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From Canvas to Reel: Creating a Multi-Use Learning Space

Victor Valley Community College (VVCC) is among the fastest-growing community colleges in the U.S., with an enrollment that surged to 24,000 students post-COVID. Under Professor Frank Foster’s leadership, the Art Department balances tradition and innovation, offering courses in art history, film and media studies, and hands-on digital photo manipulation.

When Professor Foster arrived at VVCC in 1992, enrollment was one-third of its size today. Foster attributes the college’s growth to its commitment to building pathways from high schools into college, and from community college into Cal State universities and the University of California system. Advancing all VVCC graduates to Bachelor’s Degree programs remains challenging, but VVCC strives to support students in pursuit of postsecondary education. As chair of the Art Department and over the course of his tenure, Foster has created spaces that reflect the changing needs of both students and faculty. Recently, he identified the benefits that flexible furniture would bring to one of the Art Department’s main classrooms.
The VVCC community had to contend with outdated furniture and monitors perched on each desktop, which physically separated students from professors and stymied multimedia instruction. To compete with other community colleges to attract new students – and to give current students a more functional space – Foster knew the facilities required an upgrade. He sought a multi-use space that could blend computer lab with classroom and spark interactive discussions between students and faculty. The room needed to flex between a lecture hall for Art History and Film and a Macintosh-equipped computer lab for Photography.
After researching options extensively, Foster was drawn to SMARTdesks for the company’s design philosophy. “As the chair of the department, I really try to look at each room and figure out how we can improve it.

I believe in simplicity,” he said. “The design of the SMARTdesks MacTables is beautiful, almost organic. Everything is rounded on them. The opening for the monitor is tapered. The edge of the tables is tapered. There is not a hard edge on it that could somehow harm someone. So, the functionality of it is there. But it’s also aesthetically very pleasing to look at.”

He was particularly impressed by the table’s semi-recessed design, which allows the computer monitor to sit below the surface of the desk and clears the line of sight for everyone in the room. “I like the fact that the screen of the computer was recessed below the top of the table,” Foster explained. “Students are not craning their necks over a monitor, which really allows me to interact with them in a more personal, normal way, especially during discussions. In the past, students who didn’t want me to see them could hide behind monitors. Now, that’s gone; I can see everyone in the classroom easily.”
In Art Department courses, this connection between teacher and student is especially meaningful. Foster incorporates a wide range of material into his lesson plans, from foundational works by Hitchcock and Orson Welles to international films from South Africa and Italy. As he explained,
“I use all sorts of different fragments from films to reinforce what the point is in the lecture, but also to invite students to talk about it.” The presentation technology at VVCC allows film professors like Foster to project their lecture materials onto a monitor at the front of the room so students can follow along. For studio-based courses, students can project their own work from VVCC-owned Macintosh stations, a capability that facilitates photo critiques and collaborative group discussions.

While having technology at students’ fingertips is necessary, educators face challenges when technology dominates learning spaces to the detriment of genuine student engagement. To help solve this problem, MacTables feature locking casters for mobility and integrated keyboard storage, which keeps surfaces free of distracting clutter. According to Foster, “The MacTable allows the storage of the keyboard as well. So, we keep that stowed if they’re not using it, so they aren’t prone to use it or tap it. I fight for the attention of these students, and when I have it, I try to keep it, and so the less distractions, the better.”

The semi-recessed Macintosh workstations and keyboards are essential during exam periods, when Foster administers final assessments via Canvas. While students complete quizzes online throughout the semester, the final exam is completed in-person using the SMARTdesks MacTables in the multi-use computer lab. This furniture and technology combination allows each student to access the latest in digital arts technology, creating equal opportunity for those who may not have access to expensive, discipline-specific computers and software on their own.

While 2025 may be considered the age of “Bring Your Own Device,” digital equity is not ubiquitous. Reflecting on the VVCC student body, Foster commented, “Not everybody is lucky to have a computer,
and so we do have open labs for students in the art department and there is a technology building that is adjacent to ours that has a mall of computers. Their primary role is to serve the students who are not as fortunate as others to be able to afford access to computers.” Facilities that support multi-use furniture give students the choice to complete their work with their own technology—or with computers that are property of the college.
When asked why it’s important to invest in arts facilities with the same seriousness as science and math, Foster didn’t hesitate. “As an educator, I try to expand the understanding of someone regarding art. Long ago, art was only concerned with making something beautiful, and if we consider how far it’s progressed, it’s gone far beyond just being pretty. When I talk to students about art, I try to enlarge their vision of what actually requires a creative mind; it’s a problem-solving solution that happens to be visually compelling. Just about everything that we use is designed by someone with a creative mind.”
The Mac lab at VVCC’s Art Department showcases what’s possible when good design meets good teaching. As Foster says, “Obviously, it’s a desk. I don’t know how many people notice it, but they should, because the design is really, in my opinion, both functional and beautiful.”
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