Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana is making education even more accessible with the rollout of its new Learning Lab +, a mobile learning lab providing classes and labs for students without making them leave their community. The mobile lab was unveiled at a ribbon cutting ceremony on Wednesday, April 17, at Ivy Tech’s Valparaiso campus.
“Our learning lab space is nothing short of an amazing new venture for Ivy Tech Community College. At the college we are 100% committed to meeting students where they are at. Our new mobile unit does just that. This custom mobile classroom space has been intentionally built to deliver higher education at the speed of life for students across the Region,” said Campus Chancellor Aco Sikoski in a press release.
The lab comes as part of the partnership between Ivy Tech and Center of Workforce Innovations. It features a dynamic space that can be used for a variety of interactive learning opportunities and can be brought across the Region for student use.
“We designed the Learning Lab + to be versatile. We can outfit it for any event, initiative, project – whatever it is we’re working on,” said Patti Shields, executive director of Career Coaching and Employer Connections. “We can go out to a K-12 space and do career acceleration, work with an employer for worker training, or run certification classes in the community. It’s designed to be open enough that we can bring it together for any project.”
The free event drew crowds of people eager to see educational opportunities expand for students in the Region.
“It’s great to see so many people here excited for the lab because this has been a long time coming,” said Shields. “We want people to work through our lab, and we want to hear their ideas for what they could use it for. We want to connect with people. We want to get out into the community.”
Ivy Tech has always believed in meeting students where they are on their education journey, and the mobile unit helps remove barriers while providing classes that are fun and engaging.
“We have such a need to connect with more students in our area,” Shields said. “It’s fairly easy to get to the Valparaiso campus from Valpo, but it’s more difficult if you’re from the more remote parts of La Porte County, Starke County, or Jasper County. We want to be able to design training that we can drive to wherever people are and be able to do it there.”
With students no longer needing to travel to experience a state-of-the-art lab environment, Ivy Tech’s mission of supporting students no matter where they are in education has a new avenue toward success.
“The Learning Lab + is a perfect example of meeting students where they are,” Shields said. “Childcare and transportation are two of the biggest barriers keeping students from coming to classes. If we can take the lab and park it where people are, we can help them get their education.”
Those who haven’t had the opportunity to see the Learning Lab + can connect with Shields to schedule a tour of the mobile unit.
“We’re happy to talk about ideas,” said Shields. “We want to get on the road as much as possible.”
To learn more about Ivy Tech Community College and its programs, visit ivytech.edu.