A USER CENTRED APPROACH TO INFORM LEARNING SPACE DESIGN

Design of learning spaces has to go beyond the traditional technological deterministic view that only implies the production of learning tools or physical buildings. Learning space design has to correspond to users ’ needs and goals, how current and future practices evolve in learning spaces and appropriation of new technologies. Financial constraints, increased diversity among students, more and more students taking part-time and flexible learning options, have created new challenges for the design of learning spaces in higher education. In this new context innovative technologies are emerging and the ways people communicate, coordinate and collaborate are continuously transforming and changing, which affect learning space design. Our empirical data consist of focus group interviews with students and directors of studies. Our purpose was to evaluate the usefulness of a user centred approach to inform the design of future learning spaces. Students preferred spaces that integrate formal learning activities with more informal and leisure activities. Directors favoured spaces that integrate their roles as teachers, researchers and administrators. The result emphasises the importance of a user-centric perspective and the need to widen the scope and include affordances of various technologies and how different actors appropriates learning spaces into their practice