Redesigning classrooms for the future: gathering inputs from students, teachers and designers

Abstract

The concepts of future classrooms, multimedia labs and active learning spaces have recently gained prominence in educational research. Evidence-based research shows that well-designed primary school classrooms can boost students’ learning progress as much as 16% in a single year [1]. Also schools’ heads, teachers and students are requesting for more flexible, reconfigurable and modern classroom layouts, where technology and active pedagogical practices can be easily incorporated. Under the scope of Project Technology Enhanced Learning at Future Teacher Education Lab (TEL@FTELab) of the Institute of Education of University of Lisbon, an empirical study was conducted in the first semester of 2016, with 21 participants (7 in-service teachers, 7 future teachers, 4 undergraduate students, 3 designers), aiming to capture their vision on what the classrooms for the future should be. Data was collected through a participatory design methodology. Participants were asked to form groups of 2 to 3 elements and challenged to i) reflect on the main differences between past and present learning environments and ii) to envision a future classroom. A specific toolkit was provided to them and their creation process was videotaped. This article presents the results of the data analysis focusing specifically on the most chosen images, icons and words. The results show that no major differences were reported regarding the past and the present classrooms; layouts and daily practices are seen as quite similar. Regarding the future classrooms, results shown that participants claim for more collaborative, diversified, interactive and flexible learning space.