Student Active Learning in a Two Campus Organisation

Abstract

Higher education is facing disruptive changes in many fields. Students wants to have the option of learning anywhere, anytime and in any format. Universities need to develop and deliver to future students a complete learning ecosystem. At the same time universities are facing challenges such as growing costs and the pressure to give the students the knowledge, competence, skills and ability to continuously adapt to future job environments. As a consequence, many universities are investigating new ways of collaboration and sharing resources to cater to the demands of students, industry and society. An example of this collaboration is a new joint master between the two largest Universities in Norway: University of Oslo (UiO) and Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). In this paper, we present the lessons learned from almost two years of teaching and learning in the new joint master's programme, "Music, Communication and Technology" (MCT), between NTNU and UiO. This programme is a run in a two-campus learning space built as a two-way, audio-visual, high-quality, low-latency communication channel between the two campuses, called "The Portal". Moreover, MCT is the subject of research for the SALTO (Student Active Learning in a Two campus Organisation) project, where novel techniques in teaching and learning are explored, such as team-based learning (TBL), flipped classroom, and other forms of student active learning. Educational elements in this master, provides the student with 21st century skills and deliver knowledge within humanities, entrepreneurship and technology. We elaborate on the technical, pedagogical and learning space-related challenges toward delivering teaching and learning in these cross-university settings. The paper concludes with a set of strategies that can be used to improve student active learning in different scenarios.

Dynamic learning spaces—dynamic pedagogy. Students’ voices from a master’s program focusing on student active learning in a cross-institution two-campus organization

“…The project manages and refines a two-campus hybrid learning space for physical-virtual interaction across the web called the Portal where students and teachers explore educational, methodological, and technological solutions together (Støckert et al, 2019(Støckert et al, , 2020a.…”

Places of Learning: A Discussion of Radcliffe’s Framework for Learning Spaces in Light of Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenology

“…Through the Portal, a 24/7 connection between the two universities supported and enabled synchronous and asynchronous cross-campus teaching and learning activities, communication, and collaboration. In this shared and technologically enhanced learning environment, students and educators together "explore, and evaluate pedagogical, spatial, and technical solutions, reflecting on this shared presence's theoretical and practical possibilities and limitations" (Støckert et al, 2019Støckert & Stoica, 2017). The aim of the present theoretical discussion is to enrich principles within PST that can promote student-active learning and cater to better interaction and collaboration among students, and between students and educators, through authentic work-life tasks.…”

Hybrid Learning Spaces with Spatial Audio

“…The various technologies in the Portal enable merging two physical workspaces into one shared immersive learning environment, creating a sense of shared presence independent of physical location. Thus, the MCT Portal represents a hybrid arena for physical-virtual interaction [3]. Together, students and teachers build, explore, and evaluate pedagogical [4], spatial, and technical solutions [5]- [8], reflecting on this shared presence's theoretical and practical possibilities and limitations [9]- [13].…”