EACUBO Spring 2021 Workshop: Assess the Impact of Covid-19 on Your Campus Facilities

EACUBO Spring 2021 Workshop © 2021 brightspot strategy
Assess the Impact of Covid-19
on Your Campus Facilities
EACUBO Spring 2021 Workshop
Cameron Charlebois, Executive Director of Campus Planning and Development, McGill University
Chris Buddle, Associate Provost for Teaching and Academic Programs, McGill University
Elliot Felix, Founder, brightspot strategy

Objectives and Agenda
How is covid-19 changing learning, research, student
life, and work – in the short and long term – and what
will the implications be for campus facilities?
To answer this question, McGill University worked with
brightspot to gather data and facilitate retreats with
representatives from learning, research, HR, IT,
facilities, and finance.
This offers a repeatable process that institutions can
follow to plan for the impact of covid-19 on their
campus.
1. Introduction to speakers and project context (5mins)
2. How McGill thought about the future of work, learning,
research, and student life – and their implications on
campus facilities and technology (12mins)
3. Poll + Discussion: What challenges are you facing as you
adapt to Covid and plan for the future? (10mins)
4. How McGill is planning for the future based on the
principles and priorities established (12mins)
5. Poll + Discussion: What strategies could you adopt at your
institution to plan for the future? (10mins)
6. Lessons learned and Q&A (10mins)

Speakers
Cameron Charlebois
Executive Director of Campus
Planning and Development
McGill University
Chris Buddle
Associate Provost for Teaching
and Academic Programs
McGill University
Elliot Felix
Founder, Partner
brightspot, A Buro Happold
Company

McGill’s Future of Work, Learning,
Research, and Student Life

The Future Role of the Physical Campuses:
McGill University’s campuses are a place for community, collaboration, and creation, ones that inspire its
students, staff, alumni, and partners to thrive in Montreal’s diversity and culture. Designed with intention
and flexibility, our physical campuses will:
1. Enable experiential learning beyond the traditional classroom
2. Attract and energize talented professionals, staff, and faculty with top-notch technology and flexible
workspaces
3. Support inclusive and equitable access to spaces that foster connections and support partnerships
while creating a more sustainable future
4. Use digital platforms and networks to increase access and enhance the physical experience, but do
not replace it.

The Future of Teaching and Learning
The future of Teaching and Learning at McGill will be a mix of
on-campus and online activities as faculty implement the
successful elements of online courses to their curriculum.
· Modular: Courses will be made up of modules that
combine in-person and online activities, synchronously, and
asynchronously.
· Applied: There will be an increased amount of fieldwork
and applied work, locally and internationally.
· Interactive: The classroom itself will be more discussion-
and inquiry-based where the roles between student and
teacher become more blurred.
· Blended: Some students will never come to a campus;
others will never use a traditional classroom.
Transitioning to an online format has increased faculty
exposure to more experiential and engaging teaching
methods. Students are savvy travelers between digital
and physical worlds and expect most experiences to
have a presence in both.
Photo left: Portland State Student Service App
Photo right: UC Berkeley Academic Innovation Studio

The Future of Student Life
A strong sense of belonging will be at the core of Student Life,
primarily driven by spaces that support connection and well-
being.
· Community-focused: Informal spaces will play a key role in
building communities.
· Sticky spaces: A larger supply of study hubs on the
campuses will support commuters and resident students
alike.
· Digitally-connected: The Digital Campus will foster virtual
communities to help connect McGill's campuses.
· Well-being driven: Student Residence Life will be aligned to
support the student community's health and well-being,
regularly adjusted by student health metrics.
Colleges have used full-service vendors and new
platforms to expand online services and hours, shifting
student expectations for rapid service. Students miss
their friends and community the most - and campuses
have struggled to find a digital alternative.
Photo left: Occuspace real-time data on occupancy
and study spaces available.
Photo right: University of Maryland Living Learning
Community.

The Future of Research
There will be fewer geographic, technological, or
organizational barriers to research, integrating evolving
technology, guided by integrity and an impact-driven
perspective.
· Computational: More in silico research driven by AI and
simulation technology
· Impact-driven: Greater emphasis on a humanistic, impact-
driven perspective (beyond financial considerations).
· Shared: Shared spaces and equipment across labs rather
than be granted dedicated space.
· Accessible: Blurring lines between undergraduate and
graduate students to make research more accessible
· Digitally-supported: Digital resources for the natural
sciences, social sciences, and humanities.
While access to labs and equipment was reduced,
researchers turned to computational methods to
advance their work. Understanding the typologies of
researchers and projected population needs is key in
understanding dry versus wet lab depend and the
blend of disciplines across future space distribution
and allocations.

The Future of Work
Work will be more flexible and equitable.
· Flexible time: Alternative work schedules and locations
will be offered to maximize space use and promote
collaboration.
· Flexible space: Staff will not be required to be on a
campus every day, with space assigned by activity and
usage needs
· Digital services: Student services that are better delivered
online will be provided by staff working mostly remotely.
· Digital support: The Staff Digital Experience will extend
the campuses to support key tasks and workflow
· New metrics: New roles and metrics will be developed to
validate and support new modes of operation.
Before COVID-19, about 10% of faculty and staff
worked remotely nationally. Institutions can enable
remote work and flexible work in the long-term with
the right diagnostic, program, and change
management; such as the University of Minnesota’s
Work+ program.

Prioritization
We plotted each anticipated change to
space by effort and impact to identify
core investments and low-hanging fruit
and sorted into four quadrants:
1. Major Projects
2. High Priority
3. Reconsider Later
4. Low Priority
For effort, we considered degree of
culture change and amount of both
capital and operational costs
GENERAL
STUDY
RESIDENTIAL
CLASSROOMS
RESEARCH/LAB
OFFICE

Fewer tiered, more flat classrooms
Supporting collaboration through converted lecture halls and flat, flexible classroom
Imperial College London Carnegie Mellon University

More dry, computational research
Providing office and fabrication spaces that support in silico research
University of Newcastle Fort Lewis College

Flexible spaces for hybrid work
Using coworking spaces on, near, or away from campus to provide flexibility and convenience
WeWork @ University of Maryland Kansas State University

Student space for projects and study
Provide space, technology, and support services to enable high-impact student projects
Clemson University USC Iovine Young Academy

Amenities that enhance belonging and well-being
Use amenities, equipment, and services to create more “sticky space” to get/keep folks on campus
Carnegie Mellon University

Leverage outdoor and in-between spaces
Capitalize on rediscovered value in outdoor spaces and the chance encounters of in-between spaces
Harvard University Duke University

Enhance the physical with the digital
Support hybrid learning and use digital tools to discover, book, navigate to, and use a space
Harvard Business School McGill University Library
Colorado State University

What challenges are you facing as you
adapt to Covid and plan for the future?

Poll
What is the top challenge you are facing as you plan for a post-Covid future?
1. Student service centers distributed across the campus
2. Faculty and staff workplaces lacking collaboration space
3. Fixed, dense classrooms
4. Outdated / wrong technology
5. Institutional inertia and tradition (e.g., lack buy-in from the academic community)
6. Rigidity of internal governance structures or policies
7. External constraints (e.g., political landscape, funding constraints)

Discussion
What challenges are you facing
as you adapt to Covid and plan
for the future?

What strategies McGill is
using to plan for the future

Strategic Change: Guiding principles
We have shown more adaptability and flexibility
than ever could have been predicted; the ‘pull’
to return to a pre-pandemic state will be strong.
Therefore, guiding principles for a post-covid
University are necessary:
• Our academic mission is always at the
forefront
• Our faculty, staff and students are partners in
change, not passive bystanders
• The changes will increase efficiency, and
have a positive ROI
• We will learn and grow from these changes
• The pandemic is a catalyst for change, but
not the reason for change
MISSION
The mission of McGill University is the
advancement of learning and the creation and
dissemination of knowledge, by offering the best
possible education, by carrying out research and
scholarly activities judged to be excellent by the
highest international standards, and by providing
service to society.
PRINCIPLES
In fulfilling its mission, McGill University
embraces the principles of academic freedom,
integrity, responsibility, equity, and inclusiveness.

Thematic areas for post-COVID institutional change
1. New, flexible workspaces and work
habits
2. Rethinking use of existing teaching and
learning and research space
3. Modification to academic program
delivery

1. Flexible workspaces, work processes and work habits
• Defining the future of work at McGill is a
priority, building on discoveries about
employee work preferences during the
pandemic (most have a strong desire to modify
work routines).
• The workplace should now have meaning for
employees to come to the office.
• Presence must represent more than came be
achieved online, in terms of socialization,
innovation and productivity.
• Unit and team work processes must be
rethought to make presence worthwhile for
workers and supervisors, and economically
efficient for the employer.
• A new Office of New Models of Work and a
Pilot Project involving 5 units will lead the way.

2. Teaching and learning and research spaces
• Consider halting all projects for new large
theatre-style lecture halls and re-design of
current large lecture theatres
• Outfit existing spaces with new technology
• Prioritize more active learning classrooms
• New Library Project (Fiat Lux) is prioritizing
collaborative learning spaces, to capture
needs of graduate students and research that
is not lab-dependent
• New building projects are built/designed as
more inter-disciplinary and for multiple users,
using ‘typologies’ rather than individualized
designs

Academic Program Delivery
• For Fall 2021, Large enrolment courses always
given a schedule but no room
• Instructors can proactively select ‘online
components for courses (e.g., ‘flipped
classroom’ concept)
• In-person activities prioritized for impact / value
to the program/student
• A permanent shift away from gymnasium-style
final examinations (e.g., “Final Assessment
Period” rather than “Final Examination Period”)
• Opportunities for blended/hybrid teaching
• Considering more evening/ weekend offerings,
to reflect changing interests of students
• Support the development of short programs:
Stacked certificates, micro-credentials, etc

What’s the ROI?
• Students and staff are seeking more flexibility
around remote working and learning: this may
be a norm rather than an exception and
institutions of higher education need to prepare
• Building flexibility in our scheduling and
harnessing online lectures will free up
classroom spaces, allowing a redistribution and
more efficient use, and reduce needs for off-
campus rental spaces ($$)
• Different models of work will increase efficiency
of space use and lead to more productive work
(e.g., collaborate in-person, independent work
at home)
• The campus takes on new meaning as a place
to learn, co-create, and innovate

Constraints
• Academic culture
• Work culture
• Short-term funding
• Managing expectations / bandwidth
• External factors

What strategies could you adopt at
your institution to plan for the future?

Poll
What is the top strategy you could adopt at your institution to plan for the
future?
1. New flexible workspaces/work habits
2. Invest in online teaching (technology and teaching support)
3. Redesign/rebuild more active learning classrooms
4. Redesign/rebuild more collaborative research spaces
5. Expand informal/learning project spaces
6. Invest in change management strategies with the academic community
7. Reduce leased spaces

Discussion
What strategies could you
adopt at your institution to
plan for the future?

Lessons Learned and Q&A

Lessons Learned
Every institution will grapple with the impact of
Covid-19 in different ways – and for years to
come. We hope McGill's process can inform and
inspire others. Here are our lessons learned:
• Bring together different depts/functions to
prioritize
• Take it slow: bandwidth is limited, buy-in
must be navigated carefully and thoughtfully
• Priorities, priorities, priorities! Everything is
interconnected, pay attention to sequencing
• Find the champions: inspiration must come
from many kinds of leaders

Thank you!
Cameron Charlebois
cameron.charlebois@mcgill.ca
Chris Buddle
chris.buddle@mcgill.ca
Elliot Felix
elliot@brightspotstrategy.com

EACUBO Spring 2021 Workshop: Assess the Impact of Covid-19 on Your Campus Facilities

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EACUBO Spring 2021 Workshop: Assess the Impact of Covid-19 on Your Campus Facilities