The Charles Darwin University vHospital®

This chapter presents an overview of an innovative teaching approach in an undergraduate nursing degree at Charles Darwin University (CDU). The authors describe the development and initial integration into the first year clinical nursing subject of a virtual learning space using a case-based approach to address some of the issues associated with an externalised Bachelor of Nursing program. In addition, the use of the CDU vHospital® in supporting early role socialisation into nursing and professional identity of first year nursing students will be explored. The findings and outcomes of formal and informal evaluations of the resource are also presented. Lastly, the authors identify recommendations for future development and areas for potential future research.

Learning Spaces for the Digital Age

This chapter shows how virtual and physical learning spaces are shaped by pedagogy. It explores the shift in pedagogy from an orientation to teaching to an emphasis on student learning. In so doing, it touches on Net Generation literature indicating that this concept has a poor fit with the diverse nature of student populations engaged in lifelong learning. The argument is that the skill set required for lifelong learning is not age related. At the core of the chapter is a case study of the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) which describes a history of learning environments that have been variously shaped by pedagogy and the limits of technology. It refers to the concept of the ‘edgeless university’, which acknowledges that learning is no longer cloistered within campus walls, and it describes how USQ is engaging with this concept through the development of open source learning materials. An important point in the chapter is that the deliberate design of quality learning spaces requires whole-of-institution planning, including academic development for university teaching staff, themselves often ill-equipped to take advantage of the potential of new learning environments. The import of the discussion is that higher education learning spaces are shaped by deliberate design, and that student learning is optimised when that design is pedagogically informed and properly managed.

The DE Hub Virtual Learning Space

Our concept of ‘virtual learning spaces’ is changing, as are the practices that are adopted within these spaces. To understand these changes, this chapter will provide an exploration of the conceptualisation and creation of an interactive, online, social network community of practice. The case that will be used is based around the Distance Education Hub (DE Hub) which is both virtual and physical. DE Hub is in the simultaneous process of constructing and facilitating a virtual space to support and encourage both knowledge dissemination and knowledge creation. The DE Hub space focuses on learning as a cooperative, constructive, and dynamic process involving engaged communities of scholars, learners and practitioners. It will tackle the question of why this virtual learning space is defined as a niche social network and how this impacts on the conceptualisation and consequent development of virtual spaces — in this instance, co-development by the community. Finally, it will demonstrate through this analysis how changing concepts of ‘virtual learning spaces’ are put into practice through ‘virtual space’ design and development for creating and supporting niche social networks.

Re-Imagining Teaching for Technology-Enriched Learning Spaces

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.

Assessment in Virtual Learning Spaces

This chapter examines how assessment spaces must change in response to the rapid development and uptake of new virtual learning spaces. Students are engaging in collaborative, cooperative learning activities in a spatially distributed environment, yet their assessment tasks are often delivered in traditional assessment spaces that bear little resemblance to their learning spaces. The assessment of students in virtual worlds, virtual laboratories, role-plays and serious games is examined and the case is presented for the wider use of evidence-centered assessment designs and stealth assessment techniques.

Using Blogs to Traverse Physical and Virtual Spaces

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.

The Role of Institutions in Creating Student-Focused Virtual Learning Spaces with ePortfolio Systems

In this chapter, we explore the currently dominant virtual learning spaces employed in institutions of higher education and contrast them with the virtual social spaces provided by Web 2.0 tools. Guided by the increasing focus on lifelong learning skills in the world of work and in higher education, we identify the gap that exists between institutional and social virtual spaces. We argue for filling this gap by providing access to institutional e-Portfolio systems to students in higher education, giving students an institutionally supported student-focused virtual learning space. By examining the perspectives of stakeholders involved in higher education, we identify challenges inherent in the adoption of institutional e-Portfolio systems and make recommendations for overcoming these based on practical experience and research findings.

Distributed Learning Spaces

This chapter examines distributed and personal learning spaces across the spectrum of physical, blended and virtual learning spaces in the higher education context. We suggest that higher education is no longer defined by tangible boundaries of a ‘physical campus’ but by the entire student experience, whether that involves negotiating the physical corridors of the campus, attending face-to-face classes, participating in fully online courses or a blend of both face-to-face and online courses. In addition the student experience may also involve connecting to virtual environments from home, a local cafe, on the train or participating in professional practice hundreds of kilometers from the physical campus. This chapter attempts to account for the diverse range of spaces that are enriching the learning and teaching experience for both academics and students and suggests the need to recognise the changing nature of learning spaces in higher education.

Ezine and iRadio as Knowledge Creation Metaphors for Scaffolding Learning in Physical and Virtual Learning Spaces

eZine and iRadio represent knowledge creation metaphors for scaffolding learning in a blended learning environment. Through independent and collaborative work online participating students experience a simulated virtual publishing space in their classrooms. This chapter is presented as an auto-ethnographic account highlighting the voices of the learning designer and the teacher. Using an iterative research design, evidence is provided for three iterations of each course. A collaborative approach to the development, planning, implementation, and evaluation of two tertiary music elective courses between lecturers, tutors, learning and technological designers is narrated. The student voice is embedded in the methodology, which involved an innovative approach that blends software development and pedagogy in iterations of software and experience design. The chapter describes how the teachers and learning designers translate these data into action and design. A blended learning space was incorporated within each of these elective music courses and the movement between these learning spaces is described and problematized. The research suggests that learning design, which provides real world examples and resources integrating authentic task design, can provide meaningful and engaging experiences for students. The dialogue between learning designers and teachers and iterative review of the learning process and student outcomes has engaged students meaningfully to achieve transferable learning outcomes.

Design of Outdoor and Environmentally Integrated Learning Spaces

The chapter explores the environmentally sensitive design characteristics of Charles Sturt University’s Albury Wodonga campus and the outdoor learning spaces it provides. Attention will be given to exploring how the holistic and integrated nature of the campus and the environmental functionality of the site provide unique opportunities for learning within learning spaces. Examples are provided of how the natural and built environments of the campus are used as learning spaces to promote social interactions, conversations, and experiences that enhance student learning. The chapter highlights the value of outdoor environments as legitimate and critical spaces for learning within higher education. The chapter explores the benefits of designing teaching space based on strategies that are defined by personal pedagogic repertoires and practical wisdom. By enacting such strategies, it is argued that universities can develop diverse, locally appropriate, and inclusive pedagogies.