Learning spaces around the university: Factors that affect the preferences for a space (original) (raw)

Learning Spaces in Higher Education: Positive Outcomes by Design

The Next Generation Learning Spaces project focused on the activities taking place in learning spaces in higher education institutions. It created a coherent and comprehensive framework for guiding the design and implementation of new learning spaces. Chapters include detailed case studies presented at the 2008 NGLS Colloquium.

An examination of the views of key stakeholders on the development of learning spaces at a regional university

Journal of Facilities Management, 2015

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the degree of alignment between the views of key stakeholders on the development of learning spaces in a new teaching and learning building at a satellite campus of a regional university. Design/methodology/approach – Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with six stakeholders including senior executives, technical staff, academic staff and students. The interviews were transcribed and the data analysed to identify common and differing themes on the part of the respective interviewees in relation to learning spaces in general, and in relation to the new teaching and learning building in particular. Findings – A comprehensive framework should be articulated by the university for its theme of personalised learning so that decisions can be made at lower levels of the university to operationalise the theme across academic and administrative functions. A clear definition of the blended learning pedagogy, which is proposed to be imple...

Evaluating the pedagogical effectiveness of learning spaces

2015

This paper describes the development and ongoing use of the School Spaces Evaluation Instrument (SSEI): an evaluation tool developed to gather information about how effectively school architecture supports teaching and learning. In 2009, the Australian Federal Government pledged $16.2 billion towards the Building the Education Revolution (BER). Over the following three years learning spaces were built or refurbished in 9,526 schools nationwide. In Victoria, Catholic Education Melbourne (CEM) encouraged schools to work with architects to design bespoke solutions. This process led to the design and construction of hundreds of new learning spaces, each with different spatial arrangements. Approximately five years on, questions remain about which architectural solutions worked best. To help answer these questions, and inform decisions about how capital budgets should be spent in the future, the Learning Environments Applied Research Network (LEaRN) and CEM collaborated to develop the SS...

Creative strategies for the learning spaces of the future

Academia Press eBooks, 2022

The paper discusses the role of learning spaces as an integral part of the larger educational ecosystem. Covid-19 pandemic accelerated the trends of digital transformation in education by liberating educational content in time and space and radically reformulating the process of teaching and learning. However, the current spatial archetype of the learning environment still features traditional plans with segregated classrooms and auditoriums. This model is obsolete and does not meet the new requirements of the 21 century education which is student-centred, knowledge and skill-oriented, technology-enabled, collaboration-based and personalized. The role of the teacher is also profoundly changed from transmitting knowledge towards facilitating the educational process that predetermines the wide variety of activities performed in the classroom. The main objective of the paper is to explore how interior design can be aligned to the new learning theories and technological advances, and to propose strategies for the re-design of the traditional learning spaces. Based on the data obtained in a survey conducted with students to gain insight on their specific learning styles and needs, and a survey conducted with university lecturers to understand their teaching approaches and spatial necessities, six types of spaces were proposed. The study followed the principles of grounded theory to construct a hypothesis on the spatial qualities of each space and relate it to the pedagogical and technological requirements.

Towards creative learning spaces

Routledge

There has been increasing interest in learning spaces over recent years. Experts across the fields of architecture, education and estates management are producing a considerable number of publications and many new and innovative examples have now been built (Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) 2006, Tertiary Education Facilities Management Association (TEFMA) 2006, Oblinger 2006, Scottish Funding Council 2006, Neary et al 2010). Yet key basic questions about what we mean by 'space' and what matters about it in relation to learning, remain unanswered. What kinds of space are we talking about -conceptual, physical, virtual, social and/or personal? What are the relationships between the nature of these various spaces and how they actually impact on learning activities? What are the different spaces in which learning takes place (both in and beyond the formal teaching environment) and how can we interrogate the effectiveness of different kinds of learning spaces? What needs to change both in the 'conceptual' spaces we have about learning, and in our physical and virtual spaces, in order to enhance learning experiences?

Mind the gap: co-created learning spaces in higher education

2019

In recent years, there has been a marked increase in the number of new and refurbished building projects in the higher education sector. In Australia alone, public universities, of which there are 40 (TEQSA, 2017), owned 28billionofbuildingassets,withalmost28 billion of building assets, with almost 28billionofbuildingassets,withalmost2 billion being spent on construction in 2015 (Department of Education and Training, 2016). Despite this huge investment, there appears to be a lack of research carried out on the design of buildings, let alone the spaces within them or how these spaces can impact student success. Particularly in a rapidly changing higher education landscape, where key pressures continue to shape higher education, it is surprising that such investment is not commensurate with evidence of the impact of the design of buildings and spaces on teaching, learning and research productivity—key focus areas of universities.

LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS IN UNIVERSITY CONTEXT

"The paper examines the relationship between space and learning in university context. The research questions are focused on identifying and characterizing the spatial properties of the university learning settings, which support and facilitate the generation, sharing and acquisition of knowledge. These interactions rely on a social and informational framework, which is expressed differently in every setting. It aims at identifying urban and architectural settings that host knowledge acquisition and or transmission. It will offer a tool to create or modify a setting that facilitates predetermined experiences and interactions. This tool also enables the creation of an urban/architecture system, creating a new sense of continuous learning place. It scopes several thematics: scale, learning mode, actors, interaction, environmental characteristics and morphology; aiming at a succinct and structured characterization of every type of space."

Editorial: Perspectives on Spaces for Teaching and Learning

2018

… I believe that the anxiety of our era has to do fundamentally with space, no doubt a great deal more than with time. (Foucault, 1984, p.2) This special issue focuses on a wide range of Perspectives on Spaces for Teaching and Learning. Discussion on this theme began in a series of questions following a PhD Conference at the University of Aberdeen in 2017 on 'Perspectives on Space(s) in Our Research Contexts'. What spaces are offered or used for when teaching and learning take place today is worth further investigation locally as well as universally. As we all encounter different educational contexts, cultures, societal needs and technological achievements, it is not possible to conceptually limit spaces offered for teaching and learning into what they represent for each individual practitioner or researcher. Instead, different arguments can broaden individual perspectives and benefit all, while leading to self-reflection for one's own research perspectives.

Towards Developing Criteria to Evaluate the Functional Performance Efficiency of Learning Spaces

European journal of engineering science and technology, 2021

The spatial and geometric design of learning spaces plays an important role in transmitting the dynamics of learning. Recently, there has been a major milestone in effective teaching and learning methods (modern pedagogical approaches) that aim to shift students away from the traditional learning process towards collaborative, problem-oriented and independent learning. These changes required a new generation of learning spaces with different strategies and methods to adapt to these changes. This research problem lies in the huge gap between modern pedagogical methods and the spatial and geometric configuration of different learning spaces that do not meet the requirements of these methods. This article examines the impact of designing different learning spaces on learner-centred teaching and learning by understanding the interrelationships between research in architecture, learning sciences, and environmental psychology in order to achieve effective learning. As a result of the research, a set of criteria for evaluating the functional effectiveness of the research areas under consideration was developed.

The implementation and evaluation of a new learning space: a pilot study

Research in Learning Technology, 2012

A dramatic, pedagogical shift has occurred in recent years in educational environments in higher education, supported largely by the use of ubiquitous technologies. Increasingly, emphasis is being placed on the design of new learning spaces, often referred to as ''Next Generation Learning Spaces'' (NGLS) and their impact on pedagogy. The traditional idea of ''classroom'' now incorporates the use of both physical and virtual space. Increasing availability of digital technologies has enabled access by teachers and students to a wider range of communication and information that can now be incorporated into the formal learning process. This change has meant a greater focus on the design and use of flexible learning spaces, more use of blended learning approaches and more personalised, individualised learning opportunities for students. While many such classrooms have been built and used in universities globally, only a few formal studies have been reported on how these spaces are used by both teachers and students. This article focuses on a pilot study of the use by academic staff and students of a next generation learning space Á the Pod Room Á and makes recommendations for further research into the effectiveness of new learning spaces in universities.