Ari Wahlstedt, Samuli Peldola and Marketta Niemeli
系級： 碩研資管一甲
報告者：M9790110 李文盈
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
Introduction

Space-place relationship

From learning spaces to learning places
by supporting social interaction
Example of how an e-learning
environment supports the sense of place
 Discussion and conclusion

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
The e-learning environment was perceived as an
artificial artefact between learners and instructors,
developed to frame and support interaction.

Today, e-learning environments are exploited to
promote personal and organisational
development and learning.
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
E-learning environments provide platforms that
facilitate learning through communication that
does not require face-to-face contacts or physical
presence in the same space or at the same
moment of time.

Currently, despite multiple definitions and
approaches to e-learning environments, they are
often conceived as common information spaces,
accessible through an interface constructed on a
technological system.
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
Kendall (2002) argued that members of online
communities and virtual environments have 'intact
social systems, and highly charged social relations'.

The online community members feel that when
connecting to an online forum, they enter a social
place, not a physical space. In other words, the
focus on a physical construction, a space, does
not correspond with the users' mental models .
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
Traditional learning spaces (eg, the classroom)
provide tools and structures for learning periods (eg,
books and teaching), but they also enable the
learner to become receptive and mentally 'tune
his/her brain' for learning.

The design of learning environments should not be
towards spaces for learning, but towards
interactive, social places where learning takes
place through social interaction.
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
Currently e-learning environments are more like
'buildings', ie, learning spaces, rather than 'schools',
ie, learning places where people optimistically
enjoy spending time to learn.

Current e-learning environments are more like
windows, where one can peek into a shared
information space, or which, in the worst cases,
may alienate possible inhabitants.
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
By creating an e-learning environment as a
place for learning, there is a need to design
support for different kinds of social interactions
within the environment, in a similar manner to
architects inhibiting physical spaces.

By shifting the design focus to social
interaction, e-learning environments adopt
environmental and social characteristics and
become more like places of learning-but still
without physical restrictions.
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
The relationship between space and place is social:
spaces are converted to places by people, their
interpretation of a space and their social
interactions .

Physically, a place is a space which is invested with
understandings of behavioural appropriateness,
cultural expectations, and so forth.

'places' are spaces that are valued.
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
These objectives were deliberately considered in
the design: public spaces to attract people and to
provide a feeling that it is socially acceptable to
be there, and private spaces to provide certain
privacy and a feeling of intimacy.

Understanding the differences between space
and place helps not only the designers of buildings
and milieus, but also the designers of computer
applications, eg, e-learning environments.
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
Different groups have different understandings of
similar places and concepts that change over time,
and places have to be created through practices
and appropriation by a certain group.

Different technologies provide different
comprehensions of the space, thus assisting the
understanding of the place dissimilarly.
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
Social interaction is defined as any form of formal
or informal encounter between individuals,
consisting of both verbal and nonverbal elements,
eg, facial expressions, gestures and body
movements .

E-learning environments often try to capture this
multifaceted character of interaction by
combining different media, including tools and
materials, to support and stimulate communication,
cooperation and learning.
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
Despite the different media available, current elearning environments are predominantly
functional, focusing almost solely on the support of
cognitive learning processes.

They are lacking functionalities that have been
identified as key elements in group learning:
learning is fundamentally built up through social
interaction between the learners .
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
People using these environments often feel isolated
and remote and, consequently, cannot or are not
willing to establish relationships with each other.

Environment is apparently an isolated space.

A space becomes a place when meanings,
constructed through social interaction, cultural
identities and personal involvement are supported
and embedded into the environment.
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
The degree of social involvement can be
questioned if participants cannot experience and
be aware of the presence of others.

The media are not combined into an aggregate,
but they are designed so that learners can adapt
to the situation and seamlessly move between
them, simultaneously being aware of others
regardless of their tools and locations in the
learning place .
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
A space without any meaning for the user, eg,
without personal motivation, reason, suitable
content or social interaction possibilities, is not the
best place for learning.

It is only a temporary space that is traversed, a
space that needs personification: a transformation
from space to place.
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
As Internet connections provide access to learning
material location independently, and the systems
support different activities (search for material, editing,
etc), the main difference between an e-learning
environment and traditional learning centres is
conceptualized in the issues of being comfortable and
sociable.

The Moodle environment supports a variety of
interaction mechanisms (media or tools).
› Learners may communicate with others by chatting (real-
time communication) and by reading bulletin boards (eg,
blogs).
› The environment also provides a discussion feature where
audio- and video-based communication are available.
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
Given that learners have decided to take
an e-learning course, the best place for
learning is anywhere that the learner feels
most comfortable.

This requirement of social interaction puts demands
both on the space in which learning takes place
and on the transformation of the space to a
learning place where social interaction is possible
both mentally and in terms of technologies (media
or tools).
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
A technically efficient platform is one of
the most important success factors for a
virtual community .

The focus in designing e-learning
environments cannot be solely on
technologies and single tools or media.
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
The designers of e-learning environments
should act as architects, comprehending the
environment as a place for learning rather
than a collection of different technologies.

By carrying out this type of mental shift, the
transformation from e-learning spaces to elearning places is also possible and supported.
Then the evolution to the third generation of elearning environments is truly possible.
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