Students Talk Spaces

I am a Student Fellow at BILT and on Monday 18th February I

ran a workshop for students at Beacon House. Although posters
and online advertising had attracted a small number of
students, the most effective method of recruitment was
handing out fliers and encouraging hungry students to join me
with coffee and cake! We ended up with 13 engaged
undergraduates and postgraduates, all discussing their opinions
about learning and teaching at the University of Bristol. After a
short introduction and slideshow of the variety of physical
spaces at other universities, students rotated around a carousel
of activities with a focus on physical and virtual teaching spaces
in higher education. Below is an overview of activities and initial
observations.

1. Design a classroom

Students were given inspirational photos of the variety of furniture

available to use in classroom design and tasked with designing a
classroom space for 15 people, giving reasons for their choices. Most
students discussed the need for comfortable furniture and curved
tables to encourage engagement. They also talked about the need for
natural light and a comfortable temperature. Students liked the idea of
having flexible seating and all agreed that there should be more
storage and plug sockets!

2. Sorting Spaces

Students were presented with photos of physical spaces from around

the world, some of higher educational establishments, some of
learning spaces in schools and others of public spaces. They were
encouraged to discuss whether the spaces fell under the category of
‘teaching’, ‘learning’ or ‘social’. There was a huge difference in opinion
as to whether the courses were social, teaching or learning spaces
depending on what course the students were on. For example,
students on modern languages courses were much more flexible in the
type of space they believed could be used for teaching, whereas Law
students were much more fixed in their view of room purpose. The
only consensus that was met by these students was that traditional, individual-seated, tiered lecture
theatres could not be used as social or learning spaces, as they did not allow for interaction, but that
was the only agreement across the piece!

3. University: expectations vs reality

This activity was designed to elicit student ideas around expectations for technology and spaces, as
well as linking to the project ‘Empowering Students to Impact Their Teaching
and Learning’. With word prompts for support, students wrote thoughts on
post-it notes to create a t-chart of their expectations of university life versus
their reality. Around the theme of assessment, the general feeling was that
more and shorter assessments would lower the stakes, allowing better
exploration of material and preventing deadlines from being so close
together. In teaching and learning, there was an expectation for more
tutorials and seminars, whereas many students described their courses as
consisting mostly of lectures. A few students felt that socially there was not as much opportunity as
they had hoped for social interaction with other students on their courses. When thinking about
technology and digital spaces, many students agreed that they found RePlay very useful and were
pleased to be able to submit assignments online.

4. What if…?

Students were given a number of provocations for this activity,

including ‘What if there were no lectures?’ and ‘What if all learning
was virtual?’. The predominant theme was the need for balance
in terms of styles of learning, types of assessment and variety of
teaching spaces in order to accommodate the needs of all
learners and to give students a range of different experiences.

5. Photo booth

Students were filmed answering questions about their experiences of UoB in

relation to spaces. The photo booth element gave the illusion of privacy and
was designed to encourage students to be honest and open with their
responses. The questions included ‘Describe the type of class where you do
the most learning. How does the physical space have an impact on this?’. In
response to this question, the general consensus was that classes with
interaction and discussion allow for the most learning, although some felt
that content delivery was best through lectures. In their opinion, elements of
the physical space that make learning possible include having enough space
for a laptop or notebook and having comfortable seating. Most students
agreed that they preferred face-to-face teaching to learning online.

6. How do you feel about Blackboard?

For this activity, I used the website www.mentimeter.com to elicit responses as I wanted to create
the feeling of anonymity. Some positive feedback about this virtual space was that everything is in
one place and that information can be accessed remotely. Students felt that it could be improved by
allowing access to materials from other courses or units, enabling interdisciplinary connections to be
made and allowing students to make more informed decisions on unit choices. There was also a
feeling that improving the aesthetics and organisation of the spaces would make it more user-
friendly.

It was great to hear from students from a variety of faculties and I am looking forward to publishing
some videos showing the range of responses. Keep checking the BILT website for further insights!