Educational approaches and teaching processes have undergone major advances in recent years. Students, teachers and the educational community in general need new classroom models in order to implement these innovative pedagogical perspectives. There is a consensus that what is being studied is not the only thing that matters; instead, the place where pupils are studying and its conditions are at least as important.
Smart Classroom: New classrooms, new opportunities
The research project SmartClassroom. Co-design of Innovative Learning Environments: Seeking New Classroom Models, led by Guillermo Bautista, a professor of Psychology and Education at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), is being conducted at Miquel Martí i Pol school in Viladecans. The plan lays out the principles and criteria of what school spaces should be like and designs and implements prototypes of primary and secondary school learning spaces from a threefold perspective: environmental, pedagogical and digital. The project was presented at the 2019 Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona.
This new classroom is a learning space far from a traditional classroom, with a different kind of furniture laid out differently to foster students’ wellbeing. Technology has a prominent presence in these classrooms, but it is invisible, offering a warm climate and a friendly, natural atmosphere which fosters both individual study and debate for groupwork.
A more than positive experience
The assessments of the smart classroom, which has been up and running since last academic year, have been very positive from the very beginning. Both teachers and students found it to be a space that allows the new teaching methodologies to be used so students can keep learning as if they were at home. The students come in shoeless, wearing slip-resistant socks, and they can sit on chairs, bleachers or the sofas they find in the room. Plus, the desks are designed for groupwork.
The students report that they work more comfortably and feel more relaxed, and that one of the positive points of this classroom is the fact that they can choose where to sit, leading them to feel more mature and independent. The instructors prepare the classes differently, since this classroom offers them more tools and allows them to conduct more interactive classes tailored to each student.
More information is available here.
