Evaluation of Learning Spaces Project

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Project Information

Learning spaces in universities are changing. Shifts in student mobility, pedagogy, curriculum management and technological tools are beginning to impact directly on the planning and development of campus learning spaces. However, building new spaces, or refitting existing ones, is an expensive and potentially risky enterprise. An inappropriate space is not only costly in financial terms, but also for the reputation of the institution, student experience and staff confidence in the driving educational principles.

The underlying aim of learning space innovation is to improve the student learning experience, and by association, student learning outcomes. Over recent years, there has been a shift away from transmission models of learning to constructivist approaches that emphasise active, collaborative, peer and social learning (Lee, 2006, Brown, 2005). Reflecting this adoption of constructivist approaches to learning nationally and internationally, there is a broadening of the types of learning spaces from the concentration on lectures and classrooms to now also include collaborative, informal and social learning spaces.

Commencing with an examination of pertinent evaluation methods from the sector, and from related fields such as workplace design, this project will develop a comprehensive framework for evaluation of learning spaces, and provide a forum for the sharing of methods and approaches that may be applied to a range of design intention and learning contexts.

The three partners are all currently engaged in the design and evaluation of learning spaces, occupying three distinct learning contexts and design aims: the information / learning commons (Victoria University), student owned project spaces (Swinburne University of Technology) and spaces oriented to both teaching and independent learning (University of Queensland).

The project team is currently working with student and academic staff reference groups, services stakeholders and management from three Australian universities to elaborate and trial potential evaluation approaches and strategies from a range of perspectives. That is, with a base model in place, we are now looking at evaluation methods used across the sector for their strengths and limitations in the contexts in which they are used, including differing needs of stakeholders and where these methods sit in a ‘conceptualise, design, construct, occupy’ cycle of campus development.

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