Learning Environments

The article from EDUCAUSE Learning Environments: Where Space, Technology, and Culture Converge, suggest that there is a strong and growing desire to try to make sense of the remarkable changes that colleges and universities have undergone in the past generation and to understand technology in the wide framework of educational opportunities.

As long as teachers have taught and students have learned, people have thought about learning spaces. Where do people go to learn? What do those places look like? How does the arrangement of a learning space contribute to—or detract from—the task of education? What do we mean by learning environments? I asked these questions today to my 3rd year undergraduates on the Education Studies degree. Their favourite response was "Anywhere that engages and stimulates the learner." They agreed that the learning environment doesn’t necessarily mean a physical space. The other thing that they all agreed with was the fact that learning happens anywhere, and the environment has many elements.  One group suggested that, "The environment needs to suit the kind of task that needs to be completed. People tend to learn more in an environment where they feel comfortable and confident. Duration and the level of noise can also have an impact on how someone can learn. Everyone's learning styles need to be taken into consideration."

Additional reading: The Future of Learning Interesting blog post

Learning Environments: Where Space, Technology, and Culture 

Incidental learning at its best!