University of Warwick - The Learning Grid

Success Factors

What Makes The Space Successful?

The Learning Grid allows students to be creative, to experiment with new and different study methods, to apply a range of resources to support their learning experiences and to seek constructive advice and guidance on a range of related issues.

The range of individual and collaborative work areas and the availability of mobile screens, whiteboards and OHPs allow a large degree of flexibility in the space. Students are able to easily manipulate their environment in order to cater for their own individual learning needs.

The consumption of cold food and hot and cold drinks is allowed in the space as is the use of mobile phones - the main library on campus does not allow these activities. 'Raw entrance data indicates a 35% usage in comparison to the main library, which is ten times its size. During the vacation periods, entrances to the Learning Grid actually exceed that to the central facility'.

What Is Innovative About The Design And The Use Of The Space?

The equipment is replicated on both floors and there are no zoned areas for particular activities - the ethos of the Grid is that students decide on the configuration of the space and the technology they require for their purpose, and can use it for as long as required. However, adjustable computer tables can be prioritised for wheelchair users.

These facilities are located within a study environment that can be reconfigured to provide a range of options, from separate bookable rooms for formal presentation practice to soft seating. There are also reference-use student text books available alongside web-based resources.

The Learning Grid is staffed by two permanent full time members of staff and 17 student advisors with a service model to ensure users' needs are met helpfully and purposefully. All staff members work across two sites, The Learning Grid and The BioMed Grid (a satellite facility for The Learning Grid that opened in February 2006). All student advisors are current students or recent graduates of the University.

An avoidance of barriers, such as booking systems, warning notices, fines, requests for specific behaviours, is key to this ethos. At times of peak demand, staff seek solutions rather than turning users away. The wireless-enabled café/social area just outside the Grid has been utilised as a stopgap on occasions until a solution can be found.

The varying uses of this space place a requirement on staff to be responsive, supportive and committed to their clients' needs and yet able to manage a high volume open access resource successfully. A zero negativity, customer-service ethos permeates the culture of the centre and has influenced students' behaviour and attitudes towards the equipment within the centre. The dual strategy of enabling students to achieve their learning goals through web-based and technological resources, and by means of personal interactions between advisors and users has ensured a responsive learning environment.

Where users' needs cannot be met by frontline staff, advisors are trained to refer enquiries and problems on to other expert services in the University.

The Learning Grid is designed to support collaborative and group working, so speech, mobile phone use and consumption of refreshments are permitted. Silent study areas are provided in the main library building.

User evaluation of the Grid and the services it offers takes place at regular intervals and by a variety of methods. Two key messages have emerged so far: 1) a culture of enquiry and respect for other users encourages effective and valid use by students, and 2) offering a student-centred, student-managed learning environment has had a beneficial effect on morale and motivation. Lecturers report that there has been considerable impact on performance in seminars and student presentations since the opening of the Learning Grid. The success of this innovative space for learning is informing future developments in library and learning centre provision, as part of a first phase of refurbishment in the main library, scheduled to take place in 2007.

Through becoming embedded as a library service and as a complementary broader support service, the Learning Grid is beginning to explore with individual academics the potential of integrating the use of the space directly into particular modules. Working in collaboration with the university's e-learning team, Centre for Academic Practice and the library's Academic Support Service, opportunities to support curriculum innovation are providing valuable insights of the benefits of drawing together library services and alternative teaching methods. This has led to a substantial impact on the student learning experience and allowed a new and emerging relationship between libraries and the curricula to develop.