UNDERPINNING INTERRELATED FACTORS OF PHYSICAL, VIRTUAL, AND SOCIAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

Our research addresses how physical, virtual, and social learning environments support the learning outcomes and the development of learning and teaching practice. It adds to our previous studies by taking into account the interrelated questions of designing learning spaces.

In-class learning activities in higher education have typically included many working modes that have been allotted both with time and place. For example, in engineering education, the lectures, exercise sessions, computer exercises, and laboratory work are arranged in different locations at different times. Newer approaches to learning and teaching practice, such as the flipped learning and the availability of technology, have altered this picture profoundly. Overall, the emphasis has moved from ‘transfer of information’ to active and collaborative learning with technology being exploited seamlessly before, during, and after in-class sessions. Hence, the design and implementation of learning activities are interlocked with physical and virtual learning spaces. As many universities are continuing to invest in new learning environments, it is important to study factors that underpin successful design of the next generation learning spaces.

We report a case study that addresses small-scale learning space designs and consider related factors, such as the underlying learning outcomes, learning and teaching practice, and other facilities (e.g. virtual learning environments, portable ‘Mini-labs’). In broad sense, our study question is “How to interrelate factors that underpin successful design of learning spaces.” To understand how the space design embraces the learning objectives and how it facilitates in-class learning activities, we conducted a series of semi-structured theme interviews with instructors that have used the designed space. The interviews are accompanied with student experiences. The material also includes design documents and site visit notes. The findings are formulated using the qualitative content analysis. Our pedagogical reasoning is based on active learning, which includes many forms of student-centred instruction, such as collaborative learning and flipped learning.

In our case, the learning outcomes of an academic study major played an important role in providing a set of unified objectives for learning space designs. The designs were also affected by bring-your-own-device policy that included the use of portable ‘Mini-labs’ to allow students to perform basic hands-on tasks and testing both in-class and out-of-class. Consequently, ‘best practices’ should combine at a reasonable level the methods of instruction, the learning space design(s), and the virtual and physical tools and devices.