Val Peterson is director of facilities management at Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, and a past APPA President. He writes the Focus on Management column for Facilities Manager and can be reached at valpeterson@asu.edu

How would the following multiple-choice questions be answered by the faculty and administration at your institution?

The Facilities Management Department: (circle one)

A. Is where the guy who never smiles works.
B. Sends people over to fix the air conditioning.
C. Represents an enormous drain on the institution s budget.
D. Is critical to the educational process.

While there may be an element of truth in all of the answers, it would be encouraging if choice D was the answer selected to best describe the facilities management organization. There should be no question that the facilities management group plays a vital role in enhancing the educational process by creating and maintaining a physical environment that is conducive to learning.

Few would argue that learning conditions are affected and significantly diminished when the following conditions exist:

• the classroom is littered and dirty;
• the temperature is too hot or too cold;
• the air quality is poor;
• the lighting is inadequate;
• the equipment doesn't work;
• the room is painted a "depressing" color and the paint is peeling;
• the writing arm on the students chair is missing; or
• the instructor's notations on the chalkboard are too light to read.

It should be obvious to all that the facilities management organization has the capacity to positively influence the learning environment through the conscientious delivery of appropriate operations and maintenance services.

At one time or another, most education institutions have established a priority to enhance the educational experience of students. This goal is accomplished through a variety of initiatives which might include hiring additional faculty, renovating existing facilities, constructing new facilities, and utilizing advances in technology. Far too often, to the detriment of the overall learning environment, the facilities operating budget is tapped to help fund some of these initiatives.

Most implemented initiatives have in fact been proven effective in creating an enhanced learning environment. But I am firmly convinced that there are other alternatives—which might be termed "low tech" and considerably less expensive —that can also enhance the learning environment. One such alternative might be the establishment of a learning community, wherein all members of the institutional community contribute in simple, but effective, ways to the learning environment.

The Learning Community

As institutions of learning have grown rapidly and as social mores have changed, it seems to me that the campus has lost its sense of community, particularly as it relates to the learning community. A learning community is one where members show mutual regard for the needs and interests of one another, where aid and support are freely extended, and where each person considers the impact of his or her actions on other persons. Members of a learning community are concerned about out how their actions contribute to or detract from the creation of supportive settings for teaching and learning.

It is a fact that the condition of classrooms and laboratories need to be continually upgraded and maintained in such condition as to foster an effective teaching and learning environment. Most institutions have a plan that attempts to address the physical condition and adequacy of the classrooms and laboratories through ongoing remodeling and renovation work. But this effort is not enough.

In addition to upgrading and remodeling, the condition of the facilities need to be maintained, and even improved, by the introduction of an effective anti-litter campaign and the support of adequate resources to clean and maintain the facilities so that those who come and go on a daily basis are not tempted to deface, vandalize, or destroy them. I once had a student, speaking about his dorm room, tell me, "If it looks like a pig pen, we will treat it like a pig pen."

While adequate maintenance and anti-litter campaigns are good, needed, and essential in maintaining a good learning environment, it is still not enough. These efforts deal with the symptoms of the problem but not with its underlying causes. The causes may be found in our failure to seriously think of ourselves as a learning community.

As part of a larger effort to establish and sustain a learning community, all students, staff, faculty, and even visitors should be asked to take steps to ensure that others are not distracted by offensive sights and smells, by litter that shows a careless disregard for the environment in which teaching and learning takes place, and by noise and other unnecessary sounds that divert attention or detract from the tasks of teaching and learning.

While students and staff can play a major role in supporting the learning environment, it is the instructional staff that must accept the primary responsibility for serving as the conscience of the learning community, showing by word and by example how a vigorous and effective learning community is created and maintained. Instructional staff should take the lead in teaching students not only the content of the scheduled course, but the need to create and maintain a setting that is conducive to learning.

To this end, the acceptance of some simple rules of etiquette that would help engender pleasantness and mutual regard in the learning environment would be appropriate. Some of these rules might be:

• Take out of the classroom everything brought into it, and keep or dispose of it properly;
• Leave the classroom in good order for those who will use it next, including the arrangement of furniture, erasure of chalkboards or whiteboards, and the return of equipment;
• Guard against loud or raucous noise and behavior in the classrooms and hallways, always showing consideration for classes in session;
• Follow the use and care rules established for the particular building or classroom where classes take place; and
• Show regard for and assist others who are trying to promote a caring and vital learning community.

There is, of course, much more to fostering a learning community than these few simple rules for classroom etiquette. The capacity of individuals to adhere to these few simple rules, however, says much about their willingness to take the larger steps that may be necessary to sustain a stimulating and caring setting for learning.

Instructional staff that take pride in their teaching and their effectiveness as a teacher, should be concerned about the quality of their teaching environment. While it may be easy to complain about support for instructional programs and the cleanliness of the classrooms and to focus blame on someone else, simply complaining and pointing fingers will not result in clean classrooms.

Educational institutions seem to have lost a sense of community on the campus as almost everyone seems to be engaged in an individualistic approach. Without a regained sense of commitment to the whole and not just some small part, no matter how insignificant the part may be, the learning and teaching environment is likely to get worse for everyone, particularly students and instructional staff.

Everyone connected with the institution should think of themselves as members of a community of learning, a special community of individuals engaged in one of the most worthwhile activities of life, that activity being education. Higher education ought to reflect a higher set of standards, a higher set of principles, a higher sense of community, a community in which everyone is valued and treated with dignity and respect, and a community where everyone takes pride in and value for what they do.

The Role of Each Stakeholder Group

It is assumed that clean, well-maintained, state-of-the-art teaching facilities are important to the mission of every institution of higher education. Furthermore, it is believed that such conditions can be maintained with sustained effort on the part of instructional staff and students and with the support of the facilities management organizations, facility development programs and the administration. The role of each of their groups or units is outlined as follows:

Facilities Management Organization The facilities group has major responsibility for cleaning and maintaining the entire campus, including facilities that accommodate teaching. Classrooms must be cleaned daily and repairs (e.g., broken furniture, burnt-out light bulbs, window coverings, etc.) are made on a timely basis. It should be recognized that the schedule for maintenance work is heavily influenced by the availability of maintenance funds.

Instructional Staff While the facilities organization can be expected to clean classrooms daily and regularly maintain them, it cannot be expected to clean them between classes throughout the day and evening. Instructional staff must play a key role in helping keep the classroom in an acceptable manner for those that follows. This can be done by erasing the chalkboards or whiteboards at the end of class and requesting that students remove trash and litter they personally brought to class. It is equally important that each instructor assume the responsibility to leave the seating appropriately arranged, no posters placed on the walls or door, and lights turned off at the end of class. If the instructor approves the use of food and drink in the classroom, he or she should also take the responsibility to ensure removal of resulting debris.

Students It is obvious that students enjoy the privilege of bringing food and drink into the classroom. Before leaving the room, however, the student should assume the responsibility of cleaning up after himself or herself. Student organizations, particularly student government, should take an active roll in promoting the notion that students should be more attentive to and responsible for putting their trash in the waste containers provided and to only post flyers and notices on approved bulletin boards not on walls or doors. The student newspaper should be involved in reminding students and others to respect their peers and associates by not leaving trash in the classroom or elsewhere on campus.

Faculty Development Programs Most institutions sponsor programs to help instructional staff improves their teaching techniques. Faculty and teaching assistants should be trained and instructed on what they can do to create and foster a sense of community and of their role in helping keep clean the teaching facilities.

Administration The institution's administration should make a priority to develop a sense of commitment to the philosophy of "community" involvement in providing clean classrooms and the resources necessary to support this effort. It is envisioned that additional resources would be minimal, if any, to adopt this program and it's philosophy. A commitment is critical, however, to provide resources adequate to continually improve teaching facilities and to develop additional quality, state-of-the-art space in new facilities.

While to some this matter may seem trivial and mundane when viewed beside more prominent issues, unsightly and littered classrooms and laboratories are nevertheless a major detraction to the learning environment. It is a documented fact that the attractiveness of the physical environment plays a major role in attracting and retaining students and faculty. The physical environment obviously includes conditions within campus classrooms and laboratories as well as the landscaping, campus grounds and the building themselves.

Each education institution has within its capacity, without expending additional funds, the ability to significantly enhance the learning environment on campus. With all entities working together administrators, students, instruction staff and the facilities management organization the learning community can become a reality. On most campuses it will take some time to get organized, to communicate the plan, and to change old habits and practices. However, with a commitment from all levels within the institutions, the learning community can happen.

We need to recognize that to implement the concept of a learning community requires a departure from current practices. Other things are changing all around us. Why not change our attitude about how best to create a quality learning environment?