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The COVID-19 pandemic had unprecedented impacts on Generation Z (Gen Z) in regard to mental wellbeing and learning impacts. While the world shut down in March 2020, the majority of students who have since entered college were forced to attend some portion of high school using remote learning platforms. This transition, while necessary at the time, has had repercussions that are still being felt in higher education. These impacts, combined with the challenges that Gen Z were already experiencing due to the pressures of social media, and the impacts that technology has had on attention spans, have changed their learning styles and needs. While previous research supports the idea that post-pandemic learners want to be seen holistically, seek flexibility and compassion in the classroom, this thesis sought to explore the impacts that the spatial dynamics and accessibility of a classroom have on the student experience. Drawing from the framework of Henri Lefebvre (1991, 2011) and Raka Shome (2003) on the production of space and accessibility, a qualitative analysis was conducted using focus groups to better understand the post-pandemic learning experience. Through the findings three major takeaways were identified, including; the importance of flexibility in the classroom, the expectation of accessibility, and most unexpectedly how the learning habits of the post-pandemic student have changed. The findings of this study can be used by educators and administrators to continue to support and empower post-pandemic learners.

Communicating the importance of rules and warnings to visitors of recreational parks through signage can be difficult. However, it is one of the most important things to keep visitors safe. Oftentimes, these signs use fear of punishment or injury to discourage certain behaviors. According to studies following the Extended Parallel Processing Model (EPPM), using threats can backfire and cause visitors to use maladaptive fear responses to counteract a threat message if the content is too extreme or too psychologically close. Humor is a versatile tool that can be used to grab attention, temper perceptions, and influence decision-making. Comedians like Jon Stewart and George Carlin, for example, have leveraged their position to bring controversial and often difficult-to-digest issues to large audiences through the use of humorous threats. This study aimed to explore the effect of humorous threats on the reception of messages with the intent of changing behavioral intentions in recreation areas. Participants were asked to complete an online survey about prior attitudes towards rules in recreation areas, past experiences with risk factors, frequency of visitation to recreation areas, and preferred activities. They were then randomly be exposed to one informational rule sign out of four combinations of humor and threat content: normal (control), humor, threat, and humorous threat. After exposure to the sign, they were asked about their emotional and cognitive responses to the content. The study looked for relationships between sign content, perceptions of messages, and behavioral intentions. The study found that humor, threats, and humorous threats do not have any effect on the behavioral intention decision phase of the EPPM. The study also showed through ANOVA and non-parametric tests that there was a relationship between the sign content and perceptions of risk. The study sheds light on the effectiveness of using humor, fear, and humorous threats for park managers to better communicate with visitors and manage park resources.