Innovative learning spaces are emergent within higher education institutions. However, the prevalence of such spaces within second level learning environments is limited. Future Learning Space’s (FLS) are typically one-off,... [ view full abstract ]
Innovative learning spaces are emergent within higher education institutions. However, the prevalence of such spaces within second level learning environments is limited. Future Learning Space’s (FLS) are typically one-off, designed, learning environments that are not easily replicable in K-12 schools without considerable capital investment. Consequently, pre-service teachers (PSTs) and in-service teachers do not commonly encounter FLS on school placement blocks or during in-service practice. Implementation challenges for FLS include: existing physical infrastructure; connectivity; financial constraints; and the capacity of teaching professionals to sustain innovative pedagogies under rigid curriculum and assessment constraints. Finally, the formal and informal leaning spaces that students inhabit, requires FLS architecture to be spatially, methodologically, technologically and orchestrationally sensitive. This study provides PSTs with opportunities to develop technology enhanced learning methodologies as mobile technologies by considering FLS architecture as design sensitivities and the aforementioned challenges, as the naturalistic context of implementation.
Pedagogic innovation in K-12 initial teacher education (ITE) for inservice application is challenging. In order to design for implementation there exits a need for PSTs to develop an understanding of the relationship that now exits between the multiple learning spaces that students synchronously inhabit. Crucially, PSTs need to understand their relationship with their students educational world (Freire, 1993) to successfully design FLS. Crucially, the designed methodologies become synchronously implementable mobile technologies located in the backpacks and pockets of students (Author, 2015).
Employing design-research methodology, a cohort of second level ITE students (N=120) participated in the application of the designed DoTELMe non-elective eight week module. Do tell me about your Technology Enhanced Learning Methodology (DoTELMe) asked participants to engage in the collaborative construction of contextually agnostic and cross-curricular mobile technologies. Participants formed multidisciplinary groups of six and were not dominated by any particular subject profile. Data collection methods included portfolio submission, the constructed artefact, presentations, observations and post course questionaries.
The participants in this pilot study did not consider FLS as physically dependant. They indicated that the designed technologies mirrored the fluid nature of their position as ITE students. Participants also indicated that the physical learning spaces that will encounter will be constrained and therefore their TELMe’s must be digitally agile in order for them to be effective in multiple physical learning spaces. Finally, participants in this indicated that they considered their TELMe’s as mobile technologies allowing them to map their pedagogic approach, formal or informal, onto the naturalistic context of any physical space. The participants also highlighted that the synchronicity of student engagement with formal and informal learning spaces was a significant challenge.
This project illustrated a need to consider FLS not just as physically constructed, rather as a digitally and pedagogically agile constructed learning spaces that are synchronously accessible in multiple formats. Emergent from this study is a clear need to develop a robust architecture to support learning in FLS where the spatial interpretation of engagement can be temporally synchronistic and constantly emergent.
