Swivel Seating in New Lecture Theatre

BLG07 is the first lecture theatre at City that contains swivel seating.  This space enables students to participate in interactive lectures including bringing their own devices to work on, moving between activities and working in groups within the space.  Seating in this lecture theatre is alternately fixed and swivelling with two rows of seats on each level.  The swivel seats can comfortably turn 360 degrees and are spaced to ensure that seats and students don’t bump into each other as they turn.  Students can quickly and easily face the front in traditional rows or turn to work with the students behind them.

Sockets for charging mobile devices are situated under the tables in the lecture theatre.  Increasingly students are using laptops, tablets and mobiles within sessions.  All large lecture theatres will now provide sockets for 50% of the seats.

This format allows staff to design lectures that mix presentation with activities.  The curved horse shoe shaped rows of seating give a sense of intimacy with the lecturer and closeness to the front of the room, situated on the longer side of the room, encouraging students to participate in the session.  Space at the front and sides of the room allow lecturers to circulate through the room and students to move around comfortably when engaged in activities.

The room is equipped with lecture capture, as are all spaces at City with 60 or more seats, to enable lectures to be recorded and made available on Moodle.  The space is also colourful, has good acoustics and sight lines, squiggle glass, dual screens and two doors to ensure easy access at the front.  Staff can also contact educational technology staff to find out more about making the most of this space, designing interactive lectures or using clickers, video, mobile devices or engaging with other educational technologies to enhance the experience for students in learning spaces.

Users of this space will be invited to participate in an evaluation later this term and staff are invited to share case studies of how they have used this swivel seating to create interactive sessions.  Do contact Anise Bullimore, Annemarie Cancienne or other LDC staff to take part.