Collaborative re-design of a learning environmen

Kl. 8:30-10:00

Rannsóknarstofa um þróun skólastarfs

Anna Kristín Sigurðardóttir

Pedagogical walk-through evaluation

Anneli Frelin, professor, University of Gävle and Jan Grannäs, professor, University of Gävle

The presentation is based on a practice oriented, multidisciplinary post occupancy evaluation project, aiming at identifying important areas for improvement of the learning space in schools. The walk-through method has been used for post-occupancy evaluations of buildings and other environments. In the research study “Building schools” nine schools located in four municipalities in Sweden were evaluated by a range of stakeholders. Results show the importance of e.g. flexibility and ownership in the school environments. A film showing walk-through evaluations is available here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpEEU8L4Gqo. Pedagogical walk-throughs, also addressed in the session, are primarily tools for teachers and school leaders to become more aware of the role of the physical environment for teaching and learning and find ways to develop their own learning environment. The focus here is on pedagogical activities and on achieving a good fit between spaces, practice and people.

 

Co-designing learning spaces

Bodil Bøjer, post-doc, Royal Danish Academy

In recent years, many schools are being built or rebuilt aiming to support new pedagogies that will foster the development of 21st century skills. These pedagogical visions are often materialized in new typologies of learning environments with a more open, flexible, and activity-based interior design. The layout of these new spaces demands new teaching and learning strategies in order to become supportive tools for practice. However, changing a space does not automatically change practice.

Building on a Participatory Design tradition, this presentation explores how co-design methods can be used to engage users (teachers and students) in collaborative and experiential exploration of the space-practice relationship, thereby helping to foster spatial literacy and competencies in teachers and thus, potentially match pedagogical practices with spatial affordances. The session will present examples from an empirical case in a Danish school and is based on a practice-based PhD-project from the Royal Academy in Copenhagen, School of Design, ‘Unlocking Learning Spaces’, which examined the interplay between the design of learning spaces and pedagogical practices with a particular focus on participatory design with teachers and students.