Models of learning space: integrating research on space, place and learning in higher education

Abstract

Learning space research is a relatively new field of study that seeks to inform the design, evaluation and management of learning spaces. This paper reviews a dispersed and fragmented literature relevant to understanding connections between university learning spaces and student learning activities. From this review, the paper distils a number of core concerns and identifies some gaps in the literature. One of its primary goals is to clear the ground for the construction of models of learning space that can be used by the various parties involved in the design and evaluation of new learning spaces: teachers, architects, interior designers, IT managers, educational leaders and students. A closely related goal is to help those participating in learning space research locate and understand each other's contributions. Fragmentation in research related to learning and physical spaces makes progress in the field slow. Our review makes two passes over the field: drawing together research from architecture, the learning sciences, environmental psychology, human computer interaction and elsewhere to identify research foci and gaps, and then also capturing some work by learning space researchers that directly attempts to model the main relationships in the field. The paper ends with a summary of implications for research and practice.

Space and embodiment in informal learning

“…A number of commentators have noted that despite the huge investment made by universities in campus buildings, there has been a persistent failure to study and theorise space and place in Higher Education (Temple 2008;Ellis and Goodyear 2016). In contrast to this relative neglect, the professional literature of librarians contains a growing corpus of work on reimagining the library as a place for "informal learning".…”

Future Learning Spaces in Schools: Concepts and Designs from the Learning Sciences

“…Discourse around learning spaces can be found in public media such as newspapers and magazines (see Rotello 2013), popular educational discourse (e.g., learning environment and flipped classroom), and large-scale reforms (e.g., the small school movement). Reports on educational innovation say that redesigning learning spaces is a long-term trend in both K-12 and higher education Johnson et al 2016), and there has been recent interest taken within various academic disciplines such as architecture, human computer interaction, and the learning sciences (Temple 2007(Temple , 2008Ellis and Goodyear 2016). Moreover, pedagogical ideas that involve the physical and locational aspects of the classroom, such as informally shaped groups of active learning classrooms (Beichner 2014) The accelerating rate of societal change along with technological innovations has expanded the notion of learning spaces, expressed in new ideas such as BNext Generation Learning Spaces,^BNew Generation Learning Spaces,^and BEmerging Learning Spaces^ (Fraser 2014).…”

“…History has shown that these reforms often fail to impact learning because they are based on Bmore of the same^instructionist pedagogies (Cuban 2001;Scardamalia and Bereiter 2014) or fanciful futurist visions of learning environments that are not connected to any specific learning principle. In popular media reports about new educational architectures, such ideas are often described with a great deal of hype, without giving deep consideration to theories of learning, the use of educational technologies, and subject matter that all must be integrated within the space (Ellis and Goodyear 2016). Coherent frameworks that are derived from successful examples and based on research are needed to guide the construction and redesign of spaces so they provide a beneficial return on the investment (Sawyer 2014b;Peters and Slotta 2010).…”

Wireless LAN Service Quality Optimization in Academic Environments

“…The users include students, lecturers, administrative staff, service providers and guests. The enhanced synergy between students and the teachers, on one hand, and the physical environment, on the other hand, produce the teaching space (c.f., Ellis and Goodyear, 2016). The technological infrastructure consists of information and communications technology related tools for the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of information and knowledge between elements of the physical environment.…”