Learning Spaces:

the Final Frontier in Educational Development

@santanuvasant#bett17

Image: B200 Lecture Theatre,

City, University of London

Overview

Where is the research in Learning Spaces now?1

2

3

4

What are the challenges of new Learning Spaces?

What are the benefits of new Learning Spaces?

How does this all link into educational development?

@santanuvasant | #bett17

What do you understand by a

learning space?

@santanuvasant | #bett17

pollev.com/svasant

Where is the

research in Learning

Spaces now?

@santanuvasant | #bett17 Image: ELG01,Lecture Theatre,

City, University of London

A very abridged version of

research so far…

In recent times it started again Oblinger (2005) and her EDUcause

book

There was SCALE-UP (2007), putting the teacher in the centre

More recently, in the UK, we had the UCISA Learning Spaces Toolkit

(2016) taking all the findings and sythesising them for a technical

audience

Australia has a lot of research into this area one such book is Learning

Spaces in Higher Education: Positive Outcomes by Design (2008)

1

2

3

4

Challenges in Learning Spaces

@santanuvasant | #bett17@santanuvasant | #bett17 Image: CC Public Domain

“…education is on the

brink of being transformed

through learning

technologies; however, it

has been on that brink for

some decades now.” Professor Diana Laurillard, London

Knowledge Lab, IoE, UCL

(Laurillard, 2008, p1)

@santanuvasant | #bett17

Medieval Learning SpacesWhat do you notice?

Image: Bologna, 1350s CC Public Domain

@santanuvasant | #bett17

pollev.com/svasant

A very challenging area of educational

development, but why?...

Teaching was until the 1800s*, a private thing between the teacher

and students… then inspections etc arrived

We are moving slowly from a teacher-centred to a student-centred curriculum

Structures and politics in education and technology adoption

(Selwyn & Facer, 2014) are difficult to navigate – Learning Spaces

involves a multi-stakeholder engagement (Estates, IT/AV, Academic

Development etc)

In higher education, the academic is autonomous (compared to a

School teacher)

1

2

3

4

*approximately

“…In light of this apparent

disparity it seems

appropriate that the field

of educational technology

begins also to question

that could be termed

‘state-of-actual’.” Professor Neil Selwyn, Monash

University, Australia (2008)

@santanuvasant | #bett17

Benefits in Learning Spaces

@santanuvasant | #bett17 CC Public Domain

Some very big benefits in this area of

educational development...

The way a room is laid out can have a big impact on the activities you

can do in the space with ease

You can move around the space yourself more, giving students more control

You only see students for a small time in their learning journey so

not do something more than talk at them

Changing your teaching style can make your students more

employable

1

2

3

4

*approximately

Modern Learning SpacesWhat do you notice?

Image: University of New Mexico, 2000s

@santanuvasant | #bett17

pollev.com/svasant

“… Teamwork makes the

dream work, but a vision

becomes a nightmare

when the leader has a big

dream and a bad team..” Dr John C Maxwell

@santanuvasant | #bett17

Are you a teacher-centred or

student-centred teacher?

@santanuvasant | #bett17

pollev.com/svasant

What type of teacher-centred or

student-centred activities do you

do in your teaching?

@santanuvasant | #bett17

pollev.com/svasant

It starts with constructive alignment in

your teaching...

What do you want your students to learn?

Learning Outcomes

How will you know they have learnt something?

Assessment Tasks

The last point is most often left out by many teachers, dependent on

their level of experience? (Nicholls, 2005)

How will you get them to this place of learnt?

Learning Activities

1

2

3

4

LO

ATLA

Constructive Alignment,

Biggs and Tang (2011)

What does this all

mean?

@santanuvasant | #bett17 CC Public Domain

What do you to after a CPD

session?

@santanuvasant | #bett17

pollev.com/svasant

@santanuvasant | #bett17

There is a gap in the development of

staff in higher education

Without reward or recognition, staff usually don’t engage

What is your CPD offer to staff ? What about the experienced staff? Can they

be seconded to carry out a project?

All areas of education – Primary to Higher, the excellent institutions

have strong leadership and direction and a culture of

experimentation

Do you have a Community of Practice approach?

1

2

3

4

What is one thing you have taken

from this talk on learning spaces?

@santanuvasant | #bett17

pollev.com/svasant

@santanuvasant | #bett17 Images: Northwood School,

Hillingdon, London

THANK YOU!

https://www.linkedin.com/in/santanuvasant

@santanuvasant | #bett17

http://www.twitter.com/santanuvasant

http://www.santanuvasant.com

Feel free to follow / contact me about

educational development projects