Can We Have Class Outside?
Heather Martin

I love warm weather as much as the next person, but Ive never found it to be productive to hold classes outside. I generally feel like we get so much more done if we stay inside and focus on the tasks at hand. Yes, I sometimes feel like a curmudgeon when I say that, but then when class is dismissed and were all headed out to enjoy the day, we can leave knowing we got lots of work done!
Linda Tate

If the stars align so that the beautiful, sunny day coincides with peer reading or a group discussion, I take them out, with the stern admonition that we have to be serious about our work as well. I love the vibe of a class actually working and thinking hard under the sunshine. I think it also strengthens the rapport of the class past the time when the outside class was held. But if I decide the day's lesson wouldn't work outside, I apologize, agree with them about how beautiful it is, and tell them that as much as I, too, would love to be in the sun, their education is my first concern.
Kelli Custer

Honestly, my usual answer is simply No. But I'll include two specific reasons. First, technologies can't be used outside, so no work using Web-based materials and no ability to use projector for discussions. Two, outside classes offer too many visual and aural distractions, for both me and for students.
Matt Hill

I don't think I've been asked yet at DU (but I tend to teach in the mornings). Hmmm ... What would I say? I would say no, an answer that evolved after a student of mine at CU Boulder fainted when her classmate pulled out a syringe. (Needle-wielding student was diabetic and fainting-student was deathly afraid of needles.) We were sitting outside in a stone amphitheater, and the student who fainted fell over and bonked her head rather severely. We worried she had a concussion, but thankfully, she was okay. Afterwards, I thought carpeting and linoleum tiles much safer surfaces, so I tend to stay indoors.
Geoffrey Bateman
 

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