Compact Teacher Station, Adaptable Student Desks and Innovative Accessories Round Out This Comprehensive Collection.

Muscatine, IA – March 22, 2010 – Born out of meticulous research, The HON Company’s SmartLink™ furniture for learning environments has received overwhelmingly positive feedback from both the education and design communities. Building upon this award-winning collection, HON is pleased to introduce a number of extensions to the SmartLink family – including a compact teacher station, sit-to-stand and fixed student desks, and innovative accessories.

“All of the SmartLink extensions are designed to offer the best utilization of space while providing the ultimate in productivity,” said Mark Roumfort, HON’s vice president of product development. “Whether it’s for a kindergarten or a high school learning environment, these new additions to the SmartLink lines are flexible, durable, smart solutions that can easily be reconfigured to facilitate interactive learning and better support individual teaching and learning styles.”

Compact Teacher Station
Gone are the days when a bulky teacher’s desk sits at the head of the room. Instead, today’s smartest learning environments are flexible and interactive – and require a teacher’s station that fits this bill. The new compact teacher station (24” x 60”; as compared to the traditional size of 26” x 72”) is ideal for teachers who prefer a smaller desk. It also can be used as a computer station or as a workspace for assistants, student teachers or volunteers. What’s more, the smaller size makes it highly mobile and perfect for laptops.

Adaptable Student Desks
The new sit-to-stand student desk adjusts from 30 to 43 inches in one-inch increments; and also presents additional collaborative opportunities for group and project meetings.

Offering further customization in the SmartLink student desks, HON now provides a fixed-height leg option – at 30 inches high – which is perfect for high school and college learning environments.

Both of the new student desk options still feature the same benefits as the other SmartLink student desks, including “non-handed” tops, which provide greater flexibility and arm support to any user. The desks are also lightweight and can easily be organized into a variety of configurations, which is further facilitated by the top shape.  Plus, all of the SmartLink student desks offer a number of storage options, including a backpack hook and wire basket, which allow students the ability to easily organize their materials.

New Accessories
Finally, to make better use of wall and floor space, HON has introduced new whiteboard cabinet brackets and a rail kit for use with its SmartLink storage system. The cabinet and whiteboard brackets attach to HON’s full-height storage units – turning virtually any storage space into an extra teaching surface, display space or student work area, without taking up extra wall space.

For more information about SmartLink education furniture, visit www.hon.com.

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Former President Bill Clinton on Thursday exhorted university officials from around the country to do a better job leading the way on making their campus buildings greener.

“For all the good we’re doing, we’re just piddling compared to what we ought to be doing and compared to what we could be doing,” Clinton told 250 college administrators meeting at the Palmer House Hilton.

“Think about it: 6.7 million jobs lost. And all this work out there is laying on the ground, begging to be done with an absolute certain high return. I am anxious to speed this up. For all the good you’re doing, we should be doing three, four, five, 10 times what we’re doing as a country.”

Clinton has become a crusader for environmental renovation as a catalyst for energy conservation and putting people back to work.

If solar panels or green roofs could be seen going up on campus roofs around the country, other builders would follow suit and put people back to work, helping fight unemployment as well as saving energy, Clinton told the receptive audience.

“Every time somebody sees a project on one of your campuses, fixing a building, you are having an impact, even beyond the fight to produce climate change and lower your utility bills,” Clinton said.

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ASHRAE design guide aims to simplify energy efficiency design for K-12 schools

April 2, 2009
Building Design and Construction

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) signed by President Obama on February 17, 2009, provides significant funding and financing opportunities to modernize, renovate, and repair public schools. Under the “State Fiscal Stabilization Fund,” up to $48.3 billion can be allocated to schools. An additional $25 billion in eligible bonds also have been authorized.

To help Building Teams meet energy efficiency design goals, ASHRAE and other building industry organizations have developed the Advanced Energy Design Guide for K-12 School Buildings. The guide provides recommendations for achieving 30% energy savings over the minimum code requirements of ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-1999. Estimates show that a full 16% of schools districts’ controllable costs is spent on energy.

“Beyond energy savings, by implementing the recommendations, schools may benefit from an improved learning environment, reduced operating costs, reduced environmental and climate impacts, and enhanced teaching opportunities on the environment,” ASHRAE President Bill Harrison said.

The recommendations in the guide allow those involved in designing or constructing school buildings to easily achieve advanced levels of energy savings without having to resort to detailed calculations or analysis. All of the energy-saving recommendations for each of the eight U.S. climate zones are summarized in a single table. Additional recommendations point to other opportunities to incorporate greater savings into the design of the building.

More than 14,000 free copies of the Advanced Energy Design Guide for K-12 School Buildings were sent to school systems in the United States last spring. Copies of the guide are available for free download at www.ashrae.org/freeaedg; Print copies may be ordered from the ASHRAE Bookstore at www.ashrae.org.

Details on the stimulus funding for educational facilities can be found at: http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/leg/recovery.

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Herman Miller Higher Education

OFDA 4/2/09

Herman Miller, Inc., is continuing its focus on researching the evolving needs of higher education with the Learning Studio Research Program, a concept developed by the company’s Education Solutions team. The Learning Studio Research Program provides participating higher education institutions the opportunity to explore new approaches to learning space design, measure the impact on student learning and success, and inform large scale design decisions on campus.

“Research indicates the need to support new forms of teaching and learning on campus,” said Jeff Vredevoogd, Herman Miller’s Education Solutions lead. “The Learning Studio Research Program approach allows institutions to experiment with space and determine how it can be used to effectively support the needs of faculty and students.”

The Learning Studio Research Program goes beyond simply creating a new learning space on campus—it is a multi-phase, collaborative, research-focused effort that measures the impact of space on teaching and learning on campus.

Butler Community College in Kansas partnered with Herman Miller to create four Learning Studios–two general education classrooms and two nursing classrooms.

“Research conducted in those Learning Studios indicates that students and instructors preferred those spaces, rather than the college’s traditional 600-square-foot, limited technology rooms,” said Dr.
Gene George, Executive Director of Research and Institutional Effectiveness at Butler.

“Students and teachers who participated in our study reported that more student-to-student and student-to-teacher interactions took place in the Learning Studios than would in our traditional classrooms,” George said. “Students reported that they could move furniture around more easily, which supported group work. Instructors said the Studios made collaboration with students easier.”

According to Vredevoogd, the Learning Studio Research Program is not a prescriptive solution. No two Learning Studios are the same. Each is tailored according to the higher education institution and its research goals.

“The Learning Studio concept allows faculty and students to interact in the most meaningful and creative ways,” said Dr. Karen Adams, Dean, College of Education and Human Services, Central Michigan University. “The use of furnishings, together with technology and instructional strategies, all meet to foster an increase in learning, while the research-based component is informative and helpful to faculty.”

Additional research demonstrates that students find their instructors more approachable and less intimidating, and faculty members believe their modified teaching style strengthens relationships with their students. Students also report they are more likely to approach other students to extend the discussion of ideas outside the classroom.

“We see the Learning Studio project as an opportunity to involve faculty and staff in a systemic discussion of how we create student success at Butler, and how physical space and technology can be used as teaching tools to create student engagement,” George said.

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