Reflections of Time And Relative Dimensions in Learning Space

This blog post is personal short reflection of the work in the Learning Spaces theme at City, University of London over the past three years, where I have been an Educational Technologist. I entered the department which was bigger on the inside than the outside. Many adventures were had.

The Collaborative Working Dimension: Workshops, a Learning Spaces Video and a Lecture Theatre

In the Learning Spaces team we were blogging about activities such as Fishbowl and Jigsaw Classroom. We put these activities and information on a page for staff to see and promoted this with the aid of Properties and Facilities. These activities, with workshops to introduce active and collaborative learning in these new flexible learning spaces, with assistance from Dr Sian Lindsay and Neal Sumner. We were also involved with the development of a lecture theatre, which became B200 (lots of dimensions involved in that project just as I started), which opened last December. We filmed a Learning Spaces Video in February 2015, which has to date been viewed 1991 times. Here’s the video again, in case you missed it. We also as a theme under Stef Smith, presented a workshop on Pedagogy, Space and Technology at the Learning at City Conference 2015, which we revisited in 2017.

The DALI Dimension: It’s Real, not Surreal – Designing Active Learning Initative (DALI) begins

As more flexible spaces were developed, the teaching podiums (lecterns) had to be replaced, to match the physical space that had been redesigned, so the Designing Active Learning Initiative was born. Jorge Freire and I presented a story so far on Learning Spaces at the Learning at City Conference 2016. We had podium manufacturers showcasing their equipment and consultations via the Learning Spaces Group. We promoted the project via this blog post and a series of instructional videos of how the new teaching podiums would work. Here’s one we filmed whilst building work was being done in the room on a very hot summer’s day!

The Pedagogy of Space Dimension

Earlier this year, we begun to revisit active and collaborative learning, with a workshop on the Pedagogy of Space at the Learning at City Conference in June, an M25 Learning Technology Group meeting themed around Learning Spaces in July followed by a workshop on Planning for Pedagogy, Space and Technology at the Association for Learning Technology in September, followed by a re-run of the Pedagogy of Space at the Active Learning & Teaching Conference, Anglia Ruskin University. We also upgraded the Lecture Capture System at the University (a real team effort, involving many areas of LEaD and other departments).

More illustrations by @artheart71 from Session 13 The Pedagogy of Space with @dompates and @james_waxmedium of @CityUniLEaD #altalc pic.twitter.com/gSn7lpLB3l

— Anglia L&T (@AngliaLTA) September 17, 2017

The Twitter Dimension: Twitter Walk and Active and Collaborative Learning Revisited 

We also look part in our first Twitter walk, see the blog post and the tweets in this storify. As I come to the end of my time here at City, it seems appropriate to revisit the Active and Collaborative Learning resources we had developed three years ago when I started and put them a new page on the Learning Spaces section of the LEaD website

And Finally…. 

To end this blog post, I interviewed Dom Pates, the voice of many LEaD videos, discussing Learning Spaces, Wireless Collaboration and Twitter Walks, in a longer the usual LEaDing by Example case study.  I shall be presenting this video at the Social Media in Higher Education in December with staff developers at other universities about our experiences of Twitter Walks. As I close the door on three memorable years at City, I would to thank the staff and students of City, University of London and I do mean all of you for three fabulous years – it only remains for me to say, keep helping the staff and students of City, University to #taketheLEaD on Learning Enhancement and Development!