Design Learning Spaces for the 21st Century Classroom - Helsinki

Available in: Barcelona, Ghent, Strasbourg, Helsinki

Course calendar: Check the confirmed dates

Cultural activities: The number and schedule of the cultural activities depend on the location; check the location webpage to discover more.

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Course Description

In order to prepare students for the complexity of their future life and work environment, the 21st century classroom should transform traditional teacher-centered lecturing into a more student-centered learning. In order to promote such transformation, a meaningful strategy is reconceiving the physical environment where learning takes place. But how can we change the learning environment to adapt it to the most recent methodologies for teaching and learning?

According to “built pedagogy,” the physical space shapes students’ learning experiences and behaviors by tacitly embodying specific pedagogical practices. In a traditional classroom, for example, the teacher stands in front of the board, which represents the authority and the center of the learning process. Students, instead, are required to listen to the teacher while sitting in their place in orderly rows. This setting reinforces a teacher-centered pedagogy that hinders the students’ agency and participation.

The challenges of today’s education require such a classroom setting from the industrial era to change. Today, schools need to transform the traditional teacher-centered space into a learning environment that promotes communication and collaboration, experimenting and sharing, in the presence of ICTs. Moreover, at times, the classroom environment should also become a quiet space for reflection, self-directed learning, and the incubation of creative ideas.

The course will help you rethink your current classroom setting and practice with new ideas to transform it. No unique solution works in every time and space, thus the core of learning space design is to understand where, when, and how to start introducing simple, small changes that can make a big difference.

In the course, you will discover the two main research-based principles of learning space design, i.e., flexibility and hybridity, and discuss many examples of their application across European schools. You will start exploring ways to adapt your classroom settings for creating new, flexible learning environments that promote student participation and cater to learners’ diversity.

The course includes collaborative lab sessions to design a learning space for your context. The hands-on experience will inspire you with a boost of ideas and enable you to visualize practical and innovative 21st century classroom settings. In time, you will discover how even small changes to the existing classroom and school spaces can bring important impacts on teaching and learning.

By the end of the course, you will take away fresh ideas to create an innovative and inclusive learning space that aligns with the pedagogical vision of the 21st century. By conceiving the pedagogical value of the classroom space, you will dispose of a new tool to foster a student-centered culture in your school.

Continue reading: Discover the learning outcomes and the tentative schedule of this course.

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Course category: Classroom Management

Classroom Management: Do you want your students to be more focused in class? Thanks to the new educational techniques (such as the flipped classroom, project-based learning, remote teaching, collaborative learning, student-centered learning) your students will participate in class with more enthusiasm creating a fruitful and healthier classroom environment. In our Classroom Management courses, you will enhance your ability to include students with special needs and motivate everyone. Furthermore, you will have the chance of learning how to manage a multicultural classroom and prevent possible conflicts.

Discover other courses on:

• Collaboration
• Inclusion
• National excellence
• School principals
• Student-centered learning