Designing learning spaces in higher education for autonomy

Preliminary findings and applications

Abstract

Learner autonomy underpins many of the educational outcomes at university such as flexibility, adaptability, self-initiative and self-direction. Indeed, learner autonomy is a key to life-long learning. This paper reports on research investigating the ways designers of innovative learning spaces incorporate customisable, (re)configurable and flexible features that support and encourage learner autonomy. The research aims to elicit high-level design principles that may prove useful in design for learning more generally - including design for learning in virtual and hybrid (physical and virtual) spaces. The research involved seventeen learning spaces across eight universities, observations and interviews with educational stakeholders, and architects and interior designers of those spaces. Preliminary findings suggest designers aim to empower students by providing configurable spaces fitted out with modular furniture and ubiquitous technology - emphasising choice. The paper ends by reviewing the application of these design ideas to broader problems and opportunities in 'design for learning' research and practice.