..... EXPLORING CONCEPTUAL, PERSONAL, SOCIAL, PHYSICAL AND VIRTUAL SPACES FOR LEARNING IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Never enough space!

As another academic year begins, I am aware yet again of that tension between feeling there is simply not enough space - particularly in studios where we still still wish for a model of one desk per student where they can work whenever they want - and knowing that in programming and occupancy terms, our buildings will feel relatively empty; that actual occupancy rates will be low compared to, say, offices.

And I still feel we should be able to design our way out of this problem, just can't work out how!

Helpfully, the University of Lincoln's Centre for Educational Research and Development is running a research project (in collaboration with DEGW) called Learning Landscapes "looking at the ways in which academics work with colleagues in Estates to develop and manage innovation in the design of teaching and learning spaces in Higher Education."

Experiencing formal learning




Recently had the opportunity to visit art and architecture courses at the Academy of Architecture in Moscow. It puts the debates about a formal -to- informal learning in the UK and elsewhere into a certain sort of perspective. Both architectural and art students still spend a considerable amount of their early training copying classical examples (busts, sculptures, columns and entablatures) through measured drawings, meticulously drawn and then shadowed in ink and wash; usually several months for one drawing.

We haven't done this in the UK since the 1960s, so it feels very dated. But it also makes one think about why the Russians still do it, and we don't - and what the impacts are on the students learning.