‘I want to activate my students, but the classroom I have to teach in is hardly suited for it.’
This is a frequently heard concern shared by many lecturers in higher education. We know that using activating didactics is important. Positive effects have repeatedly been demonstrated in recent years (e.g. Freeman et al., 2014). But what do you do when the infrastructure of the classroom makes activation difficult, or even impossible? In response to this question, higher education institutions have been experimenting with active learning spaces for several years now.
In this ECHO Teaching Tip, we will discuss what active learning spaces are and provide some tips and aspects to be mindful of when using such spaces.