Presentation given at the Staffordshire University Teachmeet event, June 2016 with Sinead O'Toole

1. Transforming the Learning Space
Can Principles & Criteria Help?
Andrew Middleton
Head of Academic Practice & Learning Innovation
Sinead O'Toole
Estates Development, Facilities Directorate
Space to Think, Room for Improvement
Staffordshire University, June 2016

2. The first problem
having mutually productive conversations
The urgent matter of overcoming
organisational complexity to get on
the same page by finding a
common language
Student
body
Catering
Managers
and other
surprisingly
important
people
Educational
Developers Estates
TimetablingInstitutional
Leaders
IT
Learning
Technologists
Library
Students
Union
Academics
Suppliers
and
Architects
?
Researchers

3. "It's complex - it's about conversations..."
How do we know and share a vision of what 'good' looks like?
Design and evaluation is about
having the right conversations...
The critical matter of knowing our
decisions are based on what we
value.
Framing conversations based upon
good teaching and learning
practice.

4. The value of Evaluation
Ensuring investment = impact
Aim: investment in maintaining and developing formal and informal learning
spaces positively impacts on student learning and learning engagement
• Generating data to benchmark and track progress
• Reporting and reviewing annually
• Requires resources and budget commitment
If we don't value learning space...
...what does it say about our learning?
We will spend £millions on learning spaces without having a way to evaluate it!

5. Evaluation - lots of questions
Are we already doing what we need to do?
What are we doing that we could use? Why?
• Surveys?
Quantitative / Qualitative?
• Face to face?
Observation / Conversation?
• Learning needs to be put into practice
Lessons learned = changes to future projects
Yorkshire Universities
June 2016

6. Holistic View
Where does learning happen?
What should we evaluate/improve?
Blurring of boundaries between formal and informal learning spaces...
How can we develop a holistic method of evaluation?
By knowing how to design for any situation
By using principle-based design
By involving the right people, early and often
Designing and evaluating spaces for learning
June 2016

7. About design principles
Why do we need design principles?
• If we don't know what we want to achieve, how can we
achieve it?
• Consistency across projects
• "Translation" of key learning and teaching concepts
• Basis of evaluation - measuring against indicators that matter

8. About design principles
What does 'good' look like?
Foster a sense of belonging
Example indicators
Students and their tutors are positive about new or refurbished
physical and virtual space in relation to:
• Being co-located;
• Forming common disciplinary identities;
• Developing ‘ways of being’ and habits associated with
disciplinary practice;
• Feelings of a course home and ability to have trustful
conversations, being inspired by peers, informal mentoring and
buddying, etc.
#1

9. About design principles
What does 'good' look like?
Promote good teaching and learning
Example indicators
Students and their tutors are positive about new or refurbished
physical and virtual space in relation to:
• Learner-tutor interaction;
• Peer co-operation;
• Active learning;
• Spending time on task;
• Feedback on and in learning;
• Being set attainable high challenges and benefitting from peer
or tutor support (scaffolding);
• Using meaningful authentic contexts as the basis for learning;
• Inclusivity and benefitting from a diversity.
See: Chickering, A.W. & Gamson, Z.F. (1987). Seven Principles for Good Practice in
Undergraduate Education. Available online at:
http://www.uis.edu/liberalstudies/students/documents/sevenprinciples.pdf
#2

10. About design principles
What does 'good' look like?
Promote and support time on task in and beyond the classroom
Example indicators
Students and their tutors are positive about new or refurbished
physical and virtual space in relation to:
• Spending time on campus engaged in formal and informal
learning;
• Reading or discussing written content with peers;
• Conducting inquiry-based activities including problem-based
learning;
• Independent engagement in developing coursework, projects
and learning portfolios;
• Storing, accessing and managing physical and digital artefacts
relating to academic work including study resources, readings,
support materials and information, and peer and learner-
generated artefacts such as notes and coursework.
#3

11. About design principles
What does 'good' look like?
Promote peer co-operation and independent learning
Example indicators
Students and their tutors are positive about new or refurbished
physical and virtual space in relation to:
• Working together supportively;
• Successful collaborative or group-based learning, whether
formal or informal;
• Making progress;
• Co-curricula and extra-curricular activities including the
• Self-directed and self-determined learning and the self-
management of peer support including actual and virtual
personal learning networks and learning sets.
#4

12. About design principles
What does 'good' look like?
Accommodate flexibility
Example indicators (selected)
Students and their tutors are positive about new or refurbished physical
and virtual space in relation to:
• Being able to ‘make the space their own’;
• Easily changing components of the space (e.g. furniture, light,
acoustics, technology, etc) to make it more suitable for tasks in hand;
• Being able to personalise the space;
• Easily switching between tutor-led and learner-led activities in formal
settings;
• Using a range of media to suite learner or tutor requirements and
preferences;
• Comfortable and attraction;
• Affording flexible and variegated use across a range of disciplines;
• Offering access beyond typical staff working hours.
See: Wilson, G & Randall, M. (2012). The implementation and evaluation of a new learning space: a pilot
study. Research in Learning Technology, 20. Available online from:
http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/rlt.v20i0.14431
#5

13. About design principles
What does 'good' look like?
Promote study and self-belief
Example indicators
Students and their tutors are positive about new or refurbished physical
and virtual space in relation to:
Developing knowledge, skills or learning and teaching dispositions;
Applying knowledge in meaningful and complex contexts;
Communicating knowledge and receiving feedback on it;
Accessing and applying feedback which confirm learning contributions
matter;
Taking a lead in developing an effective learning environment.
See: Yorke, M. & Knight, P. (2004). Self-theories: some implications for teaching and learning in higher
education, Studies in Higher Education 29(1), 25—37
#6

14. About design principles
What does 'good' look like?
Promote active and authentic learning
Example indicators (selected)
Students and their tutors are positive about new or refurbished physical
and virtual space in relation to:
• Being able to learn in diverse ways;
• Being challenged in ways that demand and enable active responses;
• Being able to reflect the way the knowledge is used in real life;
• Engaging in activities that have open-ended real world consequences;
• Accessing expert performances and the modelling of processes;
• Experiencing and enacting multiple roles and perspectives;
• Experiencing collaborative construction of knowledge;
• Reflecting in ways that enable abstractions to be formed;
• Communicating in ways that enable tacit knowledge to become explicit;
• Providing and receiving support at critical times;
• Engaging in authentic assessment of learning within the tasks including
negotiated and self-determined activities.
See: http://authenticlearning.info/AuthenticLearning/Home.html
Herrington, J., Parker, J. & Boase-Jelinek, D. (2014). Connected authentic learning: Reflection and intentional
learning. Australian Journal of Education, 58(1) 23–35.
#7

15. About design principles
What does 'good' look like?
Promote learning through the integrated use of personal and provided
technologies
Example indicators
Students and their tutors are positive about new or refurbished physical
and virtual space in relation to using provided and personal technologies
that support:
• Connection with and formation of uptodate information and learning
networks;
• Communication underpinning learning and engagement in learning;
• Curation and discovery of learning artefacts;
• Co-operation amongst communities of practice that support mutual
benefits, joint enterprise and sharing of practice in and off-campus
including collaboration and supportive activities;
• Creativity and productivity that leads to learning and the generation of
knowledge;
• Checking learning progress and developing and testing capabilities in
digitally-enhanced learning environments.
See: Jisc (2015). Evaluating and designing learning space. Available online at:
https://www.jisc.ac.uk/guides/evaluating-and-designing-learning-spaces
#8

16. Learning
DigitalSpace
Hybrid
Learning
Space
Teaching
Infrastructure
The Hybrid Learning Space
a holistic understanding of learning space for the digital social age
Still fit for purpose?