My colleague Nina Pak Lui and I have bene working through challenges of the traditional classroom. We are trying to discern and articulate how teaching and learning are impacted by space, materiality, and design. This is both a conceptual and a practical challenge. For example, we ask, why do our education classrooms prioritize front facing design with (relatively) fixed furniture? At times, I appreciate a didactic approach via lecturing, yet I would like easy configurability in the classrooms to better serve group discussions and projects. In thinking through these kinds of structural questions, I have developed an interest in Active Learning Classrooms (ALCs). These are purposefully designed spaces where classroom space, furniture, tools, and technologies prioritizes “active learning.” A few examples in the following links:
Yale Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning
McGill Teaching and Learning Services
Concordia Centre for Teaching and Learning
McMaster Faculty of Social Sciences
Queen’s Active Learning Classrooms