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Ecotones is a term used in ecology to describe the place in which two ecosystems touch or merge.\u00a0 However, the term could also be used to describe what is anticipated in the Active Learning Center (ALC):\u00a0 the touching or merging of the activities that typically have taken place in a classroom, lecture hall, or laboratory with what has traditionally occurred in a library.\u00a0 Instead of single use spaces, often in different buildings, the ALC will merge the teaching spaces and learning\/study spaces in a flexible environment.\u00a0 The ALC will accommodate the teaching pedagogies and methodologies used in the Instruction Matters:\u00a0 Purdue Academic Transformation (IMPACT) program<\/span><\/a> and active learning on the site now occupied by the long vacant North Power Plant and the Engineering Administration Building (ENAD), across from the Bell Tower. <\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The ALC will combine the best of new classroom pedagogies and create a learning commons for the 21st Century\u00a0 \u2014 a blend of centrally scheduled teaching spaces, library\/information services, formal study spaces, informal learning space, and collaborative work areas.\u00a0\u00a0 Its design is being developed with assistance from students and faculty collaborators throughout Purdue who are coming together to provide crucial input for a unique learning facility.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Ranked as the Number One capital project by Purdue University when it was submitted for support to the Indiana Legislature, a request was made for support of $50,000,000, of the $79,000,000 project (includes cost of demolition of the North Power Plant and ENAD).\u00a0 The Indiana Legislature allocated the $50,000,000 in cash at the end of the session in April.\u00a0 The University has committed $13,000,000 toward the cost of the demolition required for the project, leaving $16,000,000 to be raised from donors.\u00a0 As of September, approximately $2,400,000 has been committed.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Approximately sixty percent of the overall building will be dedicated to formal classroom settings, with the remaining forty percent committed to individual or collaborative study\/learning space.\u00a0\u00a0 When classes are not being held, and during evenings\/nights and weekends, the classroom spaces in the ALC will be available for study, as many of our classrooms are now.\u00a0\u00a0 An important difference in the new ALC is that it will be monitored by the Libraries to provide a secure and conducive environment for study. <\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n During the day, students may work in teams or individually in the Libraries\u2019 learning\/study spaces in preparation for class.\u00a0 After a class is over, a student may continue to work on what was begun during class in the Libraries\u2019 learning\/study spaces.\u00a0 The ALC will also provide spaces for you as a faculty member to meet or work with students before or after class. <\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n During the planning and design phase, it is anticipated that faculty will be asked to describe specific types of classrooms settings and to suggest technology that will further instruction in those settings.\u00a0 In addition, faculty will be asked to recommend technology or configuration of learning spaces which will enable learning outside of class in the Libraries\u2019 spaces.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n To see what will be possible in the Active Learning Center, you only need to visit existing \u2018blended\u2019 spaces at Purdue:<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n