D’arcy Norman in their blog post presents an initiative at the Taylor Insitute of Technology, where a dedicated learning space was developed architecturally to be open and flexible for learning and integrate high quality AV equipment in order to promote high quality education. Success was reported, Norman, in their second paragraph, states, “It’s been a constant source of inspiration – not the building, but the amazing things that instructors, students and staff are doing within it, together, on a regular basis.” While I think this initiative is amazing, and the equipment and how it’s being utilized is incredible, what stands out to me is the open floor plan with glass walls. This floor plan raises concerns for me around the psychological safety and comfort of students, who may struggle with public speaking, anxiety, or other forms of neurodivergence. From a personal perspective I live with anxiety and would not feel comfortable being visible through a glass wall at all times. I also have ADHD and would find people walking by the rooms or what is happening in other spaces very distracting. Another concern comes from my perspective as a nurse educator, in health fields we often openly discuss potentially traumatic topics, controversial topics, and systemic health care topics. Students in a completely open environment may hesitate to share openly about their perspectives or personal experiences in topics like the ones I mentioned. To be fair these learning spaces are used at a school of technology and controversial topics may not be as prevalent, but as an educator I often have students approach me directly after a class with private and/or personal concerns. A visually open environment is less than conducive to address private or personal concerns. If students don’t feel safe to express their thoughts, it limits their ability to critically engage in and reflect on what they are learning. I believe a balance would need to be struck between an open learning environment and privacy. Possible solutions to the concerns I have could include having frosted glass or having several small private breakout areas nearby and soundproofing between the rooms.
I’ve tried to edit my post to include the APA reference as I left it out thinking it would be shown underneath the blog post I was responding to.
The first sentence should state: D’Arcy Norman (2017) in their blog….
The quote should be presented as: Norman (2017) states, “…” (Paragraph 2).
Reference:
Norman, D. (2017, March 11). Lessons learned: AV systems design in the Taylor Institute. Hugo. https://darcynorman.net/2017/03/11/lessons-learned-av-systems-design-in-the-taylor-institute/
Hi Callan,
You raise some important considerations about creating safe and productive learning spaces, and in your context the importance of being able to discuss confidential information to protect patient and student privacy. You mention the possibilities of creating more private spaces such as breakout rooms/or adding the ability to block out visual distractions. It makes me think about the digital context – and know that having completely open digital spaces are at times a barrier to being able to have critical conversations. We also need to consider the ways that we can reduce the amount of distractions that are introduced with new tools (and I say this knowing we added one more to this course :)). In her post Weri talked about needing a balance – I think your post highlights a similar issue in our physical/digital spaces. What kinds of strategies do you think might work in your context in a digital learning space?
Hi Michelle,
Thank your providing some feedback. In my role we do teach all theory components online but are students aren’t always tech savvy, and we have no learning outcomes related to tech other than talking about PIPEDA and FOIIPA. Currently though we are wanting to adapt a program called Nurse Achieve that allows students to make practice exams, and provides study support materials, instructors can use it to make exams and capture data from student cohorts on how students are doing in their exams; pass failure rates, grades on specific topics, length of time on types of questions extra. The first thing we asked was where is the data stored and is it FOIPPA and PIPEDA adherent, who has access to the student information, does the vendor sell information to 3rd parties etc.
In my initial post I discussed concerns around the psychological safety of students in an open concept learning environment, in particular I approached it form my context of nursing education were sensitive and personal topics are discussed. Now looking at it through the lens of data analytics, gathering concrete evidence to support my concerns would be required. To support my concerns, I would look at gathering data on the student experience in the open learning space. Data sources could include:
– Student surveys & feedback, this could be done through anonymous feedback forms to gather student perspectives on comfort, engagement, and willingness to participate in open settings vs private settings.
– Participation metrics, measuring frequency of student responses and discussion length in open environments vs. private environments to see if students engage more or less willingly in open spaces.
– Focus group or interviews, conducting interviews with faculty and students to understand specific barriers or concerns.
– Course analytics, if available engagement levels in online discussion forums could be used as a comparative data point, do students engage more openly in online platforms vs open spaces? This could help determine if psychological safety is a limiting factor in in-person environments.
– Researching and getting quotes on the cost of soundproofing rooms, getting screens for the windows to make spaces private, or on making private breakout spaces would also be required if it was determined that changes needed to be made.
When gathering this data privacy and confidentiality would need to be protected at all points following all FOIPPA and PIPEDA rules and would also need to align with institutional policies, in my case Coast Mountain College uses and adheres to the University of Northern British Columbia’s research protocols.
For myself and in my role, I’m not generally concerned with budgets and would consider the student and faculty perspectives from data the most relevant for guiding future changes. Data would need to be shared with relevant stakeholders in this case faculty and administration so that changes could be made to the space. This could be done through a formalized report, coupled with informal meetings, it would be important to share with institutional administration as if it was determined psychological safety of students was impacted policies may need to be updated.
If the data supported a change and a change was made all data collection would need to be repeated, this would allow for a direct comparison of data findings pre and post change to evaluate if the change was successful.