LSU Libraries was recently awarded a Student-Technology Fee grant to implement a Student-Centered Active Learning Environment with Upside-down Pedagogies (SCALE-UP) space.  The equipment secured with this grant will support various teaching strategies and learning styles such as collaborative, problem-based, and flipped models of teaching to foster and support student success across disciplines and promote critical information literacy principles.

The SCALE-UP space allows us to create a centralized active learning environment that can be utilized by librarian instructors and faculty instructors across multiple disciplines who might not have access to these types of spaces with the ultimate goal of enriching students’ learning.

Additionally, the SCALE-UP environment will be used as a public viewing and performance space to show documentaries and films related to student coursework, faculty research, and issues and topics related to the six challenges identified in the University’s strategic plan, such as advancing arts and culture and bridging the coast, energy, and environment.  It will also be used to showcase faculty and student scholarship.

LSU Libraries' Undergraduate & Student Success Librarian, Sarah Simms, applied for this Student Technology Fee grant for LSU Libraries, with the assistance of the former Head of Research and Instruction Services. The grant supports the purchase of large portable monitors and white boards to allow for experimentation with technology, space, and active learning models. Simms will be creating training modules for faculty across campus to introduce active learning methods within the classroom as well as how to effectively utilize the SCALE-UP space with their students.