Learning spaces through immersive DT

by: D-Eva Project

Currently, students are able to develop these activities during their stages at the schools during the subjects of practicum, as well as in a simulation space in the school of education at UAB. With this activity they will be able to design the space through digital tools, with no need to access the physical context.

The activity should be done individually since the preservice teacher should be able to demonstrate by himself its capabilities to design the learning space as it was in a real school. Through the feedback provided by their peers and the teacher it would be able to add changes or to focus the attention on some aspects, as it could happen in a real school.

Since during the activity some feedback will be provided, the activity requires some weeks to be implemented. And approximation to the steps to implement the activity could be:

1. Teacher introduces the digital tool(s) to the preservice teachers and explain them which is the main objective of the activity and how can they interact with the platform (a short guidelines/instructions can be provided too).

2. Teacher designs the general structure of the space, and select which are the constrains (learners characteristics, profile of the families, characteristics of the context, profile of the current teachers, expected learning outcomes, etc.) that preservice teachers will have to consider designing the space. Furthermore, the teacher can decide which kind of resources will be available in the tool to design the space, since in real schools the resources are limited.

3. Preservice teachers get used to the platform and start with the analysis of constrains and the available resources. During this phase the student should complete a report where it highlights:

a. Which are the main constrains of the context?

b. Which are the main resources available?

c. How can it be imaginative with the resources available?

4. Preservice teachers start with the space design, considering the constrains and the resources available. They also provide a report where they justify, according to the constrains and the resources available, the decisions they are making while they are designing the space.

5. Teacher and peers will provide feedback to each student considering the space designed, the variables involved and the assessment criteria.

6. Preservice teachers will introduce changes to the space design according to the feedback received by their peers and the teacher. They should also adapt their report according to the changes they are introducing. They should also decide not to consider some of the feedback received. In that case, they should justify why they are not considering it. Once this work is done, they submit it to the teacher, or they can close the application.

7. Teacher will assess the final result and send feedback to the preservice teachers.

Keywords

Pre-service teachers, primary education, early childhood education, innovative learning environments, design

Problem justification

The design of the learning spaces is a key element to promote not only students learning, but to facilitate the activity of the teacher as a facilitator of knowledge. For this reason, preservice teachers should be prepared to identify and organize the main spaces at the school that might be useful to promote students learning. They should also be able to identify not only which are the best resources and materials that should be placed in these spaces, but to know how to organize them in order to increase students’ autonomy in their learning process as well as to promote collaborative and cooperative learning.

Following the OCDE (2017), the seven principles that should be taken in consideration to create an Innovative Learning Environment (ILE) are:

ILE should consider people as the centre of the activity, for this reason ILE promotes active engagement of learners and develops the comprehension of their own learning activity.

ILE should consider the social nature of learning, for this reason it should promote active and well-organized learning and cooperation among learners.

The professionals of learning in ILE are receptive to the learners’ motivations and consider the importance of emotions to their achievements.

ILE is sensitive to the learners’ individual characteristics, including their previous knowledge.

ILE should promote activities that become a challenge for the learners, without excessive workload.

ILE works with clear expectations and implement assessment activities consistent with the expectations; the emphasis should be placed on the training actions to support individuals learning.

ILE should promote the horizontal interconnexion between knowledge areas and subjects, for all the community and the world in general.

Digital Technologies might provide tools and resources to simulate school spaces that preservice teachers can organize according to the variables previously facilitated by the teacher, or the tool itself. So that, through and online platform the teacher will be able to provide the characteristics of the spaces, and to configure different types of learners groups that will act as variables that might be taken in consideration during the design of the space process.

The teacher will be able to follow the activity of the students through the tool, providing feedback to the decisions made by preservice teachers, and will also be able to e-assess the students through it. Furthermore, it will be easy to involve peers in the feedback and assessment processes, since the digital tool might facilitate to access to them in order to check what other students are doing.

Competences

Some of the competences already existing in Primary Education Syllabus that we can assess through this activity are:

Analysing the practice of teaching and the institutional conditions that frame it.

Design and regulate learning spaces in contexts of diversity that take into account gender equality, equity and respect for human rights and observe the values of public education.

Recognise and evaluate the social reality and the interrelation of factors involved as a necessary anticipation of action

Know and apply innovative experiences in primary education.

Incorporate information and communications technology to learn, communicate and share in educational contexts.

Promote cooperative work and individual work and effort

Assessment strategies and instruments

There are different strategies to be implemented to assess the implementation of these activity. Since preservice teachers will be working on the activity alone, a rubric would be useful to give them some information about how they will be assessed. Furthermore, these rubrics will be useful during the feedback and peer-feedback that the teacher and peers will provide in the middle of the activity development.

Furthermore, the report provided by the preservice teacher where they will provide information about the decisions, they have made during the design of the space will be useful, since it will allow the teacher to know the decision-making process and how the constrains and the available resources have been considered.

Assessment criteria

The main assessment criteria are related to the competences to be performed:

Analysis of the institutional constrains and resources available.

Identification of the main constrains of the institution.

Identification of the main resources available in the space.

Identification of the leaders of the school needs and expectations.

Summary of the main information through a scheme or DAFO

Design of the space considering the characteristics of the learners and its diversity, as well as the needs expressed by the future users.

Demonstrate the capacity to innovate and think “out of the box” using the resources available.

Use of resources in a different way than expected but answering the needs of the users.

Integrate digital technologies in the space in order to facilitate learners’ autonomy, cooperation, etc.

Description of the feedback

Feedback should involve not only teacher but also preservice teachers’ peers. The feedback should be made oral, written or mixt. The teacher and peers will be able to provide feedback not only at the end of the activity, but during its development. The feedback will be given asynchronous, through a tool like Corubric.

Type of digital tools

The oral presentation tools (ie Teams)
Support tools (ie Canva)
The design of the educational space apps (ie Sketchup)
The feedback with complements (ie Corubric)
The delivery of the report in LMS (ie Moodle)

Levels of potential digital transformation

Under exploration: the technology exists but it is not easily accessible

Accessible and available: developed lots of times, easy and known

Example of a case

References

OECD. (2017). The OECD Handbook for Innovative Learning Environments, Educational Research, and Innovation. OECD Publishing: Paris. https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264277274-en

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