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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 and refitting learning spaces 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. Both pre- and post-occupancy evaluations are important tools in understanding learning spaces and their impact on the curriculum, the institution, and most importantly, the people who use them.

The aim of this seminar and workshop program is to disseminate findings from a recent ALTC funded project on the evaluation of learning spaces, and to provide a forum for sharing experience and expertise in evaluation methods that have been trialed in the tertiary campus environment. Three facilitated workshops will focus on opportunities and challenges faced by participants in evaluating their own spaces.

Facilitators
Nicolette Lee is the Academic Director (Swinburne Professional Learning) at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia. Nicolette is the lead academic for the evaluation of learning and teaching spaces, and the differing needs of stakeholders in the design - evaluation cycle. She works predominantly in the area of project-based learning in higher education contexts, with particular interests in models of interdisciplinarity and organisational contexts related to independent learning. She has been a lecturer in design in Australia and the UK, and has a professional background in interdisciplinary design practice.
Dr. Julie Dixon is the Head of the School of Learning Support Services at Victoria University. Under her leadership the School focuses on initiatives to develop discipline specific and classroom integrated support for students university-wide. Over the last 5 years she has also overseen the development and implementation of 17 student-centred peer mentoring programs at VU. This initiative included consultation with architects and user groups and the creation of a collaborative service model with Library, IT and staff from VU College. Her team initiated a student rover program in 2007 which now operates in LCs on 3 campuses.  The program encourages experienced students to work closely with those new to the institution and constitutes an innovative approach to collaborative peer learning.
Trish Andrews has worked in the field of higher education since the early 1990’s and has considerable experience in the areas of open, distance, flexible, blended and mobile learning. She has extensive experience in supporting innovative curriculum development with a particular focus on integrating technologies into higher education programs for both institutional and national programs. Trish has a particular interest in learning spaces and has been heavily involved in the development, use and evaluation of the innovative learning spaces at University of Queensland. Her current research interests include learning spaces, mobile learning, distance learning and exploring the student voice in relation to the use of ICTs for teaching and learning.

Keynote speakers (Victoria only)
Jo Dane Jo Dane is a designer, educator and researcher with a passion for educational transformation enabled through research-based design practice. During her tenure at Monash University, Jo became increasingly interested in the apparent disconnect between educational theory and the design of learning environments. This culminated in her PhD topic titled ‘New Generation Learning Environments for Higher Education’ which has explored the notion of Constructive Alignment as a theoretical construct for designing and evaluating learning environments. This unprecedented research has led to an in-depth inquiry of contemporary educational theory and practise and how this pedagogy can inform the design process. Out of her PhD research methodology, Jo has developed a rationale for evaluating learning environments, which can be applied as a project briefing tool, or as an educational post occupancy evaluation.

Jo now works as an education consultant with global consulting and design firm Woods Bagot, with a specialist focus on the design of higher education teaching, learning and research environments.
Geoff Mitchell Dr Geoff Mitchell is the Director of Learning Environments at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) where he is responsible for a range of information technology and audio visual support services, including the design and development of technology for QUT central learning spaces. As chair of the University’s Physical Learning Environments Committee, Geoff has focussed on initiatives that benefit the broader University community, seeking to maximise learning outcomes for all students. Geoff is also strongly interested in student lead design of new spaces. Since 2004, Geoff has been a partner in an international research project that has developed and implemented a model for benchmarking institutional e-learning maturity that has involved some 40 New Zealand, and United Kingdom higher education institutions. He is a current recipient of an Australian Learning and Teaching Council grant to look at retrofitting university learning spaces: with a view to enabling and discovering cost effective ways to facilitate student learning.

With a PHD in Information Systems, Geoff has previously been the Director of the University Teaching Development Centre at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, Manager of the Educational Products and Services at Griffith University, an information systems academic, and an IT professional.