5thAnnual IIE Celebration of Teaching and Learning 2012
ExploringNew Learning Spaces
Name(s) of author(s)
Naretha Pretorius
e-mail address
naretha@vegaschool.com
Contact number
031 569 1415
Brand
Vega School of Brand Leadership
Site
Durban
Region
KZN
Title
Playing in our sandpits and throwing our toys out: aligning learning spaces
with curriculum design.
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Introduction of the topic
Vega introduced the idea of ‘sandpits’; a concept that specifies the ratio from the
lecturer to the number of students in a class. Considering this model, I will look at
the relationship between how we design our curricula and how we consider the
preferred or recommended teaching and learning methodologies and especially our
classroom designs that will complement the content and aim of the curricula.
I believe as an Academic Co-Navigator, my duty is to guide the lecturers and our
space design into more conducive environments that encourage student
engagement, creativity as well as exciting teaching and learning opportunities.
For the purpose of this paper, I will focus on physical learning spaces and will not
consider virtual or digital learning spaces.
Motivation for the topic
If you were a University student 20 or more years ago, you were most probably
taught in a large auditorium, with your Professor in the front and all the (hundreds of)
students sitting neatly in rows facing forward. If you wanted to ask something or
present an idea you would put up your hand if you were so brave. Since then you
have graduated and you have changed your position from being a student to being a
lecturer, and what do you see? Did your classroom situation change that much?
Are you teaching the way you were taught? Or are you avoiding it? And why?
Are you affected by the space you teach in? Do you manipulate your space to make
it more conducive to your teaching needs? And more importantly, does your teaching
space accommodate the students’ learning process?
As an Academic Co-Navigator my role is to develop and orientate the academic staff
at Vega, Durban. I have observed various approaches and opinions to teaching, and
the one thing we as lecturers tend to neglect is how we design our learning spaces.
A lot of effort goes into developing and crafting twenty first century curricula, but I do
question whether we pay equal and adequate attention to the relationship between
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our teaching and learning methodologies and our teaching and learning spaces. I
believe that if we were to shift the way we design our spaces, that it will affect the
way we teach and hopefully produce spaces that enhances, encourages and
inspires learning.
Description of the topic
My presentation will look at the relationship between our curricula design, teaching
and learning methodologies and classroom spaces. Our classroom spaces can
significantly shift the way we teach if we were to consider the way learners learn.
There are many academic readings addressing this matter, and it boils down to one
core question: How do our learners learn? If we were to understand how our
learners learn, then we will better understand how we should teach. And if we better
understood how we should teach, then we will design better spaces that will improve
our teaching and learning methodologies. Oblinger (2006:7) argues that
today’s students often learn better by doing rather than by listening. As a result,
classroom, laboratory, and studio designs that provide students with ample
opportunities to participate will become more common. Whether the form of
participation is discussion or construction, designs should enable interaction,
transparency (seeing others engaged in work), and group work. Participation
maybe physical (such as constructing a model) or virtual (videoconferencing).
When considering the technologies to support, remember that students no
longer just consume information, they construct it - in multiple media formats.
From this, it is clear how Oblinger points out that learning moved from ‘passive
learning’ to ‘active learning’. Students no longer just want to listen and watch, they
want to construct, participate, engage and become involved. My presentation will
use some of Vega’s teaching and learning models to illustrate how we are moving
toward this direction, with a focus on the Vega Durban campus as a ‘case study’.
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Playing in our sandpits
At Vega we carefully designed what we call ‘sandpits’. Our ‘sandpits’ are the spaces
in which we teach, play, experiment, ideate, consult and collaborate. A sandpit
determines the number of students in a classroom, for example having 90 students,
30, 15, 10 or even as little as 5 students in the group. A sandpit also determines the
nature of the classroom, for example a 90-sandpit is used for “information/knowledge
sharing with opportunity for questions and answers” whereas a 30-sandpit is for
“knowledge sharing through class discussion” as well as “practical in-class
challenges and exercises” (Vega NNS Guide, 2012: 17). The smaller sandpits
ranging from 15 to 5 are for “small group discussions”, “sharing of and guidance on
personal practical application and progress” (ibid) as well as crafting and peer
engagement.
If we were to become the learners of our own institutions, what do you think will be
your learning and campus experience? What would be your memories of your
student life?
Vega Durban has gone through various changes since it opened its doors, each year
presenting new challenges. Starting with very few students and growing in numbers,
starting with a handful of lecturers to a full staff compliment ranging from full and part
time lecturers. We moved campuses recently and we are currently expanding our
physical space. With new spaces come new experiences, a new culture, a new
dynamic and new opportunities and challenges.
My questions to all lecturers:

How important is the space you teach in?

How do you design your sessions in relation to the space and tools available?

Does the space influence the way you teach?

Have you noted how student participation and engagement shift based on the
space and the arrangement of the class?

Have you thought about the purpose of space as a learning tool?
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
Have you thought about how your curriculum might shift in its delivery based
on the space and tools you use?

Have you asked your students how they learn best and if they were to design
the classroom what it would be like?
A simple example is how we arrange tables and chairs. Who looks at what? And
who looks at who? The way we are arranged in a classroom can significantly shift
the way we engage with each other and with the space. For instance, if you had
tables in ‘island’ formats where students sit around a table facing each other; it
immediately shifts the focus to each other as students, rather than being fixated on
the lecturer in the front of the class. It also shifts the way the lecturer engages with
the students. Instead of remaining in the front, the lecturer is encouraged to move
amongst the students. It encourages and even advocates group work, dialogue and
participation. Even if you tasked students to do an individual activity, the nature of
how the seating is arranged allows for dialogue.
Throwing our toys out
When we designed our sandpits, our first aim was to consider how many students
should be in a class to ensure what is being taught, is done well. We then asked
ourselves what would be the ideal space in order to teach this. A critical question
that lead us to the concept of designing different ‘laborotaries’. We moved away
from the notion of classroom, and entered the world of laboratories. The traditional
notion of a laboratory is a space where one would experiment, test new ideas or
formulas, practice in order to perfect something, build things and research things. A
laboratory suggests thinking through doing. We wanted to avoid falling into the trap
of typical theory classes, and we asked ourselves whether theory should not also
become more experimental. We threw our old toys out, and reconsidered what our
toys in our sandpits should be like.
Our sandpits were thus taken one step further by providing descriptions of what the
‘ideal’ classroom design and equipment should be in order to teach the desired
‘sandpit’. According to our Vega Academic Portfolio Model Principles (2012:5-6) we
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defined a range of spaces that related to the sandpits and their purpose, these
included; Think Labs, Idea Labs, Co-Labs, Digital Labs, Photo Labs and Play Labs.
Each Lab suggests spaces where the main activity involves either thinking (mostly
theoretical engagement), ideation, collaboration, the use of digital equipment,
photographic studios or spaces where students can ‘play’ by doing for example
printmaking. Standard equipment would include whiteboards, projectors and access
to the internet, but over and above that the arrangement of furniture, the nature of
the furniture as well as digital equipment and additional specialised equipment was
considered.
Oblinger (2006:7) suggests that one of the criteria a college should consider is
connectivity, stating that “learning is a social process” and that “often the most
memorable college experiences involve connections with others, whether students or
faculty. All indications point to the importance of learning spaces that facilitate
connections. Those connections are not just verbal or spatial - they are visual,
enabling people to see others and feel as though they are part of something bigger,
such as observing a class at work in a laboratory”.
Oblinger (2006:8) continues by stating “connections may be from the campus to the
outside world (a view of a natural landscape, for instance) or by allowing the outside
world to view the campus. Connections can also be made with information. Displays
can highlight departmental activities or provide a glimpse of world news, stock
prices, or environmental conditions”.
Oblinger highlights a twofold notion of connectivity; being connected with each other
and being connected to our environment (physical environment and context). This
brings us back to the notion of ‘active learning’, illustrating how our spaces can and
should encourage connectivity and through that encourages and allow for active
forms of learning.
There is and should be a distinct connection and relation between curriculum design,
teaching and learning methodologies and classroom spaces. Our Durban campus
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still has many areas we need to address that will make our spaces even better
places to ‘play’ in. We should add more exciting ‘toys’, and we should be rethinking
what our spaces truly ‘allow’ – what learning does it ‘allow’ to happen and how do
our students respond to this space. One must not forget that although we speak of
how we design our spaces, we are also dealing with a place. A place of learning, a
place where students build relationships and memories and a place they wish to call
their own. It should be a place they associate with excitement, creative challenges
and inspiration. Our walls should be less bare, and it should rather tell a story of a
campus life, our culture, our people and a place that embraces creativity, knowledge
and wisdom.
Explanation of the outcome/impact/results
My aim is to consider this presentation as a means to also better understand my role
as an Academic Co-Navigator and how I can inspire and guide my team of
academics to consider our campus spaces. It is also a means of encouraging a
critical and much needed discussion on how we should transform our spaces for
better learning. I hope that with a few simple questions the audience will reconsider
their teaching and learning spaces and how it relates to their subject curriculum and
teaching methods. My aim is also to encourage all members of the campus team, to
get involved in how we can positively transform our spaces, and that it is the
responsibility of all to take ownership and to take pride.
Conclusions/Recommendations
I believe that our learning spaces significantly affect our approach to teaching and
the way our learners learn and engage in student and campus life. When we design
a house as our living space we carefully consider how it relates to our life style.
When we design a shopping centre we carefully consider how it would affect the
consumers’ shopping behaviour. Thus, if space affects the way we think, behave,
engage, collaborate, discuss and create or even prevent it from happening, then we
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have enough reason to believe that our classroom spaces will affect the way our
learners learn or how it then prevents them from learning effectively. And the same
goes for how it then affects the way we teach.
I recommend that we as educators are responsible for and play an active role in how
we design and change our classroom spaces to be more conducive to our students’
learning and that we as educators should work closely with the academic developers
in ensuring that it happens.
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from WWW:
http://connect.educause.edu/Library/EDUCAUSE+Review/LearningSpacesInvolving
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Oblinger, D.G. 2005. Leading the Transition from Classrooms to Learning Spaces:
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