Welcome to the LITE Bites podcast from the Leeds
Institute for Teaching Excellence at the University
of Leeds. This is Education Spaces mini -series.
In the next three episodes, LITE Bites will
be featuring guests with unique insights related
to the Education Spaces programme. Hello and
welcome back to the LITE Bites podcast. I'm Ollie,
a graduate intern working in the Transformation
Office and your host for today. This is episode
two of the Education Spaces LITE Bites miniseries
and today I'm joined by Emma, Lynda and Izzy
who have all worked on a piece of research on
seminar room provisions. Hello everyone and thanks
for joining us today. Hi Ollie. Hello. So should
we introduce ourselves? Yeah, I think that would
be good. Yeah, excellent. So, yeah, I'm Emma.
I'm Emma Peasland. I work in LITE, which is
Leeds Institute for Teaching Excellence. And
I got involved in this piece of work on flat
floor teaching spaces or seminar rooms from the
beginning. And I'll talk a bit more about that
as we go through the podcast. But basically,
I started off this project. in collaboration
with Hayley Bullard who was at the time a research
assistant in LITE and has since left and is
now a lecturer at Huddersfield University. But
yeah, that's me and my involvement in the project.
And I'll let Lynda, do you want to introduce
yourself? Hi, everyone. My name is Lynda. I'm
a graduate intern working in the university's transformation
office. And my job is support university's education
spaces. And I am also involved in the seminar room
evaluation research. Hi, I'm Izzy. I am also
a member of LITE. I am a research assistant.
And when I joined LITE team in February, I took
over from the work Hayley had been doing previously.
Cool. So thanks, everyone, for those introductions.
So if you'd like to start by telling us a bit
about the research and what you investigated.
Yeah, cool. So we started this project in January
2023 and LITE undertook this project kind of
on a consultancy basis for the Education Spaces
Programme. And it built on an earlier piece of
work, which was a collaborative seminar space
pilot refurbishment that was taken place in the
summer of 2022. where some rooms within the university
were refurbished with new furniture. And the
intention of this furniture was that it would
be able to support diverse layouts. So, for example,
tables could be arranged in groups or they could
be arranged in rows. And therefore, lots of different
pedagogies or pedagogical approaches could be
used in these rooms. So they were intended to
create these kind of flexible spaces. Although
in this pilot refurbishment, what was found out
was that in some configurations there were limitations
on the capacity of the rooms and in other configurations
there were limitations on the amount of space
that was in the room for example for people to
move around and so I think that reflecting on
that experience raised some questions more broadly
about how different flat floors, teaching rooms
or seminar rooms, and we're kind of using those
terms interchangeably, how they can facilitate
or hinder staff from achieving their pedagogical
aims and how they're experienced by students
and staff. And so we were asked to undertake
this piece of research to find out a little bit
more about that, like what's it like to learn
in these different... room layouts what's it
like to teach in these different room layouts
and do they allow staff to achieve their aims
in terms of the pedagogies they want to use in
a session. Cool that's really interesting and
I think such a piece of work would be really
useful for the university to you know find out
more about these spaces so would you like to
talk about how you went about doing that? Yeah,
sure. So what we did is we used a sample of flat
-floored teaching rooms at the university and
they're all teaching rooms that are looked after
and timetabled by the main Student Education
Service timetabling team. And we worked with
timetabling to help to identify the rooms that
we were going to use in the study and we looked
for as many kind of different layouts as we could
use. So we tried to use... pretty much all of
the layouts that are available in flat floor
teaching spaces. We wanted to get kind of like
a wide variety of feedback and experiences from
students and staff. So we got rooms from all
around our campus as well. So in terms of the
layouts, we had eight layouts in total and they
considered things like whether students were
in groups, whether the tables were arranged in
rows, the shapes of the tables. So we had some
rooms with these kind of trapezoid tables that
could create a hexagon if they're arranged in
groups, but can also be arranged in rows. We
had rooms with those chairs with flip desks.
We considered rooms that have multimedia or
tech options. So there are several rooms in the
university that have a table with a screen attached
so that students can work on multimedia presentations
or have tech available for when they're... undertaking
their learning tasks in those rooms and we had
a couple of rooms with a more unusual layout
where they had a kind of a table with almost
like a sofa seating around the table and we had
there were just two of those rooms in the university
but we included those as well in our study. Aside
from that layout we had three rooms of every
layout that we included in the study. And then
in order to identify people and invite them to
participate in the study, timetabling shared
with us all of the scheduled sessions that were
being held in the study rooms that we'd identified.
in the first semester of the 2023 -24 academic
year. And we looked at these data and we identified
which modules had regular sessions in the rooms
because we wanted to start collecting data sort
of midway through the semester so people had
an opportunity to get settled into the new academic
year and everything like that. And we identified
342 different modules that had regular sessions
in the rooms. And we invited the module leaders
for all of those modules to participate via email.
And we shared with them what would be involved
in participation. So what we were asking module
leaders or the relevant tutor on the module who
was asked to facilitate the data collection to
do. was to firstly identify a session on that
module in the study room where they could collect
data. So data were collected with reference to
one session rather than the whole module. To
introduce the research to the students in that
session and invite them to participate. by completing
a student questionnaire which would be shared
in the session and ideally we asked if they would
be able to give five or ten minutes at the end
of the session for students to complete that
questionnaire but we also provided emails so
in case it wasn't possible to provide that time
in the session students could still be invited
to participate via email and we also asked staff
to complete a staff questionnaire as well with
reference to that that particular kind of sample
session. We had 54 modules that agreed to take
part and that represented 16 % of all of the
different modules invited. So we had two surveys
that we used to collect data. And both of the
surveys collected things like some demographic
data and they asked both staff and students about
things like the environmental conditions in the
room. So things like heating, cooling, lighting,
those sorts of things. They asked both questionnaires
asked about technology and they asked about furniture
provision. And then in the student questionnaire,
students were asked about. their experiences
of the session with reference to the different
activities that they took part in in that session.
So if they took part in group work, they were
asked about how the room facilitated or hindered
their participation in group work. If it was
a session with lecturing, they were asked questions
about how the layout influenced their experience
of a lecturing activity in the room. And they
were also asked about the preferences for any
room layouts. In the staff survey, we asked about
the sort of activities and pedagogies that staff
had planned to undertake or to use in the sessions.
And we asked them again about their, or as well,
about their preferences in terms of room layout
and whether they had particular preferences in...
their ability to do particular things in a session
for example to be able to move around the room
to be able to sit at tables with students for
example when doing group work and these kinds
of things and the survey was open for that whole
of that first semester it closed at the end of
the the calendar year and at the time of closure
we had 31 responses from staff and 195 student
responses Cool. Well, it really sounds like you
thought of everything in this research. You know,
you've got every type of seminar room and also
asking both students and staff. Sounds like you
will have got quite a rich data set from this
research. So could you tell us a bit about what
you found out in this research? Yeah, sure. And
actually, we should really credit Hayley with
a lot of the work in that design phase as well.
So she worked really hard on on that kind of
design piece. But then moving forwards to thinking
about what we found out then. And I'll let Izzy
and Linda explain some of this, because we three
of us collectively work together on the analysis.
So I did a lot of the quantitative data. Izzy
and Hayley did a lot of the qualitative data
from students and Lynda did. a lot of the qualitative
data from staff and then we brought all of those
findings together. So I'll explain a little bit
about the demographics which are a bit more quant
and then let Izzy and Lynda explain what we kind
of found out from the qualitative data. So in
terms of students, we collected data from students
in all of the faculties of the university, so
all seven faculties and the Lifelong Learning
Centre. But it's worth mentioning that of the
195 responses that we got from students, 108
of them came from students who were studying
in the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures.
So there is a little bit of a kind of a skew
towards that faculty in our data set. Most of
the responses we got from students were from
undergraduate students. So that was 124 of our
respondents were undergraduate students. And
of those, almost half of them were first years.
And the remaining kind of sample was a range
of students from between the second and the fourth
year of their undergraduate degree. from staff
again we got data from staff from all seven faculties
and the Lifelong Learning Centre and so we got
kind of a range of responses from across the
university but with that bias towards people
working or studying in the faculty of arts humanities
and cultures um I'll hand over to Izzy to explain
a little bit about what we found out from students.
So for the students, I've just picked out a few
of the key findings. So 50 % of the student respondents
did say that they had a layout preference. And
the main reason for these preferences were the
physical factors of the room. So the comfort
of the chairs was a big thing for them, as well
as having a good amount of space. It was actually
reported that overcrowding would have a negative
impact on their learning experience. Also, it
was really important that they felt they had
an enabling and adaptable layout. For example,
being able to rearrange the furniture depending
on the activity, making it easier to talk to
their peers and have a group discussion. But
also, they did want to be able to clearly see
the screens and the lecturer that was teaching.
So here we can see a clear tension between the
students' desires to be able to work effectively
in groups, but also being able to see whiteboards,
screens. and the tutor. So providing furniture
that's quick and easy to rearrange and avoiding
storing additional furniture seems to be an important
consideration that we should think about in order
to optimise their learning experience. So I guess
that tension is because in some of the group
layouts that we used, they were arranged so that
maybe half the table faced the front of the room
and half the table faced the back of the room.
Yeah? Yeah. And I'm going to hand over to Linda,
who's going to tell us a bit about some of the
staff data. Thank you, Izzy. My part is about
staff result. So I'm responsible to analyse 31
staff questionnaire. And now I'm sharing some
like main findings. So there are four main features
for staff in the space to support their teaching.
So there are collaboration, interaction, flexibility
and mobility. In the following part, I will just
from three perspective to further showing the
like result details. So from layout and furniture
part, the staff show the strong preference for
the space can support the group work. They particularly
mentioned the separate group seats. And they
also mentioned it's really ideal in a space equipped
with the lightweight furniture like chairs and
tables with wheels so can easily move this furniture.
to reorganize the space layout to suit different
types of collaborative activities. And they also
mentioned mobility is really important for them.
Staff mentioned they really need space to move
around to check students' work during the group
work and also the ability to do some monitoring
is also very important so they can just support
students when they have any problems or they
can just join the students' conversation. From
technology side, it's really important in the
space they have reliable technologies because
some teachers mentioned that in the space, some
technology does just not work because some like
issues like microphone or lecture capture technologies
did not work. So it's quite important to check
the technology in the space. And also stuff mentioned
like if they. The university can provide some
training courses for them. It can help them to
enhance the confidence to use those advanced
technologies in the space. And also for the space
environment, a lot of stuff mentioned in the
space, the temperature control works not well,
like the space either too hot or too cold will
affect students' and teachers' space -using experience.
The students definitely commented on that as
well, that various rooms were too hot or too
cold. They couldn't do the temperature control
and they also couldn't open windows if they wanted
to. Yeah, so based on all of the data that we
collected from staff and students and the analyses
that the three of us undertook, we identified
10 sort of factors or considerations that those
people who were designing flat forward learning
spaces could consider. to be able to maximise
the student and staff experience in using those
spaces and also the ability of tutors to achieve
their pedagogical aims. So the first factor was
that there was a clear desire from both staff
and students to prioritise room layouts that
allowed students to work in groups. And the second
one, layouts that allow students to easily see
the screen or the whiteboard and or the tutor,
depending on what's the focus at a particular
time in a session. It would be a great idea in
terms of the third point to provide furniture
that can be quickly and easily rearranged. So
if there are staff who want to use multiple pedagogies
in a session, they can do that easily. So, for
example, a mixture of lecturing and group work.
You have a phase where perhaps you want everyone
to be able to see the front of the room and then
a phase where you want people to be able to cluster
and work effectively in groups. The fourth point
was that where possible, it's a good idea to
allow for additional space in the room. So there
were comments from staff and students around
overcrowding. And so it's desirable for staff
to be able to move around the room with ease
and for students not to feel a sense of overcrowding.
And related to that, the fifth point was that
it's ideal to avoid storing additional furniture
in flat -floored rooms. The sixth point was to
prioritise layouts that provide adequate personal
workspace for students. So when students were
talking about overcrowding, they weren't only
talking about the amount of people and furniture
in the room, but also the amount of space that
they had to work on. So, for example, some students
spoke negatively or commented negatively on using
flip desks that were attached to the chairs because
they didn't have a large amount of space to be
able to work on when they needed to. needed to
do that. The seventh point was to consider providing
the means to control heating and cooling in each
room so that that environmental factor can be
optimized for the users. The eighth point was
to prioritise seating options that were designed
for comfort. So there was a clear desire from
students to have seating that was comfortable.
And staff also commented on the fact that if
students have comfortable seating, that might
allow them to be able to focus and pay attention
and therefore have a benefit for their learning.
The ninth was to signpost any available training
on using technology that's provided in flat floored
spaces, which is something that Lynda was just
talking about. And then the last and 10th point
was to consider offering guidance to staff that
links the spaces or layouts and appropriate pedagogies
for use within them. So there was a comment from
a couple of members of staff saying that it would
be great to have a little bit of guidance with
respect to that. So, yeah, so those were our
kind. of 10 considerations that those people
who may be using this data could take into account
when designing future flat -floored learning
spaces. Yeah, and I really like how clear each
of these factors are and you can really see how
knowing this information could help with the
future design of seminar rooms and spaces like
them. So it seems like there might be an opportunity
to use this data in practice in the future to
help design these spaces. And I can see a really
clear link to the work that myself and Linda
have done on the education spaces playbook and
kind of trying to incorporate research into our
decision making for future design decisions.
So I just wondered, maybe Lynda, if you could
talk to us about the opportunities to use this
data in practice. Yeah, so I think seminar room
research report is kind of valuable resources
for future space design and evaluation process
for University of Leeds. Because in this research,
we include in the like data from both teacher
and students perspective, like from like space
design, furniture, space environment and technology
to provide some practical suggestions. So I think
these findings can guide departments like e -state,
IT services and other departments might be related
in future space design or refurbishment project
to help them to optimize education spaces project
and improve user experience. And also, as you
mentioned, Ollie, we just create the education
spaces playbook and I can see it's really worth
to include seminar room research in the formal
teaching spaces part. And for those people who
didn't know the playbook, you can listen to our
first episode. So basically, the Education Spaces
Playbook is kind of space guidance reference
book. So we include a lot of practical recommendations
from internal and external reports and also use
the PST framework, pedagogy, space technology,
and user experience to further analyse each
space. So it's kind of really useful resources
for both academics and other staff from other
departments who get interested in the user experience
for education spaces. So yeah, so I can see it's
really helpful and useful information in the
future. Cool. That sounds like a really interesting
piece of work and something that would be really
useful for the future design of our seminar spaces.
So thanks very much for coming along, you three.
It's been really great having you talking with
us today. Thanks, Ollie. Thank you. And be sure
to come back for the next episode of the LITE Bites
podcast. See you later. Bye.