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Over the past ten years, there has been an increasing focus on physical learning spaces in higher education. By now, what do we really know about the relation between space and student learning? What does the research landscape look like, and how has it developed? A systematic review of peer-reviewed 108 articles on the physical learning space for the period 2009–2019 was performed. A broad and fragmented field emerged that is to some extent under-researched and under-theorized. Few articles contain theory sections, and very few authors refer to each other’s work in their articles. On the other hand, a diversity of themes, methods and perspectives can be seen. Overall, the review can contribute to an overview of what we know–and what we do not know–about the complex relationship between student learning and learning spaces.

I rapporten presenteras en sammanställning av aktiviteter och erfarenheter som gjorts under vårterminen 2023 inom ramen för satsningen på hybrida projekt vid Umeå universitet. Projektet ”Hybridverkstad för flexibelt lärande” sker i Umeå universitets regi och ”Learning Lab Umeå” är ett samverkansprojekt mellan Akademiska hus och Umeå universitet. Fokus i båda projekten är att skapa lärandesituationer där studenter kan delta på plats och digitalt, samtidigt och med likvärdiga förutsättningar.Detta är den andra rapporten i en serie, där vi precis som i den första fokuserar på aktiviteter och fortsatt utvecklingsarbete.Rapporten har sammanställts av Jonas Lindholm och Åse Tieva, båda Umeå universitet samt Marie Leijon, Malmö universitet.

Denna rapport fokuserar på erfarenheter och kunskap som utvecklats inom ramen för projekten Learning Lab Umeå samt Hybridverkstad för flexibelt lärande vid Umeå universitet -vt23. Rapporten bygger på utvärderingar, presentationer och reflektioner som vi kopplar till aktuell forskning inom området.Rapporten inleds med en kort bakgrund, därefter presenteras del 1 ”A – som iaktiviteter” som redogör för verksamheten och tankar om fortsatt utvecklingsarbete. I rapportens andra del "B – som i berättelser” delar sex lärare med sig av sina erfarenheter av hybridundervisning. I den tredje och avslutande delen “C – som i case” diskuteras ett case från slöjdundervisning med fokus på stöd.

This chapter focuses on a local school development project initiatedby teachers who experienced students’ lack of engagement, passive learning, andabsence from school. In order to achieve more active learning among the students,the teachers built an active learning classroom and set out to develop teaching methodsappropriate for the new classroom. This process turned out to be more complex thanexpected and raised questions not only about the teachers’ teaching, but also abouttheir learning and more specifically about how they as a collective created transformative agency. In this chapter, we highlight how the teachers gained transformativeagency and the situations that characterized this process. Inspired by cultural historical activity theory, we pay attention to stimuli that helped the teachers to bring forthand deal with conflicts of motives that led to break-outs from the teacher-centeredteaching and thereby created transformative agency toward a classroom practicecharacterized by students’ active learning. 

I rapporten presenteras en sammanställning av aktiviteter och erfarenheter som gjorts under höstterminen 2022 inom ramen för satsningen på hybrida projekt vid Umeå universitet. Projektet ”Hybridverkstad för flexibelt lärande” sker i Umeå universitets regi och ”Learning Lab Umeå” är ett samverkansprojekt mellan Akademiska hus och Umeå universitet. Fokus i båda projekten är att skapa lärandesituationer där studenter kan delta på plats och digitalt, samtidigt och med likvärdiga förutsättningar.Denna första rapport har fokus på Learning Lab och har sammanställts av Jonas Lindholm och Åse Tieva, båda Umeå universitet samt Marie Leijon, Malmö universitet

In this position paper we present a theoretical model on how to support teachers to develop a “didactic spatial competence” (DiSCo). We define DiSCo as: Based on proven experience and science to have the ability to plan and design teaching and learning in a variety of learning spaces; to implement teaching and learning, act and react in a variety of learning spaces and to evaluate, reflect and transform both pedagogy and the learning space. In the paper we argue that a Didactic Spatial Competence (DiSCo) can be used to frame the complex relationship between learning spaces and teaching. DiSCo concerns to plan for teaching and learning in a variety of learning spaces that support the pedagogical ideas; but it also entails implementing, that is to critically reflect over and use affordances and meaning potential in various learning spaces, to have agency and competence to act and react during teaching and learning in various learning spaces and maybe first and foremost; to use the space in a meaning-making process together with students – that is to create a place for learning. Furthermore, it includes a reflective and evaluative part.

This participatory design-based research study addresses the relational character of the physical learning environment and pedagogical practice in the context of a design project carried out at a Swedish upper secondary school. Three teachers initiated the project with the intent to introduce student centred pedagogy and increase active learning. In collaboration with the research team, they designed and furnished a classroom supportive for communication and intense interaction between students, and where students and teachers could work and construct knowledge together. Drawing on observations, video recordings and design conversations with the teachers, the analysis, which is inspired by Actor Network Theory, concentrates on the six month period when the teachers started to teach in the new classroom with focus on their experiences, asking what they experienced as advantageous and challenging. Considering the new learning environment as a network of socio-material relations consisting of a) physical and spatial agents, b) organisational structural agents, and c) teacher/teaching agents, we conclude that whereas some actors corresponded well and contributed to a well-coordinated classroom practice facilitating the project’s intentions, some actors contradicted each other and challenged the same intentions.

This study highlights how 20 Swedish principals, school managers and architects involved in planning, construction and reconstruction of primary and secondary school buildings at regional, municipal and local levels represent good learning environments. Drawing on semi-structured interviews, the analysis focuses on how the stakeholders understand the physical, pedagogical and social aspects of learning environments, including the power relations and principles of control that are embedded in their understandings. The findings indicate two orientations when the interviewees discuss good learning environment, an orientation towards clearer boundaries and control in physical, pedagogical and social spaces (strong classification and framing), and an orientation towards weaker boundaries and control (weak classification and framing). The first orientation is directed towards what, in previous research and policy discourses, is described as traditional school design, whereas the second rejects some basic principles of traditional school design and aligns with what is commonly described as innovative school design.

This paper reports on a research and development project based upon problems in upper secondary school, namely students’ lack of engagement, passive learning and students’ absence from school. Looking to solve this problem, a group of upper secondary school teachers came across and saw potential in the concept, physical space and method of the “Active Learning Classroom (ALC)”, a concept from higher education. The aim of this particular study was to explore teaching in the ALC from the perspective of power and control. The research questions embrace issues on both the physical learning environment of the ALC, teacher practices in the ALC and what kind of teacher practices enhance active learning. The theoretical framework was based on Bernstein’s concepts of power and control. The study applied methods of video recorded classroom observations and field notes. The findings indicate a designed physical learning environment where power was conferred to the students. That placed demands on the teachers with regard to how they handled control in practice. Findings further indicate that when teachers had more active control over pace and sequencing, this increased productivity and more active learning among the students.

This paper reports on a case study of a school development project in a Swedish upper secondary school. The project initiators (three teachers), wanted to change their teaching towards student active learning, and as part of that change they designed and prepared a classroom inspired by the Active Learning Classroom model (Baepler et al. 2016). The aim was to increase the understanding of possibilities and challenges when changing the pedagogical practice. The research questions addressed: What characterise the pedagogical practices in the traditional vs newly designed classroom in terms of communication and interaction between teachers and students, and what characterises the pedagogical change? A participatory design-based research (DBR) methodology was applied in three phases: the exploration phase, the development phase and the evaluation phase. This paper focus on a selected sequence of three months of the development phase, exploring teaching in the shift from the traditional classroom to the ALC. The analysis draws on a) video and audio recorded observations of lessons (N=15) in the traditional classroom and in the newly designed classroom, b) teachers’ individual evaluations of lessons based on pre-formulated reflective questions, and c) focus group discussions (N=3) on the topic ‘teaching for students’ active learning’.  The data was analysed using Bernstein’s concepts of classification and framing (2000). Preliminary results indicate variations in outcome of pedagogical change depending on how the teachers worked in the traditional classroom. For example, when the students were unaware of working in groups and using digital facilities collectively, this led to challenges in the active learning classroom.