Faculty of Education - Research Publications
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ItemTeachers as Embedded Practitioner-Researchers in Innovative Learning Environments(University of Ljubljana, 2020)The paper introduces and explores the Plans to Pedagogy research programme, a three-year project focused on teacher capacity-building within schools. Plans to Pedagogy engages practitioner-researchers in the development of their and their colleagues’ spatial learning skills as they move into and attempt to take advantage of innovative learning environments. The programme involves teachers from eight schools across Australia and New Zealand. Still in progress, each three-year project addresses the individual school’s needs, while being supported by a more extensive university-situated “umbrella” research programme. This paper presents emerging findings from Plans to Pedagogy and discusses what is being learned about applied research in schools and how a research-focused approach to professional learning can enhance teacher learning and practice.
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ItemLearning Environment Design and Use. Towards Effective Learning Environments in Catholic Schools (TELE): An Evidence-based Approach (2015-2017)(Catholic Education Melbourne, 2018)This report – Summary of Findings – is intended to support evidence-based decision making by those involved in the design and use of school learning environments. It summarises the findings of a three-year collaborative research initiative involving Catholic Education Melbourne (CEM), Catholic Education Diocese of Parramatta (CEDP) and the Learning Environments Applied Research Network (LEaRN) at the University of Melbourne. The Towards Effective Learning Environments in Catholic Schools (TELE): An Evidence Based Approach (2015-2017) project is one of the largest known studies to have evaluated the relationships between the built environment and the pedagogical practices and activities of school teachers and students. The findings have been drawn from the rigorous evaluation of 43 learning environments in 38 schools.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableThe “state of play” concerning New Zealand’s transition to innovative learning environments: Preliminary results from phase one of the ILETC project(New Zealand Educational Administration & Leadership Society, 2017-01-01)Driven by international trends and government policy, it is a requirement for all newly built schools in New Zealand to be designed as innovative learning environments (ILEs) with flexible learning spaces. These environments, celebrated by some for the “transformational” educational opportunities they may provide, also raise questions about whether the anticipated pedagogical value of these “non-traditional” spaces is based on idealised visions of teaching and learning rather than empirically derived evidence. Before such complex issues can be efficiently addressed, evidence of the actual “state of play” of ILEs is required. Drawing on New Zealand specific data from a large Australasian research project, this paper triangulates principals’ opinions, teachers’ perspectives, and the literature on some key preliminary issues: what types of learning spaces can be found in New Zealand schools; what teaching styles are evident in these spaces; what pedagogical beliefs are driving ILE teaching practices; and what types of learning activities are occurring in ILEs? The paper provides an evidence based platform for further discussion about the opportunities and challenges surrounding the use and practice of ILEs in New Zealand.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableEvaluating Learning Environments: Snapshots of Emerging Issues, Methods and Knowledge(SENSE PUBLISHERS, 2016)The recent trend in innovative school design has provided exciting places to both learn and teach. New generation learning environments have encouraged educators to unleash responsive pedagogies previously hindered by traditional classrooms, and has allowed students to engage in a variety of learning experiences well beyond the traditional ‘chalk and talk’ common in many schools. These spaces have made cross-disciplinary instruction, collaborative learning, individualised curriculum, ubiquitous technologies, and specialised equipment more accessible than ever before. The quality of occupation of such spaces has also been encouraging. Many learning spaces now resemble places of collegiality, intellectual intrigue and comfort, as opposed to the restrictive and monotonous classrooms many of us experienced in years past. These successes, however, have generated a very real problem. Do these new generation learning environments actually work – and if so, in what ways? Are they leading to the sorts of improved experiences and learning outcomes for students they promise? This book describes strategies for assessing what is actually working. Drawing on the best thinking from our best minds – doctoral students tackling the challenge of isolating space as a variable within the phenomenon of contemporary schooling – Evaluating Learning Environments draws together thirteen approaches to learning environment evaluation that capture the latest thinking in terms of emerging issues, methods and knowledge.
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ItemEmerging methods for the evaluation of physical learning environments(Sense Publishers, 2016)The field of post-occupancy evaluation (POE) has provided direction on how evidence can be gathered about the performance of educational facilities for over 40 years (Cooper, 2001). However, such work has generally overlooked the evaluation of learning spaces for pedagogical effectiveness, i.e. the suitability of the physical environment in supporting desired teaching and learning practices, activities and behaviours. This chapter calls for, and introduces, new methods of learning environment evaluation that attempt to make explicit the connections between pedagogy and space. It also outlines a suggested framework for the further development of such methods. The research is currently being conducted at the University of Melbourne in connection with the Evaluating 21st Century Learning Environments (E21LE) ARC Linkage project. Findings so far have indicated that a return to the origins of post-occupancy evaluation in the field of environmental psychology is required to support the development of evaluation methods that take into account both the physical and social components of the environment. Feedback is needed on just how effective specific ‘units of the environment’ (Barker, 1968) are as pedagogical settings.