Teach for active learning in constrained spaces

Sometimes, educators may find themselves wanting to design for active and interactive learning yet the teaching spaces they are allocated to may constrain possibilities. For example, teaching spaces may be too small and constrain movement or they may be poorly configured for discussion.

This doesn’t mean that designing for active learning is impossible.

It does mean a need to be imaginative and to go back to first principles - what are we trying to achieve when we design for active learning?





Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

What is meant by active learning?

Active learning means to design learning activities that engage students intellectually, emotionally, physically and where, often, we create an environment for dialogue with peers and educators. While active learning is not necessarily nor entirely defined by physical movement or application where students are doing things, physical acts of creation can be a desirable element. Of course, active learning intentionally considers accessibility and inclusion too.

Designing for active learning considers different ways of approaching a topic or problem. It involves designing for different ways to engage learning, from encouraging students to read, write, discuss, build, share, problem-solve, apply, etc. To explore more on the concept of active learning, go to Active learning.

The challenge of constrained spaces

Some spaces make it difficult to enact active learning design and to send a signal to students that their active engagement in learning is desired.

  • It may be hard to move around or change the layout of furniture in order to encourage dialogue among small groups of students.
  • It may be hard for small groups of students to gather together to apply their skills to a learning task that you set.
  • More traditional spaces such as lecture theatres may be designed for one-way passive transmission (students listening to an educator) rather than more active dialogue where learners and educators discuss things together.

It is still possible to design for active learning. It requires thoughtful design and imaginative use of space as well as teaching approaches that work against the shaping influence of particular spaces where “particular layouts suggest particular types of teaching”.

Active learning in such spaces involves conscious design to:
  • limit the amount of ‘teacher talk’ from the podium.
  • encourage students to work together in clusters, as is appropriate to the learning task.
Active learning in such spaces relies on careful planning:
  • Planning the duration of tasks (how much time will be allocated to each).
  • Planning group size (e.g. will you ask students to work in pairs, triads, larger groups).
  • Communicating how each learning task will run to students prior to the room getting noisy (e.g. clearly stating that “we will take 15 minutes for this activity” and presenting instructions on a slide for each task).

  1. An active tiered lecture theatre can be noisier and more distracting than a traditional lecture theatre.
  2. You may need to guide students how you would like them to sit when they enter the space, e.g. often students go to the back of the room. You may wish to ask them to fill up the space from the front of the room.
  3. You will need more time to set up the tasks, e.g. provide clear guidelines and explain your expectations and rationale for your approach (i.e. what is the purpose of this task, why is it designed this way). You will need to be explicit with students about your active learning intentions. Students may need to think differently about this class and understand the role they will be expected to play in the session because you are going against traditional expectations of a more passive oriented learning space.Students will also benefit from knowing why you are doing this.
  4. It may be important to communicate such information about the tasks while things are quiet.
  5. You may need to factor more time into the design for students to engage in tasks.
  6. You may need to design different types of tasks, e.g. alternate between noisy and quiet tasks.

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