7 Rayzor Hall 10Wiess 146 30 Fondren Library 1 Ryon Engineering Lab 2

Gibbs Rec Center 160A 30 George R. Brown Hall 2 Sewall Hall 12Tudor 201 30 Gibbs Recreation Center 2 Space Science Building 1Keck 101 30 Hanszen College 3 Tudor Gymnasium 1

Humanities 328 30 Herman Brown Hall 6 Wiess College 2Brockman 103 30 total # of rooms 103

Baker 229 30Herring 125 30Rayzor 106 28 Observations:

Herman Brown 427 27 * 12 of the 19 rooms seating 40-69 students have 40-48 seats, making them not appropriateGibbs Rec Center 220 26 for use with classes with 49 students.

Sewall 562 19 BRC 285 24 * Seat fill target = 70%Keith-Wiess 128 18 Rayzor 305 24 * Ten rooms have lecture-capture systems:

Keith-Wiess 130 (Mac) 18 Rayzor 304 24 BioScience Research Collaborative 282, 284, 285, and 286Sewall 462 17 Rayzor 205 24 Keck 100, 101, and 102

Humanities 120 17 Rayzor 204 24 Duncan 1055 and 1064Herman Brown 453 17 Rayzor 121 24 Mechanical Engineering 128Herman Brown 423 17 Humanities 118 24 Keck 102 69Abercrombie B209 16 Humanities 327 24 Keith-Wiess 100 68

Martel 101 16 Humanities 227 24 BRC 282 66Herman Brown 22 15 Humanities 226 24 Anderson Hall 117 65Herman Brown 21 15 Herring 126 24 Duncan 113 (SCAL@R) 60 Key

Wiess 123 14 Abercrombie A141 (PC) 24 Space Science 106 54 no audio-visual technologyHanszen 202 14 Dell Butcher 214 (PC) 24 Anderson Biology 123 53 college classrooms

Abercrombie A116 (PC) 14 Sewall 101 (PC) 24 BRC 284 50 rooms with pm scheduling by academic departmentsSewall 133 (Mac) 14 Fondren 412 22 Mech Eng 128 48 SCAL@R and other special classroomsSewall 207 (PC) 12 Herring 224 22 Herman Brown 227 46 computer lab

Rayzor 310 12 Abercrombie A121 22 Duncan 1046 46Rayzor 302 12 Duncan Sym II (PC) 22 Duncan 1042 46Rayzor 202 12 Ryon 102 (Linux) 20 Mech Lab 251 45 Herring 100 197Martel 104 12 Baker 233 20 Sewall 307 45 Dell Butcher 180 87 Lovett Cmns (SCAL@R) 184Martel 103 12 Keck 107 20 Sewall 305 45 Sewall 309 82 Sewall 301 168Brown 146 12 Keck 105 20 Sewall 303 45 Duncan 1070 73 Brockman 101 144Brown 145 10 Herzstein 211 20 Baker 116 43 Duncan 1064 73 Herzstein 210 125 Herzstein Amphitheater 288

Hanszen 201 10 Sewall 560 20 GR Brown W212 40 Humanities 117 70 Herzstein 212 123 Keck 100 265Herring 128 7 Sewall 460 20 GR Brown W211 40 Ryon 201 70 Anderson Biology 131 120 Duncan 1055 (McMurtry) 240

200+Room Sizes by # of Seats

1 - 19 20 - 39 40 - 69 70 - 99 100 - 199

General Use Classrooms

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Room Use – Fall 2014


Seat Utilization – Fall 2014


Room Use – Spring 2015


Seat Utilization – Spring 2015


Room Use – Summer 2015 Presently, Rice’s academic departments offer more than 2,500 sections in each fall and spring semester. In contrast, during the summer, Rice offers very few sections, currently about 200. Additionally, summer session class sizes tend to be much smaller than those in fall and spring. Rice measures room use and seat utilization from the array of daytime for-credit classes offered, ignoring any usage of rooms for “events” (even if they are obviously academic in nature, such as a review session or an exam). The reporting of these metrics for summer would appear to show that Rice’s classrooms are sitting idle between Commencement in early May and the start of classes in mid-August, when most traditional students and many faculty/instructors are gone for the summer. However, this is not the case. The campus is quite busy in the summer, with many events occupying the classrooms. In Summer 2015, classrooms were used by many large academic programs and workshops, such as the following:

• Teach for America • AP Summer Institute • Upward Bound • Rice Emerging Scholars program • Salvation Army Boys and Girls Club Training Program • Summer Bridge Program • MCR Summer Writing Camp • IBB Summer Academy • Content, College, and Career Workshop • Creative Writing Workshop • Quarknet

In most weeks of June and July, these and other similar programs use nearly every classroom with a capacity of 30 or more seats. Smaller classrooms are used by these and comparable programs, and by Rice’s small summer session for-credit classes. In August, there is little activity in the classrooms, as the Rice IT staff requires access to the classrooms to prepare the AV system in each room for the busy upcoming school year.


Classroom Quality Management Team The Space Study Task Force supported adoption of the recommendations made by the 2010 Classroom Task Force, including the creation of a standing classroom committee. This committee (the “Classroom Quality Management Team” or “CQMT”) is comprised of two members of each of the following groups:

• Office of the Registrar (responsible for meeting coordination) • Facilities, Engineering, and Planning • Information Technology • Faculty/Instructors

The CQMT is responsible for managing the maintenance and improvement activities for classroom features, both physical (e.g., student chairs/desks, instructor writing surfaces, lighting, paint, carpet) and technological (e.g., audio-visual presentation system, AV podium). The CQMT meets many times throughout the year, as needed, in order to plan and implement the activities deemed appropriate and necessary for maintaining the quality of classrooms. In determining the specific activities to be undertaken, the CQMT strives to make optimum use of the yearly allotment of funds dedicated to classroom activities.

AY 2015 Classroom Maintenance/Improvement Projects Building Room Work Performed

Abercrombie Engineering Laboratory A121 * provided podium and AV system

* replaced whiteboards

Anderson Hall 117 * provided new AV system

* replaced chalkboards with whiteboards * added student seats

George R. Brown Hall W211 and W212 AV refresh

Herman Brown Hall 21 and 22 AV refresh

Ryon Engineering Laboratory 201

* AV refresh * increased blackboard space

* installed new ceiling and lights

Sewall Hall 560 and 562 AV refresh

Space Science and Technology Building 106

* converted from lecture hall with fixed seats to flat-floor classrooms with movable seats

* installed new AV system * installed combination blackboard/whiteboard

* installed carpet

Tudor Gymnasium 201

* AV refresh * repainted walls and ceiling

* replaced whiteboards * replaced chairs


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