Learning Spaces Without Walls

So the technology of wi-fi, wikis and the web potentially frees us from the physical classroom. Learning spaces can be designed to enhance the pleasure and effectiveness of learning and teaching. We know that the only time students are really learning is when they are active on an assignment. Regardless of the length of the lecture, the use of images in the powerpoint slide show, or the recommended reading list, they only really engage with the material at the point of researching and writing up the report. So why do we insist on talking AT them? Long and Ehrmann 2005 "Where does academic learning really take place? We focus .. on the rooms where instructors and students interact- because these facilities are expensive to create, renovate, and maintain and because they shape the daily schedule of most academic institutions. But of course much, perhaps most, learning currently occurs outside these rooms". Brown & Lippincott (2003) "with an increased emphasis on collaboration and group projects, students are learning in small groups outside of the classroom as they accomplish work related to their course". At Chalfont that typically means working in the LRC. Long lines of computers against a blank wall. Students work in "lines" crowded around one computer with no space to lay out their notes and resources. Does this really support group-working? The middle of the LRC is necessarily full of individual desks ready for the next round of exams in six months time (?) How good would it be to rip out all the exam desks and replace with huge sofas, floor cushions, low, round tables and coffee machines? How great if it were wi-fi enabled so that the students could sit around in groups and actually make eye contact with one another whilst they work? Long and Ehrmann conclude that we need to change our views of the classroom from 1. focusing on formal education to emphasising learning in both formal and non-formal settings 2. from seeing collegel level learning as being primarily about listening, reading and taking notes to seeing learning as being about situated action, collaboration, coaching and reflection It will be interesting to see how these changes in approach have been reflected in the new build at HW.