Ambience in social learning: student engagement with new designs for learning spaces

Abstract

An imperative to develop the social experience of learning has led to the design of informal learning spaces within libraries. Yet little is known about how these spaces are used by students or how students perceive them. Field work in one such space is reported. The general private study practice of undergraduates was captured through audio diaries, while activity in the learning space was directly observed, and students provided reflective perspectives in focus groups and through spot conversations. Results suggest such spaces are popular and yet stimulate limited group work. Yet other, less intense, forms of productive collaboration did occur and a taxonomy of four such types of encounter is offered. Of particular importance to students was access to a 'social ambience' for study. The results encourage institutions to design for a mixed economy of student choice over learning spaces and to consider modes of encouraging diversity in their use. AMBIENCE IN SOCIAL LEARNING SPACES 2Ambience in social learning: student engagement with new designs for learning spacesAgendas for enriching the experience of formal education often consider refreshing the material design of those spaces in which students learn (Comber & Wall, 2001;Rudd, Morrison & Facer, 2006 Closer scrutiny of arguments for renewing learning spaces suggests that one recurring motive is the ambition to create more favourable conditions for learning that is social (Brown, 2005;Jamieson, Fisher, Gilding, Taylor & Trevitt, 2000). There are at least three arguments for strengthening the collaborative or interpersonal quality of educational practice.The first is promoted by many employers. They may claim that graduates enter the workplace poorly prepared for coordinating their thinking with others (CBI, 2009). This suggests a need for educational environments that support experience in team work. The second argument for extending the 'social' dimension of learning is suggested by young peoples' vigorous engagement with internet-based social media. As so much curricular material is now accessed through the internet, it is natural to consider whether networked social media could also animate communication for learning. Such ambitions would give educational practice a stronger social and 'participative' quality. Then, if learning is made social within the virtual learning spaces of the internet, it is natural to extend such design thinking to the morephysical spaces of the institutional campus: they also might become contexts for cultivating learning through social interaction and collaboration. Finally, the popular call for learning to have a more social quality resonates well with social constructivist theories of knowledge (Berger & Luckman, 1966) and with conceptions of knowing as cognitively and socially 'distributed ' (Clark, 1997). This perspective in turn complements psychological theories that stress the communual contexts of learning (Lave & Wenger, 1990;Rogoff, 2003). In this climate of thinking, educational institutions will consider how th...

Space and embodiment in informal learning

“…Methods such as interviews and surveys are still employed (Bennett 2011;May and Swabey 2015;Yoolee et al 2013), but it is has pushed researchers to employ more novel, creative and participatory methods: especially observation, log books and ethnographic methods (Bryant et al 2009;Crook and Mitchell 2012;May and Swabey 2015;Hunter and Cox 2014) but also visual and mapping methods (Cox 2011;Harrop and Turpin 2013). This reflects a move from a model of measuring student satisfaction, to a more open-ended need to explore the experience of learning that calls for richer qualitative data.…”

“…Harrop and Turpin 2013;May and Swabey 2015;Ojennus and Watts 2015), particularly newly designed areas for collaborative work (Bryant et al 2009;Matthews et al 2011;Crook and Mitchell 2012) and what underpins student preferences as a whole (Yoo-Lee et al 2013).…”

Looking and Listening: A Mixed-Methods Study of Space Use and User Satisfaction

“…Webb et al (2008) noted through observation that 70% of the students were engaged in individual study (p. 416). Crook and Mitchell (2012) observed that approximately 50% of students were engaged in individual study while the rest were engaged in conversation of some variety (p. 128). This diversity of activities in libraries may best be summed up by Montgomery (2011), who ascertained that students "want to study alone but still need space to meet in groups" (p. 84).…”

“…Others have employed a mixed methodology, using several of these approaches to answer their research questions. For example, Pierard and Lee (2011) employed photo diaries, flipcharts, and a traditional user survey in their study, and Crook and Mitchell (2012) employed observation, audio diaries, and focus groups, while Foster and Gibbons (2007) used interviews, maps, photographs, and flipcharts. These less traditional means for obtaining feedback are considered ethnographic approaches.…”

“…Many studies rely on traditional feedback methodologies such as surveys, focus groups, whiteboards, and comment boards to obtain information; however, more innovative strategies such as photo diaries and mediated drawing exercises are also being explored. For example, Crook and Mitchell (2012) had several of their students keep an audio diary to reflect on their study habits and behaviour. Similarly, Hobbs and Klare (2010) provided students with disposable cameras and asked them to photograph their interpretation of various predefined subjects such as their favourite place to study.…”