scholarly journals Informal Learning Spaces in Higher Education: Student Preferences and Activities

Buildings ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 252
Author(s):  
Xianfeng Wu ◽  
Zhipeng Kou ◽  
Philip Oldfield ◽  
Tim Heath ◽  
Katharina Borsi
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Informal Learning ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Spatial Configuration ◽  
Education Student ◽  
Design Strategies ◽  
Learning Spaces ◽  
Student Preferences ◽  
Spatial Design ◽  
Design Characteristics

Informal learning spaces play a significant role in enriching student experiences in learning environments. Such spaces are becoming more common, resulting in a change to the spatial configuration of built environments in higher education. However, previous research lacks methods to evaluate the influence of the spatial design characteristics of informal learning spaces on student preferences and their activities within. This paper aims to tease out the spatial design characteristics of informal learning spaces to examine how they shape students’ preferences in terms of their use of the spaces and what they do within them. The two case studies selected for this study, both in the UK, are the Diamond at the University of Sheffield, and the Newton at Nottingham Trent University. A mixed-methods study is applied, including questionnaires, observation, interviews, and focus groups. Six significant design characteristics (comfort, flexibility, functionality, spatial hierarchy, openness, and other support facilities) that influence student use of informal learning environments are identified. These can be used to inform future design strategies for other informal learning spaces in higher education.

scholarly journals The exhibition and other learning environments in The Millbank Atlas

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-169
Author(s):  
Marsha Bradfield ◽  
Shibboleth Shechter
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Spatial Design ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Learning Journey

Abstract The Millbank Atlas is an open-ended project that maps and remaps the neighbourhood of Millbank, an area of London, UK. This is home to Chelsea College of Arts (University of the Arts London) and our course, BA (Hons) Interior and Spatial Design, which has anchored the Atlas since 2016. We offer the following reflections as tutors on this course and co-researchers on the Atlas, along with our students and members of the local community. Central to this discussion is the kind of learning journey enabled by this type of project, and how it benefits from being distributed across cultural, social, geographical, discursive and other environments. This raises fundamental questions for teaching and learning, especially the potential to complicate normative assumptions in higher education about where knowledge is produced and who learns from whom.

Integrating Formal and Informal Learning Opportunities of Technology in Higher Education

2019 ◽  
pp. 379-400 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emine Şendurur ◽  
Hatice Gökçe Bilgiç ◽  
Polat Şendurur
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Informal Learning ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Learning Opportunities ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Learner Centered ◽  
Formal And Informal Learning ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Roles Of Teacher ◽  
Technology In Higher Education

Along with the recent developments in technology, the paradigm of learning and teaching has changed with the changing demands of society and learners. A new learner-centered paradigm enforces the changes in the roles of teacher, learner, and the environment. Learning is not restricted with a place or time. Especially with the advance of technology-based environments including www, social networks, and online learning environments, people can reach information anytime/anywhere, which brings about various experiences for informal learning. The aim of this chapter is to present a guideline for the integration of formal and informal learning opportunities of technology in higher education. As a result of the study a guideline is presented for higher education. The guideline is focused on eight issues including (1) know your students, (2) update yourself, (3) be online, (4) provide sharing opportunities, (5) provide discussion opportunities, (6) keep information alive, (7) use learning analytics, and (8) support interdisciplinarity.

scholarly journals Re-Imagining Teaching for Technology-Enriched Learning Spaces

2012 ◽  
pp. 242-265 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline Steel ◽  
Trish Andrews
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Academic Development ◽  
Leadership Capacity ◽  
Traditional Teaching ◽  
Learning Spaces ◽  
Institutional Investment ◽  
University Teachers

New technology-enriched learning spaces are a focus of institutional investment to address the identified shortcomings of traditional teaching and learning environments. Academic development, an area that has received little attention in this context, can be designed to provide strong opportunities for university teachers to re-imagine their teaching for these new spaces while also building their leadership capacity. This chapter discusses challenges that teachers face in transforming their teaching practices and proposes a model for academic development to support this. Two case studies demonstrate the flexibility and efficacy of the model and provide pointers for further adoption in the higher education context.

Using Blogs to Traverse Physical and Virtual Spaces

2012 ◽  
pp. 148-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kerryn Newbegin ◽  
Leonard Webster
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Informal Learning ◽  
Reflective Practice ◽  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Knowledge Creation ◽  
Learning Spaces ◽  
Virtual Spaces ◽  
Formal Study ◽  
The Cost ◽  
New Strategies

The development of physical and virtual learning spaces is prominent in the current higher education context, however a preoccupation with the design of these environments must not be at the cost of the learner. This chapter proposes that new ways of thinking need to be adopted and new strategies for collaborating need to be developed to enable students and teachers to traverse the physical and virtual environments. In traversing these spaces, learners must use them to best advantage, both within the higher education context, and then later in the professional arena in which they will be operating. Specifically this chapter will examine the use of one collaboration tool—blogs— to bridge the gap between the physical and the virtual, the formal and the informal learning spaces. Strategies for using blogs will be presented as a tool for students and educators to enable and promote knowledge creation, and to develop a habit of reflective practice both during and after formal study.

scholarly journals Content, language and intercultural challenges in engineering education: (E-)strategies to improve instructional design

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (8) ◽  
pp. 153-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margarida Morgado
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Online Learning ◽  
Instructional Design ◽  
Engineering Education ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Learning Processes ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Design Strategies ◽  
Online Learning Environments

Intercultural, multilingual and culturally and academically diverse classrooms are a common reality in current higher education (HE) landscapes, as globalisation is effectively taking place in all major schools. Rethinking instructional design strategies that contribute to the overcoming of communication and cultural differences in both online and blended learning processes may help not only improve the development of more efficient online learning environments but also meet the challenges of current teaching and learning processes. Special focus will be put into engineering education through the medium of English and the training of engineering lecturers in HE through communities of practice (CoPs), which present, integrate and discuss how to integrate content and language (through what is known as the content and language integrated learning (CLIL) approach) as well as trends, challenges and opportunities related to recent technological developments on students’ learning ourcomes. The desciption of the pedagogical training shared through a CoP describes E-strategies to improve instructional design in engineering courses in online learning environments when English is used as a medium of instruction and integrated with content in a CLIL approach. Keywords: Higher education, CLIL/ICLHE, English Lingua Franca, instructional E-design, online learning environments, training of engineering teachers.

scholarly journals Who uses home as informal learning spaces: A Bangkok private university case study

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-47
Author(s):  
Sonthya Vanichvatana
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Informal Learning ◽  
Grade Point Average ◽  
Education Institution ◽  
Private University ◽  
Learning Spaces ◽  
Higher Education Institution ◽  
Grade Point ◽  
Cumulative Grade Point Average

Home is one type of off-campus informal learning spaces (ILS). It is important to understand the behaviours of students who use home as ILS. Such information will enlighten universities to provide/improve proper on-campus ILS and/or other academic supports. This research used a quantitative approach through an online questionnaire survey during February 2019. This study used business students at a Bangkok private university as a case study. The descriptive analysis was done according to students’ cumulative grade point average (CGPA) and undergraduate levels. The results revealed how and why students, especially those with different levels of CGPA, chose to study at home. This study also suggests how higher education institution (HEI) can support ILS to students who do not study at home. Students with different CGPA levels should be supported by HEI differently. Keywords: Cumulative grade point average, higher education institution, home, informal learning spaces, learning spaces.

Investigation of Higher Education Student Perceptions of Social Presence and Motivations in Online Learning Environments

2022 ◽  
pp. 341-362
Author(s):  
Murat Çoban
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Online Learning ◽  
Learning Environment ◽  
Student Perceptions ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Social Presence ◽  
Online Learning Environment ◽  
Education Student ◽  
Online Learning Environments ◽  
The Social

This chapter determines the social presence perceptions and motivation levels of higher education students participating in the online learning environment and reveals the possible causes that affect these variables. According to the findings obtained from the study in which the explanatory design was used among the mixed research methods, it was concluded that the social presence perceptions of the participants were lower compared to their motivation. Besides, it was found out that there is a positive relationship between social presence and motivation variables. According to the qualitative findings, the majority of the participants stated that they were not satisfied with distance education, encountered technical and hardware problems, and the online learning environment was not effective enough in the context of communication and interaction. The research results contribute to the literature in terms of the effectiveness of online learning environments.

scholarly journals Hybrid Learning Spaces for Design Thinking

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 228-244
Author(s):  
Christian Kohls
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Informal Learning ◽  
Design Thinking ◽  
Hybrid Learning ◽  
Design Principles ◽  
Learning Spaces ◽  
Support Design ◽  
University Campuses ◽  
Hybrid Spaces

AbstractAs design thinking becomes more and more important in higher education, we need to think about ways to enable educators and students to learn about the concepts and apply them to their own projects. One approach is to create hybrid learning spaces with tools that support design thinking and offer affordances for the various methods, ways of working and thinking. Hybridity dissolves existing dichotomies such as physical-digital, formal-informal, learning-teaching and individual-collective. This article introduces design principles and patterns to develop such spaces for university campuses. We will describe how we identified, applied and tested them. Based on these findings we can provide recommendations for planning new hybrid spaces for design thinking at other universities.

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