星空传媒视频

(Reprinted with edits from files from Nureva and EducationDive)

Photo credit:聽Tom Berthelot

Calgary-based Nureva Inc., an award-winning collaboration-solutions company, has partnered with Dawson to create the world鈥檚 largest installation of its visual collaboration systems in a single classroom.

The unique configuration is located in an active-learning classroom at Dawson (3H.10) and includes eight Nureva Walls that have created 56 feet or just over 17 metres of digital workspace. This enhances active learning by providing students with more powerful tools for collaboration and expanded interactive space where they can create, visualize and manipulate learning objects while building knowledge together.

It鈥檚 been more than a decade since a small group of professors at Dawson started to experiment with active learning. Today, those early initiatives have evolved into a movement that鈥檚 transforming the way teachers teach and students learn.

鈥淚t has injected new life into the kinds of things I can do in the classroom,鈥� says Chris Whittaker (Physics), one of the College鈥檚 early proponents of the student-focused approach to teaching.

Based on the academic literature and research done in his own classrooms, Whittaker is confident that his students learn better when they spend less time listening to him lecture and more time working together through collaborative activities and projects. 鈥淪tudents are getting to much deeper levels of conversation, asking me much more profound questions and engaging with the material in a way that I鈥檝e never seen before.鈥�

To support this growing interest in active learning, the College has created several unique learning spaces equipped with innovative technology tools that are opening up exciting new possibilities for both teaching and learning.

Using technology to shake up teaching

Dawson鈥檚 main focus is teaching, so it鈥檚 not surprising that an increasing number of its faculty want to make learning more student centered.

Through a combination of research and experience, the college has learned lessons about what works and what doesn鈥檛 when it comes to implementing active learning strategies. Importantly, says Whittaker, the development of pedagogical capacity can be enhanced by the right space and the right technology. 鈥淲hen you combine development in the pedagogy, technology and a design of a classroom space, you can get much better learning opportunities,鈥� he explains.

That鈥檚 why 星空传媒视频 is supporting active learning on several fronts. There鈥檚 a thriving learning community for professors who share ideas on using active learning techniques in their teaching. The college has also created three technology-rich active learning classrooms. These unique spaces are filled with interactive tools that enrich the collaboration experience for students and allow professors to 鈥減ush the envelope鈥� in their teaching practice.

Putting 鈥渇antastic learning tools鈥� into the hands of students

When you step inside the active learning classrooms at Dawson, you don鈥檛 see a traditional technology setup with one interactive workspace for the teacher. Instead, multiple touch surfaces are spread around the room, giving student groups their own spaces for collaboration.

Two of those high-tech classrooms are equipped with seven interactive whiteboards in each room. And the newest space has eight聽听谤耻苍苍颈苍驳听聽installed in a single classroom. This unique configuration transforms the walls into 56′ (17.06 m) of digital workspace and is the world鈥檚 largest installation of聽.

Whittaker says that the goal was to create as many opportunities as possible for students to collaborate, so putting multiple systems in one room simply made sense. 鈥淲e felt, 鈥榃hy wouldn鈥檛 you put a fantastic learning tool into the hands of the people who need it 鈥� the learners?鈥欌��

That bold and innovative approach is having dramatic effects on the quality of collaboration.

Elizabeth Charles is a researcher at 星空传媒视频 who studies the impact educational technology and innovative spaces have on learning. Charles says large shared interactive workspaces give students more room to think and encourage collaborative conversations, which result in deeper learning.

She says because the Nureva Walls can be linked, creating a continuous digital canvas, they add an 鈥渆xciting鈥� immersive element to the active learning space. 鈥淎s a teacher, you can create an environment that your students can immerse themselves in.鈥�

Pushing the limits for better learning

Active learning is clearly catching on at 星空传媒视频. Today, nearly 20 percent of faculty members are using these techniques in their teaching. Whittaker expects the new Nureva technology products to spark even more interest. He says professors who were already eager to use the interactive whiteboard classrooms are now 鈥渂lown away鈥� by what they can now do in the new Nureva room.

鈥淚 think we鈥檙e starting to understand how far an interactive touch surface can go,鈥� says Whittaker, who is now looking forward to seeing the new directions he and his colleagues can take learning to make it more memorable and meaningful for their students.