DESIGNING FOR INFORMAL COLLABORATIVE LEARNING SPACES: A STUDY ON THE DESIGN OF EDUCATION RESOURCE CENTRE IN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE

Abstract

Education is a mirror of the society. The society is requiring individuals to be more self-reliant and active in this 21st century knowledge based economy. Schools have realized the need to move away from Fordism education, where learning is a linear process. Skills such as group based solving and knowledge creation need to be developed in students to prepare them the challenges ahead. Collaborative learning is identified to be one of pedagogies which would foster such development in students. Many education systems around the world including Singapore, is looking into this new pedagogy and changing the way students are being taught. Architecture and space planning play an important role in providing for collaborative learning environment. Space planners and architects have long been designing for education spaces. Now with the growing emphasis on such new pedagogies, they also, like the educators, need to understand the new pedagogies and the way it function so as to design for it. The National University of Singapore has recently completed Education Resource Center (ERC), a space design for collaborative learning. This dissertation looks into this space which is currently one of the newest collaborative environments being built in Singapore education institutions. It attempts to evaluate the collaborative informal learning spaces within ERC. Based on literature reviews and interviews with personnel involved in the design of ERC, the study explores the design principles for the informal learning spaces of ERC. Two surveys are then being conducted with students. This is a user centric approach which attempts to understand the space from the end user point of view. This is important as informal learning spaces are mostly used by students and not educators. The study will inform designers of what factors are deem important for students in collaborative learning. The informal learning spaces are then being examined by the factors listed from the students and through observation from field trips. The informal learning spaces would then be evaluated for their satisfactory factor for collaborative learning in the informal learning spaces in ERC. Issues and problems are identified and discussed. Recommendation is then provided for the common issues raised to enhance and improve on collaborative learning not only in ERC but in general, where such issues identified are common when designing for collaborative informal space. It is hope that this dissertation would inform designers of the relationship between design principles and identify common problems faced by these elements. Future design of informal learning spaces can then prevent such issues and tap on the good examples identified in this study. This user centric discussion would be beneficial for students whom are the end user for the future collaborative learning environment to be created.