Design Of Learning Spaces Research Articles

STEM-Focused Academies in Urban Schools: Tensions and Possibilities

Drawing on data from a study of learning, race, and equity in an urban high school organized around specialized learning academies, we examine the ways in which the design, framing, construction, and organization of learning spaces deeply influences the types of access to rigorous learning that students experience. We draw on the notion of racialized learning pathways to examine access to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning spaces and the ways in which decisions about engaging these learning settings are bound up in notions of race, racial identity, gender, and belonging. We also take up the questions of how researchers and educators can intentionally design for positive racialization toward more inclusive school organization and classrooms. This article contributes to understanding of (a) how learning and identity development are mediated by broader processes of racialization tied to schooling organization and access structures and (b) how racial and gender inequities in STEM can be both reproduced and contested in large urban schools serving racially and socioeconomically diverse students. We contribute to the literature on equity and access in STEM by attending to the racialization processes that we argue are always at work in urban schools, particularly so in schools that are organized into pathways demarcated along racialized lines.

Evidence-Based Design Of Outdoor Learning Spaces In Winter: Behavioral Mapping In A ‘Forest School’

Outdoor learning spaces can be used to support child development where children engage with natural elements as an integral part of their school experience. This naturally facilitates cognitive play: a grouping of behaviors that facilitate cognitive development. The problem is that outdoor learning is particularly challenging in winter due to cold weather. This compromises opportunities for children to benefit from outdoor learning for a large part of the school year in cold climates. Previous studies, using behavioral mapping, have pointed to the role that design elements play in child development; although these studies were conducted in warm weather. Our solution is to map child behaviors in schools where outdoor play is encouraged during winter, to illustrate the role that design elements play in winter outdoor learning, and to enable us to highlight challenges of winter outdoor learning that may be addressed through design interventions. We observed three schools which are dedicated to outdoor learning, during winter in a cold climate, using behavioral mapping, focused observations and photo documentation. Our analysis confirms that outdoor winter environments support cognitive play, and we discuss design interventions that can mitigate challenges faced by schools dedicated to outdoor learning in winter.

Feel the Fear: Learning Graphic Design in Affective Places and Online Spaces

This article explores the idea of pedagogic affect in both onsite and online graphic design learning spaces, and speculates on the role that this affect plays in the formation of the design student. I argue that embodied design knowledge is built by interactions with design professionals, activities that mimic the daily work of designers, and practices of display such as exemplar student work galleries within design schools. Therefore bodies in motion, and the places they move within, take on more importance in the making-up of a graphic design student than we may expect. This idea has obvious implications for online design learning. Drawing on concepts from both Actor-Network Theory (ANT) and Non-Representational Theory (NRT), this article works three empirical instances of affect. The analysis presented is targeted towards exploring the contribution of affect to teaching in onsite and online learning spaces. As the practices described here carry through time and space to other design schools, the findings put forward have implications for a broad suite of practices in design education. Thinking through how affect plays out in the onsite design school points the way towards the creation of more vibrant online learning spaces.

Fostering verbal and non-verbal social interactions in a 3D collaborative virtual learning environment: a case study of youth with Autism Spectrum Disorders learning social competence in iSocial

This case study describes the verbal and nonverbal social interaction of 11 youth with Autism Spectrum Disorders in a 3D Collaborative Virtual Learning Environment—iSocial. The youth were developing social competence through participation in a social competence intervention curriculum implemented online so as to provide access to high quality instruction for youth in small and rural communities. The data show the ability and variability of verbal and nonverbal reciprocal social interactions while online. In addition, the results of this case study revealed associations between pedagogical design features of the iSocial 3D CVLE, such as, goal-oriented, narrative embedded, game/role play enriched and peer-supported 3D CVLE activity design and higher frequencies and better quality of reciprocal social interaction. Therefore, these findings have potential to inform future design of 3D social learning spaces.

A New Feature, New Assignment, and Fresh Perspective Worth Noting

A New Feature, New Assignment, and Fresh Perspective Worth Noting Tomalee Doan (bio) I was pleasantly surprised and pleased to become a member of the portal Editorial Board and editor of the new feature “Worth Noting.” The opportunity to gather, present, or help create new content based on the interest of readers and noteworthy trends in libraries and the academy is an exciting venture. This new assignment comes at a time of significant change in my own life. Last August, I became an associate university librarian at Arizona State University (ASU) Library in Tempe. Yes, despite the Arizona heat, moving in the summer was a great time to relocate from Midwest to the Southwest! Previously, I was the associate dean for academic affairs at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. My professional interests include managerial leadership, librarians as educators, information literacy, information technologies for improved discovery, and learning space design to enhance student success. Now, I am adding editorial acumen. As I began to mull potential topics of interest to share in this feature, I gravitated to the recently published NMC (New Media Consortium) Horizon Report: 2017 Higher Education Edition.1 This 14th edition of the Horizon Report is a collaborative effort between two nonprofit organizations: the NMC, an international group of experts in educational technology, and the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative, whose mission is “to advance higher education through the use of information technology.” The annual reports examine findings from the Horizon Project, an ongoing program to identify and describe emerging technologies for learning and teaching. The reports track higher education trends, challenges, and the development of educational technologies in hopes to promote teaching, learning, and creative inquiry. These documents have been some of my benchmark readings to decipher what to watch for in higher education, information technology, and academic libraries. The NMC Horizon Report: 2017 Higher Education Edition states, “Across the world, education has become the most important currency.”2 A major theme of the 2017 Horizon Report is digital equity, which it defines as “equal access to technology, particularly broadband Internet.” In its executive summary, the report lists the top 10 trends that will likely drive educational change for the next five [End Page 447] years. Trend 4 is: “Despite the proliferation of technology and online learning materials, access is still unequal. Gaps persist across the world that are hampering college completion for student groups by socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, and gender. Further, sufficient internet access remains uneven.”2 In the section “Significant Challenges Impeding Technology Adoption in Higher Education,” the report categorizes increasing digital equity as a “difficult challenge”—that is, one “that we understand but for which solutions are elusive.” It explains: UNESCO reports that while 3.2 billion people across the globe are using the internet, only 41% of those that live in developing countries are online. Further, 200 million fewer women than men are accessing the internet around the world. The United Nations has identified internet access as essential to meeting its sustainable development goals of alleviating poverty and hunger and improving health and education worldwide by 2030. This rampant social justice issue is not just affecting developing nations: more than 30 million Americans lack access to high-speed internet. Efforts to improve these figures are necessary to promote full participation, communication, and learning within society.3 Since I arrived at ASU, the topic of digital equity has become even more prominent on my radar. ASU was the university rated number one by U.S. News & World Report in the category of innovation for both 2016 and 2017. The criteria for the ranking lists improvements of curriculum, faculty, students, campus life, technology, or facilities. U.S. News does not say exactly what earned ASU the top ranking, but among the likely factors are many new programs the university has recently launched, including several focused on widening access to higher education and ensuring student success. In 2015, for example, ASU began the Global Freshman Academy, the first university program to allow students to complete their first year online through massive open online courses (MOOCs), without even going through the application process. ASU also developed a system called eAdvisor™, which helps students select a field that...

Interpreting the Cultural Values of Learning Space Design Based on Traditional Education System in Indonesia

Interpreting the Cultural Values of Learning Space Design Based on Traditional Education System in Indonesia

The Challenge and Opportunity for MOOCs for Teaching Writing

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have been touted as alternative approaches to face-to-face teaching and the design of learning spaces. MOOCs allow teachers to rearrange traditional classroom activities and use technologies sometimes in new and different ways to provide new ways of teaching. Recently, they have been implemented for the teaching of writing to provide greater access to these courses. I examine the possibilities and challenges of using these technologically-enhanced spaces for teaching composition. I first discuss the differences in the designs of MOOCs and how these approaches were applied to teaching writing. Based on my own participation in composition MOOCs as well as a variety of other MOOCs since 2008, I introduce three composition MOOCs, which although designed as L1 courses, involved thousands of participants with varying backgrounds from all over the world. I discuss how these MOOCs responded to challenges and how the participants could negotiate their own learning, such as by choosing which assignments they wanted to complete or determining how much peer review they wanted. I conclude that these courses demonstrate how MOOCs have created new learning spaces that can influence face-to-face approaches to teaching writing.

Towards an inclusive classroom psycho-geography: why it matters where students choose to sit

This paper is based on my own experiences of classroom psychogeography, as experienced through working with a group of around 50 Masters students at Central Saint Martins over a period of more than ten years. Much has been written and published about the design of learning spaces, as well as the dynamics of group work, but relatively littlehas been published about the psychogeography of learning, especially at the higher education level. Space is never neutral. It separates or it includes. It can be used to reinforce or challenge power-based relationships. Students express their feelings about learning by their mode of occupation of learning spaces, but these choices can also influence peer dynamics and students' subsequent levels of engagement.I began my research as a passive observer, by noticing how certain student interactions tended to take place in certain parts of a classroom, irrespective of the individuals involved. I subsequently devised various interventions in classroom psychogeography, designed to facilitate the most effective mixing of students in group work. The outcomes of these interventions were recorded through questionnaires given to my students after participating in various classroom interventions, as well as through granular evidence, assembled through both formal and informal interviews. My conclusions reflect on my attempts to intervene in the spatial dynamics of learning, in order to facilitate a more inclusive psychogeography.

Technology and the dis-placing of learning in educational futures

Common visions of online education entail radically re-configuring the experience of learning: a technological displacement from the spatial order of classrooms into the more diffuse arena of digital networks. One assumption seems to be that the very spatial order of classrooms creates an undesirably rigid sense of place for schooling, one that is depressingly impervious to change; and that the attendant solution is to escape the realm of the ‘physical’ altogether – into an online realm more supportive of collaboration and free of face-the-front conventions. In the present paper we seek to challenge this oppositional view. We consider several ways in which digital technology can restructure the traditional spaces of educational practice, and identify design dynamics that may be neglected in the wake of ‘virtualisation’. Discussion first highlights two theoretical perspectives that will inform many such designs: namely, situativity and sociality in learning. Three examples are then provided of how digital technology can intersect with learning space design to create novel interpersonal frameworks for learning and to destabilise conventional senses of ‘place’ in those settings. The examples concern, respectively, the organisation of collaborative, expository, and community-based social structures for learning. Those examples represent an illustrative counterpoint to models of online schooling and illustrate a potentially productive synergy between the opportunities afforded by digital technologies, the desires of those who wish to dis-place learning online, and a well-established interest in learning space design.

Interplay of entrepreneurial learning forms: a case study of experiential learning settings

This paper explores the concept of learning in a setting of experiential knowledge acquisition. The main focus is how facilitators of learning processes can design learning spaces, where the boundaries of what is expected from the learner are challenged. The aim is to explore the action-based learning processes occurring in experiential learning settings and curriculum development. The case study explores a course in innovation and project management at a university of applied science, and the main data are derived from four focus groups with students. Five different pedagogical learning activities from the course were investigated to provide legitimacy to the implications for entrepreneurship education. The study identified two core themes describing the participants’ beliefs and perceptions about the ideal learning environment. Within these core themes, findings suggested five categories relevant to experiential learning settings.

Pedagogical advances in business models at business schools – in the age of networks

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to focus on potential advances in pedagogy and on the process of learning in business schools. It examines innovations in teaching and learning methods particularly in the context of networked organizations. Design/methodology/approach – It approaches, and examine the impact of, three key developments in business schools, namely, recent advances in IT, changes in the architecture of classrooms and learning spaces and advances in the way teaching is undertaken. Findings – The paper suggests that a blend between self-learning via distance approaches and face-to-face learning will increasingly become the norm. Face-to-face sessions might be in a “flat room” environment with a creative mix of short lectures, experiential, group learning and conceptual plenary lectures, software innovations, and digital textbooks “open plan” learning spaces would complement the instructional process. Research limitations/implications – There are clear implications for parallel IT (developments in course modules) and architectural innovations for the design of more effective and creative learning spaces. Practical implications – Improving pedagogy together with the physical design and layout of learning spaces is critical. The aim is, through enhanced participative pedagogy and “friendly” architecture, to improve learning by encouraging dialogue and closer interaction between students and professors from different disciplines and fields. Social implications – The authors argue that this model of collaborative learning and an interactive teaching framework should enable the same amount of learning material to be covered in a business school in approximately half-the-time required in conventional pedagogical approaches. Originality/value – It offers a prescription for a participative, technology enhanced and interactive teaching pedagogy that could produce more effective and efficient, teaching outcomes. This has strong implications for the sustainability, and funding capability, of many existing business schools and business school models.

Curated language learning spaces

This article develops a set of design principles for 21st century language centers. It is based on a 2013 survey of language center directors and staff for the International Association for Language Learning and Technology (IALLT). The proposed criteria, which are flexibility and adaptability, mission-based design, situatedness, social space and community design, and de-emphasis of technology, offer a new direction in the physical and conceptual design of 21st century language learning spaces.

An integrated leadership model for leading education for sustainability in higher education and the vital role of students as change agents

This paper explores the leadership of education for sustainability (EfS) in higher education, focusing specifically on the key role students can play as internal catalysts for change. It presents a case study of Plymouth University, a higher education institution with an international reputation for EfS leadership. The paper outlines the importance of seeking cultural transformation in the leadership of sustainability, highlighting the benefits of an integrated approach that encompasses teaching and learning, research, and campus and operations. This manifold and coordinated approach requires top-down strategic support in order for EfS to take root and gather momentum. However, in this paper it is argued that the bottom up empowerment of ‘students as change agents’ is just as important. Reflecting on the strengths and weaknesses of a number of student leadership initiatives at Plymouth University, this paper argues that EfS reform in HE has significant implications for staff training and the design of participatory learning spaces in order for students to have their voices heard and to be partnered with as leaders.

Design and Management of a Self-Access Language Learning Space Integrated into a Taught Course

This paper reports on the design and management of an online self-access language learning (SALL) space that was used with a group of Saudi medical students to complement classroom-based learning. The aim was to increase the opportunities for communication and language practice and, more specifically, to help develop the learners’ language learning autonomy (Little, 1999). In a pre-study, a questionnaire and a focus group were used to collect information about the students’ needs and interests in language learning. The design of this space was informed by the students’ feedback on their language learning needs and styles as recommended by Breen (1986) and Marsh (2012). Desire2Learn, a widely used virtual learning environment, was used to provide learners with an online self-access center because of the many features it has which would help learners to take control of their learning. The learning resources and online tools included instant messaging (IM), a news stream, access to a facilitator and other learning support, moderated discussions, videos, images, activities and quizzes, as well as links to external materials and to free self-access language learning resources. A description will be provided of how the materials, the tools, and the facilities were integrated within this space along with the justification for each of the elements. A look ahead to how this study could be extended for use with all learners enrolled in the medical scheme of the university will be discussed at the end of the paper.

Introduction to Section III: Deweyan Growth in Practice

Introduction to Section III: Deweyan Growth in Practice

Models of learning space: integrating research on space, place and learning in higher education

Learning space research is a relatively new field of study that seeks to inform the design, evaluation and management of learning spaces. This paper reviews a dispersed and fragmented literature relevant to understanding connections between university learning spaces and student learning activities. From this review, the paper distils a number of core concerns and identifies some gaps in the literature. One of its primary goals is to clear the ground for the construction of models of learning space that can be used by the various parties involved in the design and evaluation of new learning spaces: teachers, architects, interior designers, IT managers, educational leaders and students. A closely related goal is to help those participating in learning space research locate and understand each other's contributions. Fragmentation in research related to learning and physical spaces makes progress in the field slow. Our review makes two passes over the field: drawing together research from architecture, the learning sciences, environmental psychology, human computer interaction and elsewhere to identify research foci and gaps, and then also capturing some work by learning space researchers that directly attempts to model the main relationships in the field. The paper ends with a summary of implications for research and practice.

Study on Space Audit Assessment Criteria for Public Higher Education Institution in Malaysia: Space Capacity Assessment

The aim of this study is to measure the capacity rate of learning space based on the as-built drawing provided by the institutions or if the as-built drawing is missing, the researcher have to prepare measured drawing as per actual on site. The learning space Capacity Index is developed by analyzing the space design in as-built drawing or measured drawing and the list of learning spaces available at the institution. The Capacity Index is classified according to the level of Usable Floor Area (UFA) and Occupancy Load (OL) according to learning space design capacity. The classification of Capacity Index is demonstrated through linguistic value and the color-coded key. From the said index, the institution can easily identify whether the existing learning space is currently best used or vice versa and standard space planning compliance in Malaysia Public Higher Education Institutions. The data will assist the management to clarify whether to maximize the use of existing space or to request for new learning space.

CREANDO ESPACIOS DE APRENDIZAJE CON LOS ALUMNOS PARA EL TERCER MILENIO

INTRODUCTION. Increasing concern for creatingt he appropriate educational spaces for a variety of learning activities is taking place. Efforts to explain how interacting with built spaces affects our way of thinking, feeling, our actions and well-being started decades ago. This work addresses two fundamental queries. First, can school children, with the help of educators and technicians, allied with the findings of Neuroscience and other behavioural disciplines, design learning spaces without explicit prior knowledge? Second, are Project Based Learning methods adequate for Participative Action Research (PAR) methods? Can design thinking enrich the researchers’ actions, processes, and results? METHOD . We collected a lot of evidence - photographs, videos, interviews as well as both written and digital sources - and triangulated the data and processes using a structured method based on Participative Action Research processes. The sample comprised three working groups, two in Madrid and one in Barcelona, who worked for two years. Previously, work was done with Lampton School, London (England) and later work followed, as described, in a Public Institute at Thorning, Silkebor (Denmark). RESULTS . The teams were able to design, develop and find effective uses for the spaces based on learning tasks, preferences and needs. Excellent results were obtained during the process. Variables such as entrepreneurship, collaboration and shared knowledge management were also verified. DISCUSSION . Students’ achievements were analyzed and contrasted with hypotheses from Neuro-architecture and related sciences. Consistent correspondences in results were found. The impact of Project Based Learning on Participatory Action Research with design thinking was also studied.

Design for Self – Directed Learning Spaces in University Case Study at Thammasat University, Rangsit, Thailand

This research aims to study essential design criteria for effective self-directed learning spaces in the university in compliance with a human-centered design concept which gives priority to the requirement of physical functioning as well as psychological environment. The research focuses on conceptual designs and requirements of the college students to come up with guidelines to the effective interior architecture design of the self-directed learning spaces. It is conducted through a review of existing researches and theories along with data received from a survey with a random sample of 100 students enrolling at Thammasat University, Rangsit campus. The information on students’ behaviors, needs, activities and their individual preference in relation to the environmental factors that contribute to their satisfaction are collected from the survey feedback. The findings have been analyzed and used as guidelines and requirements to the design of the mentioned self-directed learning spaces on the campus. The survey feedback identifies that environmental factors that the students believe to support effective learning range in a top-down priority order ranging from flexible space, not overcrowding, tranquility, appropriate temperature , comfort furniture design, and lighting respectively which can be achieved through good design. Cleanliness and tidiness is only a factor relating to operations manage-ment. Regarding the interior style, the majority of students prefer a modern look with colorful decoration slightly above casual atmosphere resembling a coffeehouse or home while least students choose a formal style as corporate like interior. Privacy is one of the most important factors given as students choose enclosed meeting room over open meeting room. For furniture selections, students choose tables and chairs over sofa or lounge seats. Meanwhile, most students prefer ergonomics office chair with caster or upholstered seats. For work tables, they choose workstation with a large monitor that accommodates a large group of students working together although it may not offer good privacy. Most students prefer space and furniture for group working; however, territory and privacy are equally important factors.

Relational Equity as a Design Tool Within Making and Tinkering Activities

ABSTRACTThis article focuses on the partner-like relations that emerge between undergraduates and youth as they engage in “Making and Tinkering” activities in an afterschool learning ecology, and illustrates the potential for designed tinkering activity to produce relational equity among participants. Grounded in sociocultural theory, but leveraging theoretical contributions from learning sciences and tinkering research, we draw on ethnographic data across one year to examine how the social organization of Making & Tinkering activities provides necessary social conditions for “feedback-in-practice” and consequential learning. Analyses of interactions reveal how more symmetrical intergenerational relationships serve in the design of equitable learning spaces.