Researching the relationship between new learning environments and outcomes in Victoria, Australia

Elizabeth Hartnell-YoungGroup Manager, ResearchHonorary Research Fellow, LSRI and The University of Melbourne

Australia today • Population almost 22 m• Victoria pop 5.5 m• 2200 schools in

Victoria (1550 run by state)

• 850,000 school students (8000 indigenous; 3500 international)

Department of Education and Early Childhood Development Victoria

• http://www.education.vic.gov.au

Infrastructure investments

• Commonwealth funded• £25.3bn National Broadband Network (NBN): fibre to end users• Digital Education Revolution (£1.26bn): devices to secondary students• Building the Education Revolution (BER: £8.45bn) new school buildings and

refurbishment

• Victorian investments• Victorian Schools Plan (£1.12bn over 10 years): new schools• Ultranet (£35.4m+ statewide learning platform)• ICT Devices (almost 1:1 ratio including netbooks for students and laptops for

teachers)

Research and Innovation Framework

www.education.vic.gov.au/researchinnovation

What are the benefits, challenges and unintended consequences of new learning space design in relation to pedagogy, school organisation and student learning outcomes?

Space is neither innocent nor neutral...it works on its occupants. (Pouler,1994 )

Our big ’learning space’ question…

Personal background• Building Schools for the Future, Nottingham: Circling the Square• JISC study of effective evaluation models and practices for technology-supported physical learning spaces • U21 learning space networks

• ‘It’s a kind of sociological experiment... It’s about changing power structures in classes, so there’s no fixed space for teachers, no fixed space for students, completely flexible furniture’ (JISC, 2009. p 14)

JISC study of effective evaluation models and practices

• Considered methods for evaluation in HE• Developed a framework for evaluating learning spaces

• Found that evaluations tend to focus on• use of physical, rather than networked, space (often quantitative)• users’ satisfaction with the space

• And do not focus on • Relationship between learning activities and outcomes• Whether/how teaching changes in new spaces

DEECD research to date• Australian Research Council

• The University of Melbourne with DEECD: Smart Green Schools; Future Proofing schools (LEARN Network)

• Several ICT projects with DEECD including computer games, mobile devices

• OECD/CELE• Victoria the only Australian jurisdiction involved: innovative learning

environments

• OECD/CERI• Focus on design and buildings

• Literature Review commissioned by DEECD and conducted by Deakin University

• ICT: commissioned evaluations, practitioner-led research

Lit review: Conceptual Framework

PHASE PRACTITIONERS LEARNERS SPACES

DESIGN

DP Consultation1st generation usersPreparation…..

Capabilities of 21stC studentVoiceAccess…..

Philosophy and principles of design…..

TRANSITIONIMPLEMENTATION

OrientationRethinking pedagogiesProfessional learning…..

Repositioning learner……..

GovernanceAccessSecurity…

CONSOLIDATION Changes in pedagogy..

Engagement…..Collaboration…

ManagementMaintenance….

SUSTAINABILITYEVALUATION

CreativityOngoing collaboration….

CreativityProblemsolving….. Serial redesign….

Victoria’s template design solution

design for sustainability

Design for acoustics

Gaps in the Design Phase Literature

• philosophical positions without empirical evidence• little recognition of significance of school context • few primary sources as to use and effect

(student/teacher/parent/community interview or other data) that can be replicated

• need to study student perceptions of relationship between neighbourhood social disorganisation, safety, school buildings and neighbourhood culture (Bowen et al. 2008).

transition

ict

Gaps within the Transition Phase

• preparation for and management of transition, including professional learning in preparation for use of more open spaces

• how students, teachers and communities negotiate and create new relationships, organisational structures and processes in new learning spaces

• linking organisational planning, school culture and leadership, the use and meaning of learning spaces, and student academic outcomes

• affective dimensions of change, teacher and student anxiety

consolidation

Gaps in the Consolidation Phase

• a focus on building conditions rather than what practices are enabled through new learning spaces and with what effects,

evaluation: indoor/outdoor

Curriculum relationships

Gaps in the Sustainability and Evaluation Phase

• learning outcomes arising from specific practices in new learning spaces and with new technologies

• the benefits of different types and degrees of participation in serial redesign

• how shared spaces (eg libraries) change community relations and perceptions over time

• how practices in schools built to model environmental sustainability translate into student learning

• patterns of use impacted on by outside/inside visual and spatial links • how classroom design, furniture and pedagogical use interrelate • how teachers develop professional identity and collegiality

collaboration and community• What workforce diversity is required/catered for in new

learning environments?

• How do spaces support team work, various student groupings, para-professionals?

• How do we promote use of school facilities to enhance school-based education and reimagine schools as community education precincts?

• How are new learning spaces integrated structurally and operationally into the whole school site to support increased community use?

impact and outcomes• How do we use new learning spaces to achieve high levels

of student learning outcomes?

• What is the impact on the new spaces on addressing disadvantage?

• What are the effects of the environmental sustainability elements?

FELS model (JISC)

Context eg curriculum area

Practice eg interactions

Designs eg space itself

Procedures eg methods and tools, timing

Methods & data

JISC study found

Quant measures of usage (inc log ins)

Audio-visual recording

Self- reports of learning

Action research

Ethnography

Participatory monitoring and evaluation techniques

Data mining

Need for multidisciplinary research

engagement

imagination

Designing education means creating an architecture that allows the formation of identities: a mutual development process between communities and individuals (Wenger, 1998)

RESEARCH & EVALUATION PARTNERSHIPS

Research & Evaluation Partners

Cooperative Research Centres (CRC)

ARC/NHMRC

Practitioner-led grants

Commissioned research

Building capacity across D

EE

CD

Look

ing

out:

con

text

& c

olla

bora

tions

Delivering outputs: sharing knowledge

Outcomes in learning and development, health and wellbeing from 0-18

Researching the relationship between new learning environments and outcomes in

Victoria, Australia

hartnell-young.elizabeth.a@edumail.vic.gov.au

www.education.vic.gov.au/about/directions/buildingrevolution/default.asp

www.education.vic.gov.au/researchinnovation