Seminar discussed scenarios to improve learning spaces at the Faculty of Social Sciences

The Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies hosted the 2nd edition of the seminar “Learning to Te(a)ch” focusing its attention on new learning spaces. The seminar took place on 15th of May at the Centre of Educational Innovation, and attracted more than 30 participants coming from different institutes of the Faculty of Social Sciences as well as Arts and Humanities.

The main aim of the event was to discuss the relevance of learning spaces in teaching practices as well as to look at successful ways of arranging and designing learning spaces in order to facilitate a better teaching environment.

According to Anna Beitane, Project Manager at the Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies and the main organizer of the event, "with the rise of ICT solutions, the notion of the traditional classroom has changed and evolved. Learning no longer can be perceived as a ‘linear’ process that takes place in a static lecture room. More and more universities are adapting their spaces to facilitate flexible and active learning. Thus, it was important to be part of the conversation and share our teaching practices when it comes to learning spaces".

The event was organized in cooperation with the Division for Quality Enhancement (Academic Teaching and Learning Unit) of Uppsala University, which took intensive and pioneering initiatives in developing and enhancing new learning spaces as well as training their academic staff. One of such successful examples includes the Experimental classroom which allows to reconfigure the room for various learning activities due to its flexible and agile exterior and interior design as well as technical facilities.

 “At the beginning, we discussed some theoretical aspects related to relevance of learning spaces in teaching and listened to a talk delivered by our guest speaker from Uppsala University  - Dr. Mats Cullhed (Educational developer), who shared his experience of teaching staff and students who used the Experimental classroom” – explains Anna Beitane. "In the second part, we looked at more practical aspects, namely we reviewed concrete scenarios of real learning spaces on UT’s campus submitted by our attendees and discussed possible improvements".

In the words of Dr. Stefano Braghiroli – one of the seminar’s participants “this event did not only allow us to discuss shared problems from original perspectives, but also gave us the opportunity to broaden our horizons when it comes to imagining new approaches to the definition of more effective and student-friendly learning spaces. I personally feel enriched by this experience and I will for sure bring the fruit of the reflections and tips directly into my classroom”.

For more information about the seminar and its results, please contact Ms Anna Beitane, Project Manager, 737 5198, anna.beitane@ut.ee.

Forwarded by: 
Heidi Mõttus
Marketing and Communications Assistant
Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies
University of Tartu
heidi.mottus@ut.ee