Image Credit: “Our esteemed Professor” by Robert Boscacci Via Sacred Frames
For David Popalisky, professor of Theatre and Dance, the ideal classroom is California itself. Popalisky drew our attention (and the SF Chronicle’s) with last summer’s course offering, “Walk Across California.” Popalisky and Rebekah Boyd (English) led Santa Clara undergraduates on a 225-mile journey that began in San Francisco and ended in Yosemite.
On the road, students were introduced to sites related to social justice, nature, and California history.
If you want to see the evidence of rich learning from the “Walk Across California” course, read Communication major Robert Boscacci’s account on his personal blog, Sacred Frames. 
For us at Teaching Scholar, Popalisky’s creative pedagogy and his students’ creative learning connects to the idea of the ideal classroom.
Popalisky thought beyond the four walls of the traditional classroom space. Indeed, many faculty and staff members at Santa Clara work to provide rich experiences for SCU undergraduates: through study abroad, archaelogical digs, or community-based learning experiences. As we envision what we want next for our learning environments at Santa Clara, we might ask the following questions:
- If we want to engage students body, spirit, and mind, how do our structures support that engagement?
- What is your ideal classroom? Can you explain why you prefer one classroom architecture to another?
- Rather than using the word ‘classroom,’ can we think of places we teach as learning environments?