Learning spaces – A sample of readings

Books

Oblinger, D. G. (2006). Learning Spaces. EDUCAUSE e-book. Retrieved November 16, 2014 from http://www.educause.edu/research-and-publications/books/learning-spaces Abstract Space, whether physical or virtual, can have a significant impact on learning. Learning Spaces

focuses on how learner expectations influence such spaces, the principles and activities that

facilitate learning, and the role of technology from the perspective of those who create learning

environments: faculty, learning technologists, librarians, and administrators. Information

technology has brought unique capabilities to learning spaces, whether stimulating greater

interaction through the use of collaborative tools, videoconferencing with international experts,

or opening virtual worlds for exploration. This e-book represents an ongoing exploration as we

bring together space, technology, and pedagogy to ensure learner success.

Savin-Baden, M. (2008). Learning spaces: Creating opportunities for knowledge creation in academic life. New York: McGraw-Hill/ Society for Research into Higher Education & Open University Press. http://catalogue.library.carleton.ca:80/record=b3437924~S9

Learning Spaces sets out to challenge the notion that academic thinking cannot take place in cramped, busy working spaces, and argues instead for a need to recognise and promote new opportunities for learning spaces to emerge in academic life. The book examines the ideas that: learning spaces are increasingly absent in academic life; the creation and re-creation of learning spaces is vital for the survival of the academic community; the absence of learning spaces is resulting in increasing dissolution and fragmentation of academic identities; and learning spaces need to be valued and possibly redefined in order to regain and maintain the intellectual health of academe This book highlights key innovations and collaborative ventures in space design from across campuses and institutions, including writing and communication centers, studios, libraries, digital media labs, learning commons, and academic learning spaces"

Waters, J.L., Fuller, A., & Brooks, R. (2012). Changing spaces of education: New perspectives on

the nature of learning. New York: Routledge.

http://catalogue.library.carleton.ca:80/record=b3277073~S9

Abstract In today's modern climate, education and learning take place in multiple and diverse spaces. Increasingly, these spaces are both physical and virtual in nature. Access to and use of information and communication technologies, and the emergence of knowledge-based economies necessitate an understanding of the plurality of spaces (such as homes, workplaces, international space and cyberspace) in which learning can take place. The spaces of policy making with respect to education are also being transformed, away from traditional centres of policy formation towards the incorporation of a wider range of actors and sites. These changes coincide with a more general interest in space and spatial theory across the social sciences, where notions of simultaneity and diversity replace more modernist conceptions of linear progress and development through time. This volume proffers a unique perspective on the transformation of education in the 21st century, by bringing together leading researchers in education, sociology and geography to address directly questions of space in relation to education and learning. This collection of essays: - examines the changing and diverse spaces and concepts of education (occurring simultaneously at different scales and in different parts of the world) - explores where education and learning take place - discusses how spaces of education vary at different stages (compulsory schooling, tertiary and higher education, adult education and workplace learning) - inspects the ways in which the meanings attached to education and learning change in different national and regional contexts.

Carpenter, R. G. (2013). Cases on higher education spaces: innovation, collaboration, and technology. Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference. This book highlights key innovations and collaborative ventures in space design from across campuses and institutions, including writing and communication centers, studios, libraries, digital media labs, learning commons, and academic learning spaces. http://catalogue.library.carleton.ca:80/record=b3450261~S9

Reports

JISC (2006). Designing spaces for effective learning: A guide to 21st century learning space. Retrieved August 10 from http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20140702233839/http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/publications/learningspaces.pdf

Mitchell, G., White, B., Pospisil, R., Kiley, S., Liu, C., & Matthews, G. (2010). Retrofitting University Learning Spaces. Final Report. Retrieved September 10th, 2014 from http://learnline.cdu.edu.au/retrofittingunispaces/resources/intro.html

Review articles Dugdale, S. (2009). Space strategies for the new learning landscape. EDUCAUSE Review, 44 (2). Retrieved September 9, 2014 from http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/space-strategies- new-learning-landscape Fisher, K., & Newton, C. (2014). Transforming the Twenty-First-Century Campus to Enhance the Net-Generation Student Learning Experience: Using Evidence-Based Design to Determine What Works and Why in Virtual/Physical Teaching Spaces. Higher Education Research and Development, 33, 903 – 920. Abstract The twenty-first century has seen the rapid emergence of wireless broadband and mobile communications devices which are inexorably changing the way people communicate, collaborate, create and transfer knowledge. Yet many higher education campus learning environments were designed and built in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries prior to wireless broadband networks. Now, new learning environments are being re-engineered to meet these emerging technologies with significant challenges to existing pedagogical practices. However, these next generation learning environments (NGLEs) have not been evaluated thoroughly to see if they actually work as they are scaled up across the higher education system. Whilst there have been a range of NGLEs designed globally – with Australia leading in the past five years or so – it is timely that a more rigorous research methodology drawing from health facility evidence-based design is taken to evaluate their effectiveness in improving the student experience and learning outcomes. Lambert, C. (2007) Exploring new learning and teaching spaces Warwick Interactions Journal 30 (2). Retrieved October 12 2014 from http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/cap/resources/pub/interactions/current/ablambert/lambert

Empirical articles

Bennett, S. (2006). First questions for designing higher education learning spaces. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 33 (1), 14-26. http://journals2.scholarsportal.info.proxy.library.carleton.ca/details/00991333/v33i0001/14_fqfdhels.xml

We often start the design of learning spaces with service and operational considerations rather than with questions about the character of the learning we want to happen in the space. To correct this practice, six questions are here proposed that colleges and universities should ask first and persistently throughout the construction or renovation of learning spaces. Much of this discussion draws on the National Survey of Student Engagement; for another essay that draws substantially on NSSE. Harrop, D., & Turpin, B. (2013). A study exploring learners’ informal learning space behaviors, attitudes and preferences. New Review of Academic Librarianship, 19, 58 – 77. http://journals1.scholarsportal.info.proxy.library.carleton.ca/details/13614533/v19i0001/58_aselilsbaap.xml?q=A+study+exploring+learners%E2%80%99+informal+learning+space+behaviors&search_in=anywhere&date_from=&date_to=&sort=relevance&op=AND&q=New+Review+of+Academic+Librarianship&search_in=JOURNAL&sub= What makes a successful informal learning space is a topic in need of further research. The body of discourse on informal space design is drawn from learning theory, place making, and architecture, with a need for understanding of the synergy between the three. Findings from a longitudinal, quantitative, and qualitative study at Sheffield Hallam University, explore learners' behaviors, attitudes, and preferences toward informal learning spaces in higher education, within and outside of the context of the academic library. The learning spaces study contributes to the discourse on informal learning spaces design by producing a typology of nine learning space preference attributes which address aspects of learning theory, place making, and architecture. The typology can be used to evaluate existing spaces and inform redevelopment of informal learning spaces in higher education institutions. Implementing the typology will be subject to localized conditions, but at Sheffield Hallam University the key conclusions have included developing a portfolio of discrete, interrelated learning environments, offering spaces with a clear identity and encouraging students to translate their learning preferences into space selection.

Lom, E., & Sullenger, K. (2011). Informal spaces in collaborations: Exploring the edges/boundaries of professional development. Professional Development in Education, 37(1), 55-74. doi:10.1080/19415257.2010.489811 Self‐directed, informal learning is a less recognized and understood form of professional development. Researching informal learning is almost an oxymoron. The process of studying learning contexts, such as informal, self‐directed professional development, raises new challenges for researchers. Gaining insights into self‐directed professional development requires teachers’ permission and active participation; it requires creating a context of trust and reflection. Science in Action is a collaboration of researchers – teachers, members of

community‐based science organizations, educators from community colleges and university and graduate students who worked together to create and implement an afterschool science program for upper elementary (Grades Three to Five) and middle school (Grades Six to Eight) students. In this paper, we share what we learned about the potential for collaborations, especially models like cooperative inquiry, to negotiate the interface between research and informal learning spaces. Moreover, we describe what these teachers count as professional development as well as the consequences of their experiences on their classroom practice. Riddle, M., & Souter, K. (2012). Designing informal learning spaces using student perspectives. Journal Of Learning Spaces, 1(2). Retrieved from http://libjournal.uncg.edu/index.php/jls/article/view/282/277 This article describes the design of informal learning spaces at an Australian university that support students in the generation of knowledge. Recent learning space design projects at La Trobe have been informed by a number of pre-existing projects, including a small research project on student use of technologies, a national project on learning space design, and a significant curriculum renewal process at the university. It demonstrates the ways in which evidence based on student perspectives and principles developed through applied research in teaching and learning can inform real world learning space design projects in a higher education context. Whiteside, A., & Fitzgerald, S. (2009). Designing learning spaces for active learning. Implications, 7, 1-6. Retrieved October 12, 2014 from http://www.informedesign.umn.edu/_news/jan_v07r-pr.2.pdf. Abstract This 2008 pilot study explores the relationships among formal and informal learning spaces, teaching practices, and learning outcomes at the University of Minnesota.