‘Social Learning @University’ explains what social learning is and proposes a new integrated way to understand the impact of social learning on the campus estate in a fast-changing higher education environment.

University Design Forum publishes today a new report from a long-standing team of collaborators, and we are immensely grateful for the research work of Dr Hiral Patel of Cardiff University, Fiona Duggan of FiD, Dr Katherine Quinn of Cardiff University, and their student co-researchers, which underpins the report’s publication. 

This research was jointly commissioned by University Design Forum (UDF), AUDE and Willmott Dixon. This funder consortium was led by Cora Kwiatkowski of Stride Treglown, with very valuable input from steering group members Seán Woulfe of Kingston University and Rupert Cook of Miltiadou Cook Mitzman Architects. The full report ‘Social Learning @ University’ is available to download now.

The idea that ‘our university education happens all together in the same space’ has gone forever. Increasingly, students learn in ways that are both programmed and self-directed, within and beyond timetabled sessions, in physical and virtual space, on campus and elsewhere. In this complex and changing situation, students can feel that their online communities are as strong and important as their physical ones. All kinds of change factors have driven this shift – from the expectation of lifelong learning availability, a modularised approach to the curriculum including the delivery of MOOCs (massive open online courses), a greater focus on wellbeing, technological developments, financial pressures in our universities, the move towards a hybrid/flexible way of working in the post-Covid world, and the push towards low-carbon campuses among them.

Social learning @ university is a relationship-based process that happens within and beyond timetabled classes. On-campus spaces that facilitate social learning outside timetabled classes are as important as those spaces where timetabled sessions happen. A new spatial concept, called C-Space, is proposed for an integrated campus-wide approach to support learning activities outside timetabled sessions. C-Space might address diverse student needs and facilitate a seamless transition from the physical to the virtual. C-Space might be good for generating chance learning encounters as well as more intentionally scaffolded learning experiences, where students and staff form social relationships through bonding within their communities, bridging across networks and connecting in society. C-Space might take many forms – study spaces with kitchenettes, a simple corridor bench, a student society-run café, an interdisciplinary data visualisation lab, a network of sensory spaces, an outdoor garden or a clinical skills practice space, for instance. The key aspect of these spaces is that they are all supported by collaborative stewardship involving students as well as academic and professional services staff, and enabled through institutional commitment. These spaces require ongoing care.

C-Space is closely linked to the curriculum in its broadest sense – it is not a peripheral space. This report argues that if social learning is central to the learning experience, C-Space is an essential part of core provision that takes account of how students actually use and want to use campuses. At its best, these spaces are reliable and convenient spaces for developing competences and knowledge, creating opportunities to collaborate and innovate, while also being affordable and providing a good return on investment.

At a time when every university is thinking about its estates operating costs, and the affordability of its space for the core teaching and research activities, ensuring that we are alert to options to rethink and repurpose our spaces – refreshing, repairing, refurbishing or releasing space as necessary – is fundamental to the estates mindset at this point. 

Team comments

'This research report is the culmination of another collaboration between AUDE and the University Design Forum. It began with a shared recognition that learning takes many forms…and has opened up new ways of looking at spaces for learning. It considers the potential that spaces offer to students in their learning and, for that matter, anyone who may use and enjoy that space.' Trevor Wills, Director of Estates & Facilities at University of Plymouth and University Design Forum CHAIR

'This fascinating report is the culmination of over 2 years work. The findings offer a valuable framework for all professionals involved in university planning and development. It provides practical insights into cultivating a sense of belonging and creating a feeling of home- essential elements for building, sustaining, and evolving an integrated and, for many students, life-changing campus experience.' Cora Kwiatkowski, Co-Chair of University Design Forum Research Group

 ‘Learning is a social process. Creating strong and trusting relationships with each other lies at the heart of the on-campus university learning experience. Through this research project, we have been fortunate to learn from a range of stakeholders and sites to offer a spatial framework for social learning. Our call for action for sector-wide stakeholders is to embrace the process of social learning in order to create spaces for social learning.’  Dr Hiral Patel, Cardiff University

‘Throughout this research, I was reminded, again and again, that nobody knows as much as everybody. Or, put another way, nobody knows everything, and everybody knows something. I learnt in a very real way that learning is social, with collaboration and trust being the key ingredients for successful outcomes.’ Fiona Duggan, FiD

‘Spaces, facilities and buildings play a critical role in the student experience, but this goes beyond the traditional, academic spaces that you’d expect to see on a campus. As experts in delivering higher education buildings, Willmott Dixon are pleased to have commissioned this research alongside AUDE and UDF. In a time when the student experience is more important than ever, we hope this research will provide valuable insights for universities as they look to deliver spaces that truly meet the needs of students, lecturers and researchers.’ Nick Preedy, Senior Project Manager at Willmott Dixon

‘We are very grateful to the research group and everyone that has participated in or helped to steer this research over the last three years. It has become clear that a lot of our assumptions about what social learning is, and what social learning spaces are and could be, aren’t really right. We are dealing with some pretty fundamental questions of HE provision here – what is the value of a campus, what do we need to learn and how and where do we need to learn those things? How can we encourage students to stay on campus and draw the maximum value from it yet not actually be in a traditional classroom space? Jane White, AUDE Executive Director

Editor’s notes

University Design Forum

Contact: admin@universitydesignforum.org

Cardiff University

Cardiff University is a member of the Russell Group of Universities and a registered charity. Dr Hiral Patel, based at the Welsh School of Architecture, teaches, researches and undertakes consultancy work in the field of higher education learning environments. Dr Katherine Quinn, based at the School of Social Sciences, is an expert in creative ethnographic methods, particularly applied in higher education settings. 

Contact: Dr Hiral Patel (patelh18@cardiff.ac.uk)

FiD

FiD is a London-based consultancy set up in 2006 by Fiona Duggan to work at the place where users and buildings meet, seeking ways in which the design and use of space can support organisational and institutional change. 

Contact: Fiona Duggan (fiona@fidspace.co.uk)

Images: 

© University of Plymouth