THE IMPORTANCE OF LINKING PEDAGOGY, SPACE AND TECHNOLOGY TO ACHIEVE AN EFFECTIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT FOR THE 21ST CENTURY LEARNER

Designing learning spaces that enable effective teaching and engage learners requires an understanding of those who are going to learn in these spaces. “Net-generation” learners, “Millennial Students”, “Generation-Y” and “Digital-natives” are terms that have been used to describe the 21st century learners which, due to increased access to the Internet and computer enabled technologies, have a different relationship with technology that affects the way they learn best.

Learning spaces have a significant impact on student learning and wellbeing. Well-designed learning spaces support pedagogical practices that engage, challenge and equip students with the knowledge, skills and attributes they need to prosper in a complex, rapidly changing world.

Innovative teachers have demonstrated that with the emergence of wireless broadband the classroom can now open up to the whole Campus as a learning space. These innovations are emerging worldwide with demonstrable evidence that learning outcomes are improved when teachers and students have choice regarding their learning environment.

Theories today emphasise how students learn authentically, the power of personalised learning models, peer to peer learning, skills developed in problem- and inquiry- based learning, and the need for inter-disciplinary teaching – all in connection to flexible spaces and digital literacy. The gap between existing beliefs and practices and those aspired to will need to be bridged.

As a response to the high levels of digital literacy, when designing learning spaces, we should consider the fact that learning will not only happen within physical space but also within virtual environments.

In order to respond to diverse student needs a combination of methodologies and modes of delivery is required resulting in a form of ‘blended learning’ where a variety of environments, resources, experts, learners, methodologies and tasks are linked through the use of technology supporting synchronous and asynchronous learning to occur much more flexibly. Blended learning endeavours embody a ‘best of both worlds’ approach that incorporates complementary online and face-to-face components.

This paper will present how all the previous factors come together for the creation of a learning environment in which these new pedagogical practices are supported. It will also focus on how technology has enabled the implementation of these new pedagogical practices, in particular within innovative learning environments, and how one has influenced the other. Finally the paper will argue that physical space can and should be seen as a learning technology on its own right.