Learning Space Design in Higher Education

Oneof the most significant recent trends in Higher Education has been the movefrom a focus on teaching to one on learning. But, as anyone who has ever runprogrammes or courses will recognise, both the physical geography and the ethosof the location have major impacts on the quality of the resulting learningexperience. Hence the current interest in learningspaces – considered here as 'sites of interaction.' The fourteen chapters of this anthology, produced by the internationalAssociation Learning in Higher Education's well-tested and rigorousmethodology, discuss the concept of learning spaces, the pedagogy of learningspaces, and the way learning spaces are changing. Learning Space Design indicates that the evolution of learning spaces is, and ought to be, acontested area which cannot be resolved just through a formal buildingcommissioning process. It is important to make explicit the nexus betweeneducational philosophy and architectural design of physical and/or virtuallearning spaces, especially if the aim is to increase student agency, interaction, and collaboration. Learning Space Design puts the spotlight on an important, but oftenoverlooked, dimension of teaching andlearning processes in higher education. It is a rallying call for a mission toexplore further the nature and purposes of learning spaces, and it should beessential reading for all those designing, delivering or evaluating teachingand learning in higher education.