scholarly journals Principals' and teachers' perceptions of Innovative Learning Environments

Teachers Work ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dianne Smardon ◽  
Jennifer Charteris ◽  
Emily Nelson
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Distributed Leadership ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Constructivist Learning Theory ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Innovative Learning ◽  
Innovative Learning Environments

Innovative Learning Environments (ILE) with their origins in OECD literature, propose to revolutionise Education as we know it. ILEs draw on a large body of literature: constructivist learning theory; distributed leadership; personalised 21st century learning; blended learning (digital); and, future focused Education. Despite an increasing body of research in the area, there appears to be confusion around the concept of ILEs in Aotearoa/New Zealand Schools. This article reports on survey research with 126 questionnaire respondents. These principals and teachers, drawn from a random sample of New Zealand schools, commented on the implications of ILEs for teaching and learning in their contexts. This article explores the theoretical framework that educators apply to this concept. Four themes emerged from the responses: lack of clarity; the significance of material spaces; pedagogical implications; and, the politics around ILEs. The authors pose the question: are ILEs just another neoliberal ambush on Education or opportunity to innovate the fundamentals of schooling?

scholarly journals Flexi-Ed: Enhancing education through flexible form

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Megan Keats
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Design Standards ◽  
Architectural Form ◽  
Innovative Learning ◽  
Innovative Learning Environments ◽  
Budget Restrictions

<p>As cities evolve, change and grow, the need and desire for adaptable architecture becomes evident across the nation. Architecture needs to undertake techniques that are flexible in order to adapt and align with the development of future generations in New Zealand.  The Education industry is a primary example of a sector which requires flexibility within both classroom architectural form and interior configuration. This is a resultant of the recently updated Ministry of Education requirements; which state that every new classroom built or renovated nationwide, must implement the MoE classroom design standards for Innovative Learning Environments.  ILE teaching spaces are configured as an open plan interior, supporting flexibility in classroom arrangement and teaching techniques. ILE classrooms are capable of evolving and adapting as educational practices evolve and change, allowing schools to remain modern and future focused.  As part of this movement to ILE, the Ministry of Education has also recently made an attempt to improve the quality of temporary classrooms. This has been done by looking into the initiation of a programme that utilizes relocatable classroom buildings. Relocatable classrooms have been selected for multiple reasons, primarily flexibility. Flexibility is key for a school environment as it allows the school to actively respond to fluctuating school rolls. It is anticipated that the programme will provide a faster delivery process with a standardised design that allows the classrooms to be relocated from one school to another with relative ease.  Following the devastating February 2011 earthquake the Greater Christchurch Region, the Education sector is in the midst of the Canterbury Schools Rebuild Programme. As a repercussion of this natural disaster, the majority of Christchurch schools have redevelopment or rebuild projects in progress, with preliminary design phases already in action for a small group of select schools regarded as high priority.  The primary funding for these projects are sourced from insurance money, implementing tight budget restrictions, affecting the architectural design, quality and speed of the construction and repair works. The available funding limits the affordable classroom options to basic teaching spaces that have been stripped back to simple architectural forms, dictating not only the re-design, but also how our future generations will learn. Thus causing the development of the new student-led learning ILE concept to become controlled by existing construction techniques and the Rebuild Programmes budget restrictions.  This thesis focuses on the future proofing of New Zealand schools by providing an affordable and time efficient alternative option to the current static, traditional construction, an option that has the ability to cater to the unpredictable fluctuating school rolls across the nation.  This has been done by developing a prefabricated system for standalone classroom blocks. These blocks have the ability to be relocated between different school sites, dynamically catering to the unpredictable school roll numbers experienced across New Zealand. This site flexibility is reflected with the interior flexibility in the classrooms, enhancing the internal teaching space composition and challenges the existing design standards set by the Ministry of Education for Innovative Learning Environments. This system is called “Flexi-Ed”.  Flexibility has been a key driver for this thesis, as the prefabricated structure is have to be flexible in three ways; first in the sense of being easy to assemble and disassemble. Second by offering flexible interior learning environments and thirdly the joints of the structure are designed with the ability to be flexible in order to cope with seismic activity. These three principles will provide schools with long term flexibility, minimal on-site interruption and heighten the standard of ILE across the nation.  I strive to provide schools with long term flexibility and minimal site interruption, whilst heightening the standard of Innovative Learning Environments across New Zealand.</p>

scholarly journals X-FILEs Jam: Ideation Process and Outcomes

2021 ◽  
pp. 121-132
Author(s):  
Lawrence C. Ragan ◽  
Lorraine J. Ramirez Villarin
Keyword(s):  
Learning Environments ◽  
Stem Education ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Educational Experience ◽  
College Level ◽  
Innovative Idea ◽  
Innovative Learning ◽  
Innovative Learning Environments ◽  
The Creation

AbstractThis chapter comprises the motivations behind the X-FILEs Jam, the goals expected, and a thorough description of the day’s events, outcomes, and future recommendations. This student-focused event required teams to respond to a challenge statement that encouraged the creation of a solution to improve or enhance college-level STEM education while incorporating innovative learning environments. Keeping with connective themes of the original 2018 X-FILEs Workshop, the same four technology categories and aspects of teaching and learning were incorporated into the Jam. Each teams’ ideation process was captured and transcribed. The outcomes feature a summary of these students’ contributions leading to their innovative idea-solution. Though the Jam proved to be an effective and educational experience for all, minor adjustments may better align tasks to the larger program goals.

scholarly journals (Re)Shaping spaces for learning

2021 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 52-59
Author(s):  
Lucila Carvalho
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Collaborative Teaching ◽  
Traditional Classroom ◽  
Learning Spaces ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
Spatial Configurations

Schools and universities in Aotearoa New Zealand have been transitioning into new spatial configurations. These spaces are being carefully (re)designed to accommodate technology-rich activity, and to enable collaborative teaching and learning in ways that actively engage students in scaffolded inquiry. As teachers and students shift from traditional classroom layouts into flexible learning arrangements, educators are having to deeply rethink their own practices. In addition, the recent Covid-19 outbreak raised new questions in education about the role of technology in learning. This article argues that it is critical that Aotearoa educators understand (i) how to (re)design and (re)configure learning spaces in ways that support what they value in learning; and (ii) how they can tap on the digital to extend students experiences, both across and beyond schools and universities’ physical settings. The article introduces a way of framing the design and analysis of complex learning situations and reports on qualitative findings from a recent survey, which explored educators’ experiences of learning environments across Aotearoa New Zealand.

scholarly journals The Enactment of Teacher Collaboration in Innovative Learning Environments: A Case Study of Spatial and Pedagogical Structuration

2020 ◽  
pp. 47-60
Author(s):  
Chris Bradbeer
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Teacher Collaboration ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Student Agency ◽  
Innovative Learning ◽  
Working Together ◽  
Innovative Learning Environments

AbstractImplicit within the design of many Innovative Learning Environments (ILEs) in New Zealand primary schools is the intention of a group of co-located teachers working together with an ‘up-scaled’ community of students. To some these socio-spatial settings are suggestive of pedagogical and spatial freedom, of high levels of professional and student agency, and a transformation away from routines established in previous traditional classroom environments. The shift into ILEs may therefore encourage possibilities for novel approaches, the utilisation of individual strengths and opportunities for teachers to determine together how facets of learning, time and space are organised. However, the level of structure required by teams to successfully and collaboratively achieve this presents as a complex, and time-consuming task, with teachers often finding themselves in a space between practicality and potential. This paper draws on observational and interview data from one primary school ILE—part of a wider case study of teacher collaboration in six New Zealand schools. It considers the role of pedagogical and organisational structures alongside levels of autonomy experienced by teachers on adapting to new spaces. The findings indicate that while the occupation and ongoing inhabitation of Innovative Learning Environments may well present opportunities for teachers, tensions may be felt between predominating or created structures, and aspired or idealised practice.

scholarly journals Flexi-Ed: Enhancing education through flexible form

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Megan Keats
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Design Standards ◽  
Architectural Form ◽  
Innovative Learning ◽  
Innovative Learning Environments ◽  
Budget Restrictions

<p>As cities evolve, change and grow, the need and desire for adaptable architecture becomes evident across the nation. Architecture needs to undertake techniques that are flexible in order to adapt and align with the development of future generations in New Zealand.  The Education industry is a primary example of a sector which requires flexibility within both classroom architectural form and interior configuration. This is a resultant of the recently updated Ministry of Education requirements; which state that every new classroom built or renovated nationwide, must implement the MoE classroom design standards for Innovative Learning Environments.  ILE teaching spaces are configured as an open plan interior, supporting flexibility in classroom arrangement and teaching techniques. ILE classrooms are capable of evolving and adapting as educational practices evolve and change, allowing schools to remain modern and future focused.  As part of this movement to ILE, the Ministry of Education has also recently made an attempt to improve the quality of temporary classrooms. This has been done by looking into the initiation of a programme that utilizes relocatable classroom buildings. Relocatable classrooms have been selected for multiple reasons, primarily flexibility. Flexibility is key for a school environment as it allows the school to actively respond to fluctuating school rolls. It is anticipated that the programme will provide a faster delivery process with a standardised design that allows the classrooms to be relocated from one school to another with relative ease.  Following the devastating February 2011 earthquake the Greater Christchurch Region, the Education sector is in the midst of the Canterbury Schools Rebuild Programme. As a repercussion of this natural disaster, the majority of Christchurch schools have redevelopment or rebuild projects in progress, with preliminary design phases already in action for a small group of select schools regarded as high priority.  The primary funding for these projects are sourced from insurance money, implementing tight budget restrictions, affecting the architectural design, quality and speed of the construction and repair works. The available funding limits the affordable classroom options to basic teaching spaces that have been stripped back to simple architectural forms, dictating not only the re-design, but also how our future generations will learn. Thus causing the development of the new student-led learning ILE concept to become controlled by existing construction techniques and the Rebuild Programmes budget restrictions.  This thesis focuses on the future proofing of New Zealand schools by providing an affordable and time efficient alternative option to the current static, traditional construction, an option that has the ability to cater to the unpredictable fluctuating school rolls across the nation.  This has been done by developing a prefabricated system for standalone classroom blocks. These blocks have the ability to be relocated between different school sites, dynamically catering to the unpredictable school roll numbers experienced across New Zealand. This site flexibility is reflected with the interior flexibility in the classrooms, enhancing the internal teaching space composition and challenges the existing design standards set by the Ministry of Education for Innovative Learning Environments. This system is called “Flexi-Ed”.  Flexibility has been a key driver for this thesis, as the prefabricated structure is have to be flexible in three ways; first in the sense of being easy to assemble and disassemble. Second by offering flexible interior learning environments and thirdly the joints of the structure are designed with the ability to be flexible in order to cope with seismic activity. These three principles will provide schools with long term flexibility, minimal on-site interruption and heighten the standard of ILE across the nation.  I strive to provide schools with long term flexibility and minimal site interruption, whilst heightening the standard of Innovative Learning Environments across New Zealand.</p>

scholarly journals A Critical Review of Learning Environment Policy Discourse in Aotearoa New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Starkey ◽  
Bronwyn Wood
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Secondary Classrooms ◽  
Critical Policy Analysis ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Modern Learning ◽  
Policy Direction ◽  
Critical Policy

The Ministry of Education is funding a significant building programme for primary and secondary classrooms across Aotearoa, New Zealand. In New Zealand there is an expectation that new or refurbished classrooms will be innovative, modern or flexible learning environments. This paper reports findings from a critical policy analysis of the discourse within Ministry of Education documents focusing on the design of learning environments published 2010-2019. Using a ‘what’s the problem’ approach (Bacchi, 1999), we examine the representation of the ‘problems’ which the policy documents relating to modern learning environments intend to address. We use an eight-stage process of analysis of these documents in order to identify policy priorities, ideologies, assumptions and potential outcomes in order to see how these are used to justify authority and action. This analysis revealed two larger ‘problems’ and a number of subthemes underpinning these documents. We suggest that the construction of these problems has conflated many aspects of both space and teaching and learning and relied on unquestioned assumptions about ‘modern’ learning and collaborative teaching. We conclude by considering the implications of this policy direction for New Zealand’s education system.

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