Led by guests Dr Jill Dickinson @Jill_Dickinson1 and Professor Sam Elkington @sd_elkington
Over the course of 2023, we co-convened a new, international Symposia Series that was hosted by the Society for Research into Higher Education. Entitled Landscapes of Learning for Unknown Futures: Prospects For Space in Higher Education, the aims of the series were two-fold.
Against the backdrop of a dynamic HE environment that has seen a proliferation of digital learning technologies, a rapid transition to hybrid teaching approaches, and changing students' needs and preferences around learning, we identified a need for a radical rethink of the possibilities for the location, design, and use of learning spaces and the potential for weaving in the technologies available. In response, and drawing on Wang et. al.'s work (2011) around a Kaleidoscope of Notions, we brought together leading thinkers in the field and invited them to take part in one of three symposia that were themed around Networks, Flexibilities, and Assemblages. Each symposium included a keynote speaker, a series of presentations, a panel Q&A, live social media discussion, and sketch notes, to stimulate reflection and debate.
Through the series, we also sought to engage as many voices as possible to help drive forward meaningful conversations, both within and in between each Symposium, around the potential for the future of learning landscapes within HE. To do this, we developed a programme of multimodal, synchronous, and asynchronous, in-person and online, opportunities. The scope and impact of the series were further enhanced through international contributions from Marguerite Koole, Pippa Yeoman, and Peter Goodyear each of whom provided valuable critical reflective insight on the core themes and emerging ideas from the series.
Together the insights and learning generated through the SRHE series speak to a significant and pressing need to (re)consider, and even (re)imagine, contemporary learning spaces less in terms of singular spaces and much more in terms of a person-environment system for inter-connected, physical, and virtual learning experiences in which digital tools, resources and places are an integral aspect of pedagogic design. A challenge for educators when taking a broader person-environment view is how best to utilise and arrange material, digital, and hybrid tools and resources to devise pedagogic patterns and assemblages that help students (re)connect what they are learning – ideas to thinking, principles to problems, theory to practice, and learning to live.
We look forward to engaging colleagues in a conversation about the design and associated practices involved in shaping future spaces for learning in HE.
References:
Wang, J., Lin, E., Spalding, E., Klecka, C. L., & Odell, S. J. (2011). Quality teaching and teacher education: A kaleidoscope of notions. Journal of teacher education, 62(4), 331-338.
Guests biography
Dr Jill Dickinson is a Reader of Law at Leeds Beckett University; a Recognised Practitioner in Academic Advising with UKAT; and a non-practising solicitor. As an SFHEA, she was appointed as a Reviewer for the Advance HE Global Teaching Excellence Awards, and she has been shortlisted for NTF. Her research explores both place-making and professional development and has been recognised in the Emerald Literati Awards. Jill sits on a number of editorial boards including Teaching in Higher Education: Critical Perspectives, and she recently co-edited a collection that was published by Springer, entitled Professional Development for Practitioners in Academia: Pracademia. Switzerland: Springer Nature.
Professor Sam Elkington is Professor of Learning and Teaching at Teesside University where he leads on the University's learning and teaching enhancement portfolio. Sam is a PFHEA and National Teaching Fellow (NTF, 2021). He has worked in Higher Education for over 15 years and has extensive experience working across teaching, research and academic leadership, and policy domains. Most recently Sam worked for Advance HE (formerly the Higher Education Academy) where he was national lead for Assessment and Feedback and Flexible Learning in Higher Education. Sam is also an executive committee member and pedagogic research lead for the Association of National Teaching Fellows. Sam's most recent book (with Professor Alastair Irons) explores contemporary themes in formative assessment and feedback in higher education: Irons and Elkington (2021). Enhancing learning through formative assessment and feedback. London: Routledge.
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