Workshop focuses on high-quality learning spaces.
Date: 10 June 2016
As part of planning for One Campus, One Community (OCOC), London Met Estates and the Centre for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching (CELT) organised a teaching and learning spaces workshop on Friday 10 June, which was attended by 23 staff representing all schools, as well as ISS and Estates. The purpose of the workshop was to bring together a cross-section of academic and PSD colleagues to exchange information on current practice and emerging trends in the design and use of the physical accommodation needed for teaching and learning. With more than 100 teaching rooms due to be refurbished or built at Holloway by the time the OCOC project is completed, the University has a tremendous opportunity to transform the standard of all of its teaching space. The need for such an event was suggested by the findings from the recent student and staff workplace satisfaction surveys which the University commissioned from Leesman.
The workshop, led by Fiona Duggan, a member of our masterplan team, provided a forum for colleagues to share their experiences and to explain the pedagogical and design features which mattered most in ensuring a high-quality classroom environment. Topics included:
- providing a more professional setting appropriate to teaching vocational subjects
- merits of ‘flipped’ classroom teaching
- benefits of more flexible classroom furniture to support different teaching styles
- the importance of high-quality environmental features such as acoustics
- how best to support blended learning
A working group will be set up to advise on the design of our new teaching and learning spaces. Estates will use the information gathered to develop specifications for our new teaching spaces.
