Student response to a technology enhanced learning space

Context: A collaborative learning space (CLS) replaces traditional lecture theatres and tutorial rooms. These spaces complement a flipped classroom model by providing better opportunities to share the information individual students have collected outside the classroom. When supported by appropriate technology, these rooms allow for more authentic forms of classroom learning activity than traditional lecture and tutorial sessions. Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the affordances of a prototype technology enhanced CLS in terms of the experience of a cohort of third year engineering students. The classroom activities were designed to correspond better with real engineering work environments than the lectures and tutorials that previously accompanied the project work. Approach: Students worked as teams to solve an authentic real world project in a classroom setting. The classroom itself was a CLS that used the state-of-the-art technology. The students were guided during each workshop session, as they might be by a team leader in a work environment, supported by the latest technology. The students were asked to provide in-semester and end-of-semester feedback explaining their experience of the CLS in their learning. They were encouraged to point out both the good aspects of the space as well as what can be improved to achieve better learning outcomes. Results: The CLS proved to be popular with the students and resulted in better engaged sessions, and thereafter, better academic results. In-semester feedback suggested that the students were enjoying the new learning environment. The end-of-semester analysis and student performance reinforced this finding. Conclusions: The technology enhanced CLS resulted in better learning outcomes, principally through enabling a more authentic form of student engagement.