Hi,

I'm looking for any advice or insights anyone has for conducting a needs assessment to re-envision a computer lab. If you have any surveys you sent faculty and students or focus group activities you conducted or anything else you found helpful in the process, I'd really appreciate it.

A bit of context. The lab is in the College of Communication and started in the late 1990s as a traditional computer lab with high end Mac and PC machines for video editing, photo editing, 3D rendering, etc.

About 5 years ago, the building housing the College of Communication went through a major renovation and a number of classrooms now have high end machines similar to and in some cases better than what is in the lab. Combine that with more students bringing their own devices to campus makes the computers in the lab not as much of a draw for students.

The space is an open concept with pods of computers, a 3D printer, white board wall, lounge seating, smart lighting, wall projector and a large monitor connected to a Quest VR headset.

The intent of the space is to provide a place for faculty and staff to stimulate their innovation and creativity with new tools, i.e. VR headsets, 3D printers, etc. Prior activities have included drop-in VR time, Adobe Creative Suite Workshops and a Nintendo Video Game Tournament.

Any advice on gathering input from the students and faculty or ideas on how to make a lab space more active would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Eric