Transforming Teacher Education at NIE through Innovative Learning Spaces: A Proof of Concept

As part of its transformation journey towards designing future-ready learning spaces, the National Institute of Education (NIE) has designed forward-thinking Proof-of-Concept (POC) rooms to redefine learning spaces in teacher education.

Taking a user-centric approach, the two POC rooms were designed based on feedback collected from a campus-wide survey, focus group discussions and user journeys. With features that promote flexibility and engagement, the technologically-rich POC rooms provide a canvas for pedagogical creativity, from individual tasks to collaborative hybrid work. They can be configured to meet various teaching needs thanks to flexible furniture, adaptable lighting, and advanced audiovisual systems. Due to seamless transitions between configurations, faculty can easily tailor their learning spaces to meet their students' needs. One of the rooms have been outfitted with cameras and audio-tracking systems to capture interactions within the room, recording student engagement and response to different room layouts. Using behavioural analytics software, educators can create dashboards that provide actionable insight into how students learn best in these spaces.

The POC rooms serve as living labs for exploring the design of future-ready learning environments, guiding the continuous improvement of future learning spaces throughout NIE. Take a virtual tour of one of our transformative POC rooms here to see this journey in action.