The Effects of Furnishings and Technology on Pedagogical Agility and Student Engagement Across Flexible Learning Spaces

We explored how furnishings and technology impact pedagogical agility and student engagement across three flexible learning spaces. We collected various data sources from students and faculty teaching in multiple learning spaces, such as focus group interviews with students, faculty responses to reflection prompts, and pre-and post-occupancy surveys with faculty and students. Flexible furniture configuration was found to support various instructional strategies and facilitate interaction between student-student and student-instructor. A writable surface is beneficial to facilitate student engagement during group activities. Digital displays with content sharing capabilities promote collaborative learning. Specific recommendations for learning space designs and faculty development are provided

<i>‘What retention’ means to me</i>: the position of the adult learner in student retention

Studies of student retention and progression overwhelmingly appear adopt definitions that place the institution, rather than the student, at the centre. Retention is most often conceived in terms of linear and continuous progress between institutionally identified start and end points. This paper reports on research that considered data from 38 in-depth interviews conducted with individuals who had characteristics often associated with non-traditional engagement in higher education who between 2006 and 2010 had studied an ‘Introduction to HE’ module at one distance higher education institution, some of whom had progressed to further study at that institution, some of whom had not. The research deployed a life histories approach to seek a finer grained understanding of how individuals conceptualise their own learning journey and experience, in order to reflect on institutional conceptions of student retention. The findings highlight potential anomalies hidden within institutional retention rates – large proportions of the interview participants who were not ‘retained’ by the institution reported successful progression to and in other learning institutions and environments, both formal and informal. Nearly all described positive perspectives on lifelong learning which were either engendered or improved by the learning undertaken. This attests to the complexity of individuals’ lives and provides clear evidence that institution-centric definitions of retention and progression are insufficient to create truly meaningful understanding of successful individual learning journeys and experiences. It is argued that only through careful consideration of the lived experience of students and a re-conception of measures of retention, will we be able to offer real insight into improving student retention

Longitudinal integrated rural placements: a social learning systems perspective

OBJECTIVES There is currently little theoretically informed exploration of how non-traditional clinical placement programmes that are longitudinal, immersive, based on community-engaged education principles and located in rural and remote settings may contribute to medical student learning. This paper aims to theoretically illustrate the pedagogical and socio-cultural underpinnings of student learning within a longitudinal, integrated, community-engaged rural placement. METHODS Data collected using semi-structured interviews with medical students, their supervisors and other health clinicians participating in a longitudinal rural placement programme were analysed using framework analysis. Data interpretation was informed by the theory of social learning systems (SLSs). RESULTS In a longitudinal, rural clinical placement students participate in an SLS with distinct yet interrelated learning spaces that contain embedded communities of practice (CoPs). These spaces are characterised by varying degrees of formality, membership and interaction, and different learning opportunities and experiences. They are situated within and shaped by a unique geography of place comprising the physical and social features of the placement setting. Within these learning spaces, students acquire clinical knowledge, skills and competencies, professional attitudes, behaviours and professional values. The process of connectivity helps explain how students access and cross the boundaries between these learning spaces and develop a more complex sense of professional identity. CONCLUSIONS Longitudinal, integrated clinical placement models can be understood as SLSs comprising synergistic and complementary learning spaces, in which students engage and participate in multiple CoPs. This occurs in a context shaped by unique influences of the geography of place. This engagement provides for a range of student learning experiences, which contribute to clinical learning and the development of a more sophisticated professional identity. A range of pedagogical and practical strategies can be embedded within this SLS to enhance student learning

Massive Open Online Courses on health and medicine: review

Background: Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have become immensely popular in a short span of time. However, there is very little research exploring MOOCs in the discipline of Health and Medicine. This paper is aimed to fill this void by providing a review of Health and Medicine related MOOCs. Objective: Provide a review of Health and Medicine related MOOCs offered by various MOOC platforms within the year 2013. Analyze and compare the various offerings, their target audience, typical length of a course and credentials offered. Discuss opportunities and challenges presented by MOOCs in the discipline of Health and Medicine. Methods: Health and Medicine related MOOCs were gathered using several methods to ensure the richness and completeness of data. Identified MOOC platform websites were used to gather the lists of offerings. In parallel, these MOOC platforms were contacted to access official data on their offerings. Two MOOC aggregator sites (Class Central and MOOC List) were also consulted to gather data on MOOC offerings. Eligibility criteria were defined to concentrate on the courses that were offered in 2013 and primarily on the subject ‘Health and Medicine’. All language translations in this paper were achieved using Google Translate. Results: The search identified 225 courses out of which 98 were eligible for the review (n = 98). 58% (57) of the MOOCs considered were offered on the Coursera platform and 94% (92) of all the MOOCs were offered in English. 90 MOOCs were offered by universities and the John Hopkins University offered the largest number of MOOCs (12). Only three MOOCs were offered by developing countries (China, West Indies, and Saudi Arabia). The duration of MOOCs varied from three weeks to 20 weeks with an average length of 6.7 weeks. On average MOOCs expected a participant to work on the material for 4.2 hours a week. Verified Certificates were offered by 14 MOOCs while three others offered other professional recognition. Conclusions: The review presents evidence to suggest that MOOCs can be used as a way to provide continuous medical education. It also shows the potential of MOOCs as a means of increasing health literacy among the public

Conceptualizing social media-enabled fragmented learning of business professionals

Social media proliferate in personal and business life and facilitate professionals’ learning through information seeking without spatial and temporal restrictions. Although prior studies have begun to investigate linkages between social media and professionals’ learning, they have yet to scrutinize characteristics of social media-based learning by considering features of social media. Whether this type of learning can result in favorable outcomes remains a mystery for scholars and practitioners. Accordingly, we develop a construct termed social media-enabled fragmented learning to conceptualize the phenomenon where professionals use multiple social media tools to learn for work-oriented purposes at any time and place. A nomological network is designed to explain the value of this type of learning. A measurement scale can be developed for future empirical work. This study expects to contribute to literature on social media, workplace learning, and adult learning, and provide suggestions for managers and professionals

Exploring Complex Learning Spaces

This project focuses on developing an understanding of the complexity of learning spaces which are inhabited by students in higher education institutions. Developing work already carried out by the project leaders on experimental learning spaces within the university, this is a project which aims to gain a better understanding of the ‘learning lives’ of students beyond the formal learning spaces such as the lecture theatre, laboratory and seminar room. Using a mixed methods approach focusing on survey and photo-ethnographic methods data will be developed from the general to the particular to investigate the other spaces which students use to develop their learning. These spaces include both physical and virtual spaces, as well as on and off campus spaces, including cafes, libraries, study bedrooms as well as virtual learning environments and social networking/Web 2.0 technologies. This research intends to consider the complex interplay of these different spaces in the learning of students and also how they relate to the formal spaces of which we have a clearer understanding. This project will therefore aid academics in better understanding the dynamics of the learning ecologies which underpin the experiences of students within the university

Assessing low energy school buildings using the new Building Bulletin 101

This paper reports an assessment of a school building design using the newly published Building Bulletin 101 2018. The requirements on thermal comfort and CO2 based indoor air quality from this new guidance document are very different from its earlier version published in 2006. Existing research reported that the new requirements are much tougher to meet compared with the previous version. The aim of this research is to examine whether design alternatives on an existing school building with 10 learning and teaching spaces can help in passing the new requirements using dynamic thermal simulation tool - IESVE. It is found that promoting ventilation, shading and night purging can all help mitigating overheating in the ten learning and teaching spaces evaluated. With the ‘as built’ condition, these learning and teaching spaces failed all three overheating criteria from the new BB101. Promoting ventilation can help some of the spaces pass the overheating occurrence criterion but not the overheating severity criteria. With added shading to block excessive solar gains, half of the evaluated spaces were able to pass the thermal comfort requirement. Boosting the night purging also helps to some extent in bridging the gap against the target requirements on overheating severity, however, there are still spaces which will not pass the comfort requirement. This may indicate that natural ventilation itself may not be able to provide thermal comfort for the given design. CO2 based indoor air quality requirements are less of an issue as higher CO2 concentrations always happen when the outdoor air temperature is low, boosting ventilation using automatic or manual control can easily resolve this. The research also highlights that one of the overheating criteria is much more difficult to meet, the appropriateness of this criterion is therefore in question. As the new BB101 was only launched very recently, it will be subject to further tests and evaluations in order to examine whether it fits for purpose

Learning spaces in a Second Life

Pedagogy in virtual worlds is a new phenomenon that is evolving into something very different from the traditional classroom. Learning spaces are currently considered physical spaces, but with virtual worlds, learning spaces can now be designed in multiple ways for any given course. No longer is one constrained to location. A teacher can take their class to see international sites without the costs associated with a physical visit to the same location. As teachers begin to think about their methods of instruction and how best to enable their students to learn fully and completely, the pedagogy that is employed in these classes will be very different from that used in the traditional classroom. It will also be affected by the students that are enrolled in the course and how they see the use of virtual worlds in their own education. Because of these influences, pedagogy using virtual learning spaces needs to be studied for future business education classes that take place in virtual worlds