Which space? Whose space? An experience in involving students and teachers in space design

ABSTRACT

To date, learning spaces in higher education have been designed with little engagement on the part of their most important users: students and teachers. In this paper, we present the results of research carried out in a UK university. The research aimed to understand how students and teachers conceptualise learning spaces when they are given the opportunity to do so in a workshop environment. Over a number of workshops, participants were encouraged to critique a space prototype and to re-design it according to their own views and vision of learning spaces to optimise pedagogical encounters. The findings suggest that the active involvement of students and teachers in space design endows participants with the power of reflection on the pedagogical process, which can be harnessed for the actual creation and innovation of learning spaces.

KEYWORDS:

• Learning spaces
• participatory design
• large classroom
• students’ design participation
• teachers’ design participation
• active learning

Disclosure statement

The art work in Figures 4, 5 and 6 is the responsibility of Paul Mitchell.