Archaeologies of learning spaces
My recent visits to Cambridge last September and to Oxford in April set me thinking about the role space plays in shaping teaching and learning. Gaston Bachelard, Michel Foucault, Paul Virilio and Alain De Botton have written about the ways buildings create and hold spatial "memory" and this "memory" serves as a cultural imprint.
Architectural space as institutional "memory"
Buildings are marked by "memories" of their performance and their making. Spaces affect perception. Alain De Botton succinctly expresses this as follows: “political and ethical ideas can be written into window frames and door handles” (De Botton, 2007, p. 93). Paul Virilio used the term "archaeology" to reveal a phenomenon of architectural space. For Michel Foucault, perceptions of space conditioned the discourse of postmodernity. This marked a clear departure from nineteenth century thought where concern lay in representation of time and history (Smethurst, 2000; Johnson, 2006). Foucault’s perception of space and time seems so open to interpretation that it has come to be readily used to explain motivation and immersion in the “third space” of online communication. Contemporary Western culture is still deeply concerned with negotiating perceptions and meanings of different spaces.
Originally, at Oxford, in the late Middle Ages, the closed quad structure served to protect student bodies and allowed study in safety. Chapels, libraries and dining halls are central in the architecture of these learning spaces. Colleges at Oxford and Cambridge arose out of the monastic and cathedral schools and the archaeologies of their learning spaces reveals this though their architectural forms. Their architectural imprint reveals an aspiration for collective participation, as revealed in the word "college" (Latin: collegium). Originally, this term meant a group of persons living together, under a common set of rules. The dining hall and chapel are forms revealing archaeologies of communal intention.
What cultural imprint will the archaeologies of our learning spaces reveal? The affects of spaces in teaching and learning is attracting interest at the moment. For example, MIT is interested in the educational potential of flexible learning spaces in the networked environment of the early 21st Century. Perceptions of the spatial context partially determined attitudes to learning within it. Change the space and you change attitudes to learning. Just as we now consider “blended” learning maybe we should consider the value of blended or hybrid spaces in teaching and learning.
References
De Botton, A. (2007). The architecture of happiness: The secret art of furnishing your life. Penguin: London.
Johnson, P. (2006). Unravelling Foucault’s different spaces. History of the Human Sciences. 19 (4) , pp. 75-90.
Smethurst, P. (2000). The Postmodern chronotype: Reading space and time in contemporary fiction. Rodopi: Amsterdam).
Links:
Learning Spaces: an educause e-book
Designing effective learning spaces: a JISC publication
Comment
Architectural space as institutional "memory"
Buildings are marked by "memories" of their performance and their making. Spaces affect perception. Alain De Botton succinctly expresses this as follows: “political and ethical ideas can be written into window frames and door handles” (De Botton, 2007, p. 93). Paul Virilio used the term "archaeology" to reveal a phenomenon of architectural space. For Michel Foucault, perceptions of space conditioned the discourse of postmodernity. This marked a clear departure from nineteenth century thought where concern lay in representation of time and history (Smethurst, 2000; Johnson, 2006). Foucault’s perception of space and time seems so open to interpretation that it has come to be readily used to explain motivation and immersion in the “third space” of online communication. Contemporary Western culture is still deeply concerned with negotiating perceptions and meanings of different spaces.
Originally, at Oxford, in the late Middle Ages, the closed quad structure served to protect student bodies and allowed study in safety. Chapels, libraries and dining halls are central in the architecture of these learning spaces. Colleges at Oxford and Cambridge arose out of the monastic and cathedral schools and the archaeologies of their learning spaces reveals this though their architectural forms. Their architectural imprint reveals an aspiration for collective participation, as revealed in the word "college" (Latin: collegium). Originally, this term meant a group of persons living together, under a common set of rules. The dining hall and chapel are forms revealing archaeologies of communal intention.
What cultural imprint will the archaeologies of our learning spaces reveal? The affects of spaces in teaching and learning is attracting interest at the moment. For example, MIT is interested in the educational potential of flexible learning spaces in the networked environment of the early 21st Century. Perceptions of the spatial context partially determined attitudes to learning within it. Change the space and you change attitudes to learning. Just as we now consider “blended” learning maybe we should consider the value of blended or hybrid spaces in teaching and learning.
References
De Botton, A. (2007). The architecture of happiness: The secret art of furnishing your life. Penguin: London.
Johnson, P. (2006). Unravelling Foucault’s different spaces. History of the Human Sciences. 19 (4) , pp. 75-90.
Smethurst, P. (2000). The Postmodern chronotype: Reading space and time in contemporary fiction. Rodopi: Amsterdam).
Links:
Learning Spaces: an educause e-book
Designing effective learning spaces: a JISC publication
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