Reinventing learning spaces

Phone charging station at Stratford Shopping Centre, London

I have written extensively about education spaces, architectures for learning, and personal learning environments. I elaborated on these ideas in my recent book Learning with 'e's like this:

If the design of a space is wrong, learning can be constrained or even stifled. It's hard to engage students when their surroundings are poor. Too much noise, not enough light, too much heat or cold, uncomfortable seats, even poorly configured seating in a classroom can adversely affect learning. Teachers should be the architects of learning spaces (Wheeler, 2015, p 102).

My most recent blog post, Hi-Tech Campus? highlighted the need for better design of learning spaces in higher education, but the principle applies to all educational environments. I outlined some inherent problems in my own university campus, and asked others on Twitter to suggest what they thought the campus of the future might look like. Actually, the campus of the future, wherever that may be, is already being reinvented right now, and the present and the future are blurring. The need for students to be able to access their content, peers and tutors at any time and in any place necessitates redesign of many environments around a typical university or school campus.

Firstly, Dan Axson, a teacher in Brighton, England, responded to my Twitter question, drawing my attention to a very interesting innovation: Wireless charging of mobile devices would certainly meet many of the needs currently experienced in traditional teaching environments such as lecture theatres where no provision has been made to include power sockets. There is nothing more frustrating than wishing to capture something interesting with your camera or social media tool, and finding that your battery has died. Others see charging stations appearing on campuses in the near future, just as they have already done in shopping malls, airports and hotels. Jose Picardo, an assistant principal in Surbiton, England, made a similar point, suggesting that inductive charging desks, table tops and other emergent technologies that are built into the furniture might soon obviate the need for power sockets at all. Nothing was said about improving wifi connectivity in learning environments, but I suspect that this would also be top of most people's agenda for good campus design. Whatever the technology employed, it seems that providing students with the wherewithal to maintain their connections in going to be a key priority.

On the subject of attendance registers, Clive Buckley, a principal lecturer at Glyndwr University, Wales, suggested using handheld scanners to capture information off student smart cards. His university already used such devices, obviating the need to pass around pieces of paper or waste time calling out names. Amy Burvall, an educator in Hawaii, USA, went even further, suggesting an exotic version of scanning students' retinas, because 'you don't forget to bring your eyes with you', whereas students might forget or lose their smart cards. Canadian educator David Horn, over at the University of British Columbia, provided the moderate voice when he remarked that the hi-tech campus needs to incorporate both high and low tech solutions to support the needs and capabilities of all students.

For me, the reconfiguration of seating in large areas is a must. When students sit in rows and in raked auditoriums there is very little scope to enable interaction or collaboration. Although I can achieve this with my groups through social media, sometimes the physical interaction - sitting down together to discuss or create in face to face mode - is vital. Swivel chairs, or flexible seating that can be adjusted, is something that I think would considerably improve interaction and dialogue in large groups.

What are your views on these ideas? Do you have experience in any of these areas already? What are your suggestions for the campus of the future? Your comments, as ever, are always welcome.

Reference
Wheeler, S. (2015) Learning with 'e's: Educational theory and practice in the digital age. Carmarthen: Crown House Publishing.

Photo by Steve Wheeler


Reinventing learning spaces by Steve Wheeler was written in Plymouth, England is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.