2011 - Learning Spaces Design Summit

DISTRIBUTED ‘PLACES’ AND‘SPACES’ FOR LEARNING IN HIGHER EDUCATION Professor Mike Keppell Director, The Flexible Learning Institute & Professor of Higher Education Charles Sturt University 1

OVERVIEWDistributed spacesEcological universityAssumptions and principlesunderlying higher educationPedagogyDiversity of spacesImplications 2

OVERVIEWGrowing acceptance that learning occurs in different ‘places’Proliferation of approaches emerging including ‘ﬂexible’, ‘open’, ‘distance’and ‘off-campus’ that assist the ubiquity of learning in a widerange of contexts (Lea & Nicholl, 2002).Growing acceptance of life-long and life-wide learning also have amajor inﬂuence on distributed learning spaces. 3

FLEXIBLE LEARNING“Flexible learning” provides opportunities to improve the studentlearning experience through ﬂexibility in time, pace, place(physical, virtual, on-campus, off-campus), mode of study (print-based, face-to-face, blended, online), teaching approach(collaborative, independent), forms of assessment and stafﬁng.It may utilise a wide range of media, environments, learning spaces andtechnologies for learning and teaching. 4

BLENDED & FLEXIBLE LEARNING“Blended and ﬂexible learning” is a design approach that examinesthe relationships between ﬂexible learning opportunities, inorder to optimise student engagement and equivalence in learningoutcomes regardless of mode of study (Keppell, 2010, p. 3). 5

ASSUMPTIONSUniversities value and seek to enhance the skills essential for lifelong andlife wide learning, developing graduates who will continue to developintellectually, professionally and socially beyond the bounds offormal education.Universities believe that programs, services and teaching methods shouldbe responsive to the diverse cultural, social and academicneeds of students, enabling them to adapt to the demands ofuniversity education and providing them with the cultural capitalfor life success. 7

ECOLOGICAL UNIVERSITYInstead of ‘having an impact’ on the world, ecological universities seeksustainability and more importantly self sustainability in multiplelevels of interactions. It adopts a ‘care for the world’ as opposedto an ‘impact on the world’ approach (Barnett, 2011).It is a networked university that values and fosters its networksand their interconnectedness and feels a responsibility to thewellbeing of these networks. 8

HIGHER EDUCATION PRINCIPLES Access and Equity & ethical obligationsEquivalence of Learning Outcomes traverses physical, blended Student Learning Experience and virtual learning spaces ‘place’ is less important learning outcomes, subject, Constructive Alignment degree program, generic attributes Discipline Pedagogies speciﬁc needs of disciplines 9

LEARNING SPACES 10

LEARNING SPACESPhysical, blended or virtual ‘areas’ that: enhance learning that motivate learners promote authentic learning interactionsSpaces where both teachers and students optimize theperceived and actual affordances of the space 11

Diistributed Learning Spaces Physical Blended VirtualFormal Informal Formal Informal Mobile Personal Academic Professional Outdoor Practice 12

FORMAL & INFORMAL SPACES 13

SEVEN PRINCIPLES OF LEARNING SPACE DESIGNThe SKG project has established seven principles of learning spacedesign which support a collaborative and student-centred approach tolearning:Comfort: a space which creates a physical and mental sense of easeand well-beingAesthetics: pleasure which includes the recognition of symmetry,harmony, simplicity and ﬁtness for purposeFlow: the state of mind felt by the learner when totally involved in thelearning experience 17

SEVEN PRINCIPLES OF LEARNING SPACE DESIGN• Equity: consideration of the needs of cultural and physical differences• Blending: a mixture of technological and face-to-face pedagogical resources• Affordances: the “action possibilities” the learning environment provides the users, including such things as kitchens, natural light, wiﬁ, private spaces, writing surfaces, sofas, and so on.• Repurposing: the potential for multiple usage of a space (Souter, Riddle, Keppell, 2010) (http://www.skgproject.com) 18

VIRTUAL LEARNING SPACESVirtual learning spaces provide unique opportunities that are unavailablein physical learning spacesThese affordances or ‘action possibilities’ allow a richer range oflearning interactions 19

Formal Virtual Informal VirtualLearning Spaces Learning Spaces 20

FACEBOOK“Online and ofﬂine worlds are clearly coexisting, but used indifferent ways for developing and sustaining different types ofrelationships. For example, face-to-face friendships from homehave been developed and sustained through continuedonline interactions, whilst newer online relationships haveﬂourished at university and developed into face-to-faceindepth relationships” (Madge, Meek, Wellens and Hooley 2010, p.145). 21

VIRTUAL SPACESFLI Website: http://www.csu.edu.au/division/landt/flexible-learning/FLI Blog: http://blendedandflexiblelearning.blogspot.com/FLI Twitter: http://twitter.com/#%21/FLINewsFLI Delicious: http://www.delicious.com/flexiblelearninginstituteDesign: http://blendedandflexiblelearning.wikispaces.com/homeFLI YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/FLIMediaSlidehare: http://www.slideshare.net/mkeppell 22

MOBILE LEARNING SPACES“Learning when mobile means that context becomes all-important sinceeven a simple change of location is an invitation to revisitlearning” (ALT-J Vol 17, No.3 p.159) 23

MOBILE LEARNING SPACES“With its strong emphasis on learning rather than teaching, mobilelearning challenges educators to try to understand learners’ needs,circumstances and abilities even better than before. This extends tounderstanding how learning takes place beyond theclassroom, in the course of daily routines, commuting and travel, andin the intersection of education, life, work andleisure” (Kukulska-Hulme, 2010, p.181). 24

ACADEMIC SPACESBarnett (2011) suggests that “today’s university lives amid multipletime-spans, and time-speeds” (p. 74). He suggests that thearrival of constant email would be considered one of these multipletime-spans, and other time spans might include historians who focuson the past and researchers who may focus on the future of theirresearch.Universities may need to be conscious of the 24/7 existence oftheir students across the globe, each in their own unique time-span. 26

ACADEMIC SPACESBarnett (2011) suggests that academics may be active in universityspaces that may include:Intellectual and discursive space which focus on thecontribution to the wider public sphere.Epistemological space which focuses on the “space available foracademics to pursue their own research interests” (p. 76). 27

ACADEMIC SPACESPedagogical and curricular space focuses on the spacesavailable to trial new pedagogical approaches and new curricularinitiatives.Ontological space which focuses on ‘academic being’ which isbecoming increasingly multi-faceted beyond the research, teachingand community commitments. In fact “the widening ofuniversities’ ontological spaces may bring both periland liberation” (p. 77). 28

PERSONAL LEARNING SPACESPersonal learning environments (PLE) integrate formal andinformal learning spacesCustomised by the individual to suit their needs and allow them tocreate their own identities.A PLE recognises ongoing learning and the need for tools tosupport life-long and life-wide learning. 29

CONNECTIVISMPLE may also require new ways of learning as knowledge has changed tonetworks and ecologies (Siemens, 2006).The implications of this change is that improved lines of communicationneed to occur.“Connectivism is the assertion that learning is primarily a network-forming process” (p. 15). 30

OUTDOOR LEARNING SPACESThese pathways, thoroughfares andoccasional rest areas are generallygiven a functional value in trafﬁcmanagement and are more oftenthan not developed as an afterthought in campus design. As suchthe thoroughfares and rest areas areunder valued (or not recognized) asimportant spaces for teaching andlearning (Rafferty, 2010). 34

CONCLUSIONIt is time that we begin changing our thinking aboutthe ‘place’ of learning.We need to let go of the tradition of universities asbeing a ‘singular place’ where learning andteaching occur. 40

Putting it all together 41

Learning Spaces Voices from Practitionershttp://youtu.be/B5z2GO_h18U 43

2011 - Learning Spaces Design Summit

by Mike Keppell on Dec 08, 2011

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