Learning space design and development is a hot topic as our colleges and universities not only seek to provide 21st-century learning facilities, but look to optimise space to best effect and respond to learner expectations. Technology has a vital role to play in this.
Following levels of investment which provided the first opportunity in many years for the sector to upgrade its building stock, the current economic downturn also encourages the optimal use of existing spaces in a creative and cost-effective way. National and international engagement with others in the sector, in other phases of education, and in the workplace also afford institutions opportunities to refine the types of learning spaces 21st century learners need, what they know works, and what they think might work better.
The JISC publication Designing Spaces for Effective Learning (March 2006) reported on some of the projects taking place in FE and HE and provides useful guidance for those involved in developing new learning spaces. An excellent set of complementary case studies also showcase activity in the sector. The Scottish Funding Council has also published Spaces for Learning. These reports have provided a sound basis for the continuing exploration by FE and HE institutions of new possibilities for learning space provision.
The interest in learning spaces is not confined to the post school sector and also not to the UK. This infoKit looks at what is going on in UK schools and in education worldwide. We all have much to learn from the diversity of approach and practice that exists.
We hope that this infoKit will inspire you to think about what is possible and give you some practical advice on how to put your vision into practice. A major new build or refurbishment is something that most of us undertake only once in a career but collectively we have a wealth of experience that can be shared. This resource is not a guide to be read from start to finish in one go but rather it is to be dipped into by various people at various stages of the project to give you a range of ideas and practical tools and templates you can take away and use.
The infoKit is richly illustrated with case studies, images of buildings across the sector and a 'virtual tour' around an imaginary campus composed of spaces we find inspiring from a range of different institutions. This is an evolving resource and we welcome your feedback, examples and images to help its development. Please contact us at jiscinfonet@northumbria.ac.uk.
