Designing Next Generation Places of Learning: Multidisciplinary collaboration at the Pedagogy-Space-Technology Nexus
Professor David Radcliffe
Purdue University
Over the past decade there has been a growing body of knowledge and working examples of new approaches to the design of learning spaces in higher education institutions. However a clear consensus is yet to emerge on how this can best be accomplished. A number of factors are driving innovation and experimentation in the design of learning spaces in North America, Europe and Australia. These include changing social patterns, generational change, the changing funding environment, new and emerging technology and the shift to a more learner-centred pedagogy.
There has been a tendency for many learning space initiatives to be either technology driven or to a lesser extent, pedagogy driven. On occasions both technology and pedagogy are considered in tandem and some have examined the pedagogy-place nexus. Where pedagogy is a focus, learning space initiatives typically adopt some explicit form of learner centred or constructivist pedagogy paradigm. It has also been observed that some academics have adopted new teaching strategies as a way to re-engage with students who are more at home interacting with peers and learning resources using technology; blended learning is one such response. In reality there is a nexus, an interdependence, between pedagogy, technology and the design of the space. There are real and virtual dimensions to each of these and this nexus is now being recognised and discussed. Oblinger concludes that “the convergence of technology, pedagogy and space can lead to exciting models of campus interactions.”
This paper presents the Pedagogy-Space-Technology (PST) Framework for guiding the design of learning places which takes into account these three factors in informing the conceptual design and post-occupancy evaluation of either discrete learning environments (e.g. individual rooms) or networks of places (e.g. a whole campus).
It is argued that the PST framework provides a simple yet flexible instrument that can be used by a wide variety of stakeholders to reflect on ideas and outcomes at every stage in the life-cycle of a new learning space. As a design enabler, it moves beyond general lists of design attributes and provides a structure for multidisciplinary design conversations by a variety of stakeholders. As an evaluation tool it links intent with outcomes and challenges all concerned to question what, why and how of initiatives to create new learning spaces. The simplicity means it can potentially be used for any type of learning space, from a laboratory to a learning commons to more a conventional performance space. This also means it could be applied to small or very large scale projects.
Reference: Oblinger, D. 2005. “Leading the Transition from Classrooms to Learning Spaces.” Educause Quarterly 1:14-18.
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