Fostering Educator participation in learning space designing: Insights from a Master of Education unit of study

Abstract

Educators can play a vital role in creating environments that enhance student learning and wellbeing. Consequently, there is a teacher education need to empower teachers as learning space designers. The Master of Education program at Queensland University of Technology offers a unit entitled Designing Spaces for Learning which enables students to explore and practice the principles of consensus values-based designing. This chapter outlines the conceptualisation and ongoing development of the unit, which builds upon the doctoral research of Dr Raylee Elliott Burns. By outlining the design and implementation of the unit, the chapter models an innovative pedagogical approach that engages educators (as learners) in the evaluation and conceptual redesigning of learning spaces. The learning experience includes site visits, a charrette (collaborative designing workshop) and the compilation of a theoretically justified design brief and online portfolio. The chapter concludes by discussing how this unit fosters the learning and wellbeing of the educators who undertake the unit, and often also that of their students who engage in school-based designing projects.