University of Sussex and University of Brighton:
InQbate: the Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning in Creativity
| Contact Details: | Tom Hamilton, Sussex University, t.hamilton@sussex.ac.uk Richard Morris, Brighton University http://www.inqbate.co.uk/ |
| Type of Project: | Refurbishment project: a total of £3.75 million, structured as initial capital funding, then recurrent funding over 5 years, to develop innovative teaching and learning in creativity within both student populations, and to then disseminate those findings out to the wider HE community. The reason it was a refurbishment is because it was stipulated in the funding programme. There are two sites: one at the University of Sussex and another equivalent site at the University of Brighton. This is a joint initiative with Sussex as the lead. Although the overall design aims are aligned, each has taken a slightly different approach in their interpretation. |
| Start/End Date: | The project money was awarded in March 2005 University of Sussex: April 2006 - March 2007 The first year was primarily focussed on design. Actual building commenced in April 2006 and will be concluded in March 2007. University of Brighton: July 2005 - March 2007 Work was able to start almost immediately in July 2005 as the HEFCE funding was combined with existing internal funding to enlarge the project scope. Work is also due to be completed in March 2007. |
Background & Context
The project aims to support the development of innovative teaching and learning within the university and to extend our teaching and learning provision.
The CETL programme is a HEFCE initiative designed to establish centres of teaching and learning excellence in different areas of learning and for these to then act as exemplars for the dissemination of good practice throughout the HE community. So, for example, at Brighton they also have the Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning through Design. Our particular aspiration is around creativity - to increase the creativity of our teaching and our teaching of creativity.
Although they are a major part of the project, InQbate is much more than just 2 technology-rich teaching spaces.
The overall intention of the project is to provide tutors and students at Sussex and Brighton with the time, the space and the support to design and develop innovative teaching and learning activities and events.
To this end, the project fund has been divided into 4 principal streams: A capital fund to build and fit-out 2 technology-rich learning 'Creativity Zones', a staffing budget to maintain a team of educationalists and technologists to support tutors and learners using these spaces, a 'Creativity Development Fund' (CDF) to support tutors who want to develop innovative approaches to teaching and learning, and a dissemination budget to develop an appropriate model for evaluation of this new learning and an effective strategy for any findings.
Even before either space has been completed, we have already funded 18 CDF projects across a range of disciplines, from medicine to fine art.
Both 'Creativity Zones' are refurbishment projects to existing University buildings and have involved complete internal remodelling of walls, windows, ceilings and floors.
Within the Sussex Creativity Zone, we have taken the initial 'concrete box' that we were given, knocked windows in it, created a raised floor and a suspended grid ceiling and installed sliding screens on two walls to create 'box within box' model that conceals technology when not required, provides furniture storage, and enables easy reconfiguration of cabling and networks over time.
Within this, we have applied some of the thinking from the Arts sector to develop a 'white box' design. This is a hybrid, combining the flexibility of the traditional 'black box' theatre model with the airiness and visual impact of the 'white cube' gallery model. Where possible we have used the structural features of the space to act as pivot points for moveable walls, sliding screens and curtain railings, allowing us to take a single space and to subdivide it in several different ways to create a variety of different environments.
A neutral colour scheme throughout, combined with an integrated AV system and individually-adjustable LED lighting, enables the information quality and emotional feel of the space to change with every reconfiguration, creating a range of environments to suit every activity - whether that's loud, physical and social or quiet, individual and contemplative.
Integrating the technology and furniture into the fabric of the space minimises visual and physical 'clutter', maximizing the flexibility of the space and reinforcing the range of its various moods.
It's quite hard to describe because it is quite ambitious. It's not a lecture hall, not a computer lab, not a café, not a workshop, not a cinema - but it can switch between versions of these, and others, to respond easily to changing needs for the learning activity taking place.
The Sussex site is 300 m2. It's difficult to say with the Brighton site as it was combined with internal funding to include remodelling of the engineering design labs, but the area known as the 'creativity zone' is slightly smaller, probably about 200 m2. Although both spaces are linked by a dedicated network connection and complimentary in scope, they have taken slightly different design approaches. As well as some front projection, and 3D projection, Brighton has a curved, three-projector acrylic wall for rear projection. Sussex on the other hand, has front project on all areas of the main space, enabling the creation of 360 degree projected panoramas.
What Happens In The Space?
It's a teaching and learning fund and so both spaces are primarily focussed on teaching and learning.
Although the project has started within the disciplines of Engineering & Design and Informatics, both zones are reaching out to other subjects and supporting the development of innovative teaching and learning across the curriculum.
We aim to provide tutors who want to improve the creativity of their practice with the time, space and support to develop their teaching and learning skills. As part of the project we not only provide a funding opportunity, but also a team of technology facilitators and learning facilitators to help assist people in the design and development of the teaching. Their experience encourages tutors to reflect on their current teaching practice and explore alternative approaches - along with new technologies. We then provide the space where they can enact this.
Although this is a teaching space, in some ways it's more helpful to think in terms of a performance and exhibition space - or a workshop space. As I say, it's not a computer lab or a café or a lecture hall or a seminar room, but rather it's a bit of all of those. It's an open space that can be sub-divided and the technology reconfigured in a variety of ways to create smaller spaces as required - or different spaces that enable a range of different teaching and learning activities. This might be discovery learning through interactive exhibitions, alternatively it might be collaborative learning through group work - or 'workshop-based' problem based learning through setting the students a real world task and then letting them take the ownership over the development process. The zone has been designed as a flexible space to support a variety of learning activities, allowing it to be used by the full range of disciplines within the curriculum.
Within the Sussex space, there are 16 projectors, which can be set up to create a 360o projected panorama - creating an immersive Imax-type environment. Tables fold down from the walls to create workshop areas, curtains can slide across to subdivide the area to create intimate group working spaces and coloured lights enable us to create ambient mood settings. It's kind of like learning in a theatre environment. We want to use the power of AV and other digital technologies that are used in museums, galleries and theatre spaces to create experiences that stimulate learners into engaging with the learning.
The space is essentially a white box with moveable walls that revolve or slide across, curtains and screens, and lights - and the whole of the ceiling is a grid work so you can hang further lights or projectors or videos or cameras on it. The technology is embedded within the space to maximise impact without creating a distraction.
CCTV cameras around the ceiling can be used to continuously project the various areas of activity around the walls of the space, thereby enabling learners to see what their colleagues are doing even when they don't have the direct line of sight due to the particular configuration of the space. In this way, the room is kept open to learners who are constantly kept aware of, and stimulated by, the activity of their peers. This reflects the 'learning through observation' approach that lies at the heart of the InQbate project.
However, it's not just CCTV images - you can project web pages. Similarly, we can video conference people in, for example as part of an engineering project they may want to talk to an expert from Rolls Royce in which case we can video conference that person into the space so the students can talk to them while they work. Alternatively, they may have learning objects, created by the tutor ahead of the class, playing while they work. We have 16 simultaneous switchable video channels that we can play in any part of the room, so we can create a fairly magical environment. That's why it's a bit like a theatre - the students are immersed in the middle of all this video stuff going on. The learning isn't just contained within a plasma screen at one end of the classroom, they are actually surrounded on all four sides by video projection and plasma screens, by surround sound, and coloured light. All of this works together to allow us to create really engaging environments for them.
What Principles Were Behind The Design?
Pedagogically, we are very much committed to student-centred learning, immersive learning, experiential learning, problem based learning and collaborative learning, so our teaching is more facilative than instructional - it's very much putting the learner in the driving seat. In order to achieve this, you have to support the tutor so that they have the skills and understanding to be able to achieve this. What we hope to do is to use the space and technology to provide the right environment to help tutors create the right environment for effective learning. We will work hard to devolve control to the tutors and hope that they pass that ownership onto the learner.
Conceptually, the original approach was based on the operating theatre model of 'learning through observation' but this can be extended out into constructionism and learning by making... and learning by talking - the whole collaborative side of things. So, for example, within the space there are refreshments facilities encouraging people to stay on at the end of the session and continue the learning discussion within a less formal environment.
As I said, the underlying metaphor for the space design itself is a 'white box' - a combination between the black box model of the theatre and the white cube model of a gallery. This gives us flexibility and good visual impact. We also drew on the idea of a magician's cabinet - with walls that moved in unpredictable ways, changing colours to make it an exciting place that would fascinate people, where it wasn't always the same and every time they came, they would get a different experience to keep their interest, shapeshifting to hold their attention and draw them in.
In terms of green issues we've used LED lighting - and within the ventilation system we've looked at mixing warm air generated by the technological equipment in with fresh air to minimise on heating requirements.
