Ryerson students get a seat at movies

Blog 2

I came across an interesting article in Toronto Star which described how Ryerson University will be holding morning lectures in half of the 24 theatres in the AMC multiplex located in the Toronto Life Square building at Yonge St. and Dundas St. The article illustrates how they have created mini desk tops for students that will fit into the cup holders which can then be stored away when the movie goers arrive. Students are offered perks such as discount tickets as an incentive, although they still may not accept this concept with open arms. This puts a totally different spin on the traditional lecture hall and could be something that might be more and more evident in the future. An upside to this would be that he students won’t have to be in lecture halls that are old, with bad acoustics or poor lighting. This directly relates to space and place particularly our discussions on the classroom as a place. Personally I find it strange that the university would resort to using a movie theater but if it proves effective then I guess there is no problem with them. Having discussed space and place throughout many of our class lectures, this is one real life example that is quite accurate to what we studied. To be more specific the idea of places being socially constructed, as once the professor enters the theater; it completely changes the use of the space. It would have been interesting to have a lecture in a movie theater, specifically one on space, place and scale.