Assoc. Prof. Gail Wilson & Assoc. Prof. Marcus Randall
Bond University
Bond University currently has just completed construction of an exciting formal teaching space, known as the “Pod” Room. It has been designed to encourage a form of socialisation that leads to the effective formation of teams and teamwork.
The Pod classroom is named as a result of its pod, or kidney-shaped, group work desks. Educators are finding that instead of traditional-style classrooms which facilitate a linear, didactic model of teaching, in which students face a single direction and are given information by a teacher, what is now required are learning spaces that better facilitate interactivity, teamwork, and sociability amongst students.
An innovative design that has been successfully trialled at the University of Melbourne and the University of Queensland is based on this pod concept. Essentially a pod is an area, consisting of a large group table, chairs, and computer system, in which four to seven students can work. Each pod naturally allows a team of students to work cooperatively on solving a problem. A classroom would typically have four or five pods. The teacher controls the display system of all pods via a switching system, allowing learners in all pods to see either the same view (either from the teacher’s station or another pods), or their own view. The teacher’s role as a facilitator of learning is enhanced considerably.
The pilot study of this facility begins in May semester. The initial group of teachers who form part of this pilot will be surveyed in the middle, and at the end of the semester, and will be required to record their thoughts, ideas, and issues as they arise during the pilot, using a shared blog space on a Blackboard site that is used to support the pilot. Student responses will also be sought at the end of semester. A second trial will be held in our third (September) semester before the room is subject to normal university timetabling. The project cost is in the order of $100,000.