Designing for Hybrid Learning Environments in a Science Museum: Inter-professional Conceptualisations of Space

Abstract

This article examines conceptualisations of space in the design of hybrid learning environments. Our focus is the relationship between the task of designing a museum exhibition space and the material and conceptual tools that an inter-professional team of researchers, museum curators and exhibition designers take up, interpret and transform in order to make them serve the team's purpose. Using Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) as a theoretical lens, our purpose is to understand how the tools mediate the task. Understanding the relationship between the physical space and social interaction has become a central concern in the design of hybrid learning environments, i.e. spaces where digital and physical elements are combined to foster immersive learning experiences. Research has focused on exploring the ways users experience designed spaces. However, little attention has been paid to how designers negotiate conceptualisations of space in the design process. Using video recordings of the interactions of an inter-professional team, we explore how material and conceptual tools mediate the conceptualisations of space in the design of a hybrid learning environment in a science museum. In this chapter, we discuss how the notion of transparency and the prototype of a motion-sensing device became powerful tools in the design of hybrid learning environments. We also discuss how the relationship between the tools and the task has to be understood based on the object-motives of each of the different professional practices. It is argued that a design strategy that includes an understanding of the design process as a cultural-historical process allows for innovative implementations in hybrid learning environments.