Aligning physical learning spaces with the curriculum: AMEE Guide No. 107

Abstract

This Guide explores emerging issues on the alignment of learning spaces with the changing curriculum in medical education. As technology and new teaching methods have altered the nature of learning in medical education, it is necessary to re-think how physical learning spaces are aligned with the curriculum. The better alignment of learning spaces with the curriculum depends on more directly engaged leadership from faculty and the community of medical education for briefing the requirements for the design of all kinds of learning spaces. However, there is a lack of precedent and well-established processes as to how new kinds of learning spaces should be programmed. Such programmes are essential aspects of optimizing the intended experience of the curriculum. Faculty and the learning community need better tools and instruments to support their leadership role in briefing and programming. A Guide to critical concepts for exploring the alignment of curriculum and learning spaces is provided. The idea of a networked learning landscape is introduced as a way of assessing and evaluating the alignment of physical spaces to the emerging curriculum. The concept is used to explore how technology has widened the range of spaces and places in which learning happens as well as enabling new styles of learning. The networked learning landscaped is explored through four different scales within which learning is accommodated: the classroom, the building, the campus, and the city. High-level guidance on the process of briefing for the networked learning landscape is provided, to take into account the wider scale of learning spaces and the impact of technology. Key to a successful measurement process is argued to be the involvement of relevant academic stakeholders who can identify the strategic direction and purpose for the design of the learning environments in relation to the emerging demands of the curriculum.

Glossary

Briefing: Briefing is a structured process of articulating the aspirations and priorities of the client for a project intended to stimulate the design team. It is an interactive and iterative process involving the client and the end users. The process is evolutionary, to understand the organization’s needs and matching these to its objectives and mission. The briefing process may go through several phases, including:

Vision brief: The high level vision for the project. Defines the goals, mission and purpose of the project and its’ measures of success.

Strategic brief: Articulation and defining the objectives of the project based on the organizational needs.

Occupancy: Within the context of building construction and building codes, “occupancy” refers to the use, or intended use, of a building, or portion of a building. In the context of briefing, we refer to occupancy in the sense of end users being accommodated in the space or building after the design and construction is completed.

Post-occupancy evaluation (POE): The process of evaluating buildings in a systematic and rigorous manner after they have been built and occupied for some time. A POE provides feedback of how successful the workplace (or other kinds of projects) is in supporting the occupying organization and individual end-user requirements. The POE may be used as part of an evidence-based design process, where the project usually refers to a building design fit-out or refurbishment, or to inform the project brief where the project is the introduction of a new initiative, system or process. POE usually involves feedback from the building occupants, through questionnaires, interviews and workshops, but may also involve more objective measures such as environmental monitoring, space measurement and cost analysis.

Networked learning landscape: The extended landscape of settings and environments in which learning takes place, augmented and transformed by the networked capabilities of information technology.

Scales: The specific milieu or settings in which learning activities take place have different scales. The scales have distinctive features that provide meaningful, relevant and purposeful characteristics that contribute to the learning experience. For the purposes of this Guide, we identify four significant scales: classroom, building, campus, and city.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Martha S. Grayson, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and Teresa Sörö, Karolinska Institutet, for their valuable contributions as case authors in this Guide.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.

Notes on contributors

Jonas Nordquist, PhD, is Director of the Medical Case Centre, Karolinska Institutet and the Associate Director of residency programmes at the Karolinska University Hospital, Sweden. Dr. Nordquist is affiliated with College of Medicine, University of Qatar and the Wilson Centre, University of Toronto. He was in charge of the visionary and strategic briefing for the Future Learning Environment Project at Karolinska Institutet between 2009 and 2015; being in charge of the redevelopment of over 100 classrooms, 15 informal spaces and the development of all learning spaces at two new large laboratories. He has also been developing the learning space programme for clinical and non-clinical learning environments at the New Karolinska University Hospital. Dr. Nordquist is currently involved in several learning environment projects around the world.

Kristina Sundberg, BA, MA, is a doctoral student at the Medical Case Centre, Karolinska Institutet and the Accreditation Manager at Stockholm Business School, Stockholm University. Her PhD project explores leading change in health professions education and her research interest includes professional identity, learning environments and educational leadership.

Andrew Laing, BSc (Hons), MPhil, PhD, is a global practice leader of the Strategy + practice at AECOM based in New York. Strategy + specializes in user research, workplace and learning environments strategy, strategic briefing of complex projects, service design, change management and systematic post-occupancy evaluation. He is also an adjunct professor at Princeton University and at Columbia University. His interests span the changing worlds of work, technology and the design of places at multiple scales from the workplace to the urban.