Towards Better Business Education: Learning Spaces as
Agents for Change
Dave Hornblow
Open Polytechnic
The underpinning question is, ‘In the interests of better business education,
how can learning spaces be effective agents of change?’ Aspects to be
considered are:
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What are ‘learning spaces’ (physical, virtual, individual, social, and
interwoven)?
How can they be used in the interests of better business education?
What are the implications for academic staff, learning technologists,
librarians, and administrators?
The theory and findings of Bransford, Brown, and Cocking (1999), Evans and
Wurster (2000), Gardner (2007), Lave (1988), Lave and Wenger (1991),
Oblinger (2006), and Van Weigel (2002), among others, will be drawn upon in
exploring the questions.
To start the roundtable dialogue, a redefinition of learning will be provided.
The focus will be on relationships among ‘persons-acting’, ‘actions’, and
‘contexts’ rather than individual development (Lave, 1988).
It will be suggested that this novel way of thinking links to informed choices of
‘learning spaces’ (Oblinger, 2006) and opportunities for well-chosen
membership of ‘learning communities’ (Lave and Wenger, 1991).
Consistent with the approach, it will be posited that the electronic era provides
opportunities in education for ‘richness’ (that is, the overall quality of
information) and ‘reach’ (the overall number of people involved in the
exchange of information). This is in contrast to ‘richness or reach’ (Evans &
Wurster, 2000, Weigel, 2002). Gone is the need for learning exclusively
within the classroom that is based on simulated exercises and contrived case
studies. Through electronic and other means, the thrust of further and higher
education can be on real-life projects in the real world.
This ‘bricks and clicks’ approach enables learners to make meaningful
contributions to work – and life in general – while earning academic credit.
This is happening, for example, through special projects, internships, and eportfolio development. New learning communities, with associated
opportunities and challenges, are proliferating. How the members of such
communities can participate willingly and enthusiastically is an important
consideration.
The place of wisdom should not be lost in the development of learning spaces
and learning communities (Gardner, 2007). The need for ‘disciplinary’,
‘synthesizing’, ‘creating’, ‘respectful’, and ‘ethical’ minds applies just as much
to learning communities as the individuals (or persons-acting) within them.
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References
Bransford, J.D., Brown, A.L., & Cocking, R.R. (eds.) (1999). How People
Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School. Washington, D.C.: National
Academy press.
Evans, P., & Wurster, T.S. (2000). Blown to Bits: How the New Economics of
Information Transforms Strategy. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Gardner, H. (2007). Five Minds for the Future. Boston: Harvard Business
School Press.
Lave, J. (1988). Cognition in Practice: Mind, Mathematics and Culture in
Everyday Life. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral
Participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Oblinger, D. (ed.) (2006). Learning Spaces. EDUCAUSE.
Weigel, Van B. (2002). Deep Learning for a Digital Age. San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass.
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