Learning spaces and environments

FLEXspace, the Flexible Learning Environments eXchange, has changed over time, starting out in 2013 as a great place to showcase and exemplify learning spaces, then rapidly growing to include a comprehensive toolset for planning and assessing these spaces, and now connecting a vibrant research community. Here, CT gets an update from FLEXspace.org pioneers Lisa Stephens and Rebecca Frazee.

Victoria needs as many as 200 new schools in the coming decade; University of Melbourne research is helping inform their design, to meet modern education needs.

What happened was this: 52 employees at the global headquarters of a Fortune 500 company were outfitted with microphones and a "sociometric badge" which recorded their interactions before and after the office transitioned from cubicles to open plan. The employees' email and instant messaging use was also monitored. The results were stark. When there were no cubicles, participants spent 73 per cent less time in face-to-face interactions. Meanwhile, their use of email and instant-messaging apps increased by 67 per cent and 75 per cent respectively. Summing up the results, the researchers wrote: "We may be surprised to find a reduction in face-to-face collaboration at work even as we architect transparent, open spaces intended to increase it."

Your office is turning your flat-white into an iced-coffee. Meanwhile, your boss has just turned up the air con. Who’s right? BBC Capital settles the debate.

Architects from Denmark to Japan are rethinking school design to foster new ways of learning. John McDermott absorbs their lessons

At Indiana University, faculty input is a key part of the classroom design process. Here's how a recent symposium fostered cross-campus collaboration and future-thinking conversation about new learning spaces.

An ambitious study of 153 classrooms in the United Kingdom provides the best evidence that flexible spaces can boost academic performance.

When educators first consider redesigning learning spaces, they might immediately conjure up mental images of free-flowing Starbucks lounges o

To ensure equitable learning experiences, campuses can build scalable learning-ready spaces that support the multiple teaching identities and philosop

There are more women than ever working in office buildings, but only a quarter of architects are female. Enter Alda Ly.

With enrollments declining and technology advancing, colleges are breaking ground on high- and low-tech spaces — from lecture halls to libraries to dorm rooms — that give students and faculty new ways to engage.

By Lauren Mehrbach and Chris Beingessner - As SAS work to implement more personalized learning opportunities, they combat limiting physical space.

There is even more research showing open-plan environments can actually have negative impacts on collaboration. Workspaces should provide various options for different work styles and preferences.

Robert’s particular take on these rights is how the physical learning space can promote (but more often, restrict) these rights. Simple example: in classrooms where the seats have built-in tablets, left-handed people have to sit in special lefty-seats, usually along an aisle or against the wall. They can’t sit with their peers and can’t choose to be inconspicuous in the middle of a big block of seats.

"Mind-Building," an exhibition at the Finnish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, explores an architectural staple of Finnish culture: public libraries.

Researchers are testing egg-shaped chairs, retroreflective ceilings, and other ways to help people concentrate without cubicles.

Our project features in an article published today (30 April, 2018) by the Australian Research Council, which summarises our work to date and recent findings… An ILE can be designed with good sightlines