Recognizing Campus Landscapes as Learning Spaces

Abstract

American higher education institutions face unique twenty-first century changes and challenges in providing good, holistic learning spaces for the diverse and evolving needs of today’s college student. Continued enrollment growth, societal and technological changes, financial challenges, and a need for increased universal and open access create ever more diverse, changing and complex US university systems. In 2009, 20.4 million students were enrolled in 2- or 4-year colleges and universities. By 2019, enrollments are expected to rise 9% for students under age 25, and rise 23% for students over the age of 25 (Snyder & Dillow, 2011). Questions of where, when, how, and with whom today’s college students learn, confront the traditional notions of how university spaces are designed and used for effectiveness (Hashimshony & Haina, 2006). Therefore, we propose that the natural landscape of a university campus is an attentional learning resource for its students.