Edge Hill University, Ormskirk: Flexible Teaching Space (SOLSTICE CETL)

Post Occupancy: Changes Made As A Result Of Feedback

There has been some in-depth research based on ethnographic principles. An observer spent time sitting in the room observing what students and tutors were doing and how they were using things, then went back at a later stage to do a group interview with questions based on some of the observations on the earlier stages. This was found to be much more enlightening than just giving people a questionnaire.

The team hasn't really made any changes to the room as yet following feedback. Things that have become apparent are that the round group tables are really well liked by the students in terms of what it means for them in their sessions.

There isn't as much flexibility in the furniture as the team would have liked so in future developments they are looking at using semi-circular tables (perhaps combined with rectangular ones) so that if there are times when students need to work quietly on their own they could move those tables and put them up against a wall quite easily.

It is apparent that the heating level in the room isn't quite right and this can have a big impact on how well students can engage in a session. A chapter on environmental factors in 'Teaching with the Brain in Mind' by Eric Jensen highlights how important those issues are. The focus group interview with the students asked them about their teaching room experiences when they were children at school and what rooms were like then. All the responses were about how they had really hard chairs or the rooms were really cold or they were really echoey which emphasised how much of an influence those factors do have.