Space Walk #Twalk #ALN #activelearning

Active Learning Network – Space Walk

16 January 2020, 16:00 – 18:00 GMT
Our Active Learning Network satellite group will be taking part in a Space Walk at Anglia Ruskin University and we hope others in the sector will join us by following the same walk – but on their campus! This can be achieved using the #Twalk model – divising a physical route on your campus that takes your walking group to similar types of spaces for the discussion points and connecting with others via a Twitter hashtag (#SpaceTwalk2020). See our Twalk Toolkit at https://melsig.shu.ac.uk/melsig/resources/twalk-toolkit to find out more about the Twalk model.

The initial draft itinerary is outlined below – but I will develop this with timings and a template for you to fill in with your campus details so your walking group members can have a printed ‘map’ to follow.

The walk will consider active learning spaces and take the theme of D3BC.

Doing, Being, Becoming, Belonging, and Connecting (D3BC)

Draft itinerary and handout information

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Twilight Space Walk

a twilight walk from 4pm to 6pm, 16th January 2020.

Starting point: near to Reception desks at Helmore (Cambridge) and Lord Ashcroft Building (Chelmsford).

You are invited to take part in this Active Learning Network space walk. It takes the theme of Doing, Being, Becoming, Belonging, and Connecting (D3BC).

The walk will visit five locations – one for each theme (see below). At each location, you will be invited to discuss and share your ideas about active learning using the space we are in as a stimulus.  If you are interested in interacting in this way, we will use Twitter and other social media using the hashtag #SpaceTwalk2020 (you can leave that up to others if that’s not your thing).

We will use Twitter to connect between Cambridge and Chelmsford and we will be ‘joined‘ by participants from other universities where they will be conducting similar walks and exchanging thoughts. This method is known as a Twalk!

Initially, in pairs and then by sharing more widely, each theme will be discussed by the walking group at each location. The suggested location and question for each theme is as follows:

Doing

Location: (A studio or lab environment?) to be decided

Time: to be decided

Consider the affordances of this space. What does it invite the learner or their teacher to do that will engage the students in their learning?

Being

Location: (a social learning space or somewhere where they exhibit their work or meet as a group)

to be decided

Time: to be decided

Consider how this space affects the student’s sense of self within the context of their area of study. In what ways might the space affect the student’s experience, their self-direction, or their self-determination in how they approach their study?

Belonging

Location: (a corridor where students congregate e.g. outside a lecture theatre) to be decided

Time: to be decided

Consider active learning as a socio-material endeavour. How might this space foster a sense of belonging and a co-operative approach to active learning?

Becoming

Location: (e.g. a learning hub or library space)

to be decided

Time: to be decided

Consider how students ‘come to know’ (Barnett, 2009). In what ways might this space be a site for the co-creation of knowledge and the development of the student’s identity as contributing agent?

Connecting

Location: (twitter, employability centre, course office, Students Union,..) to be decided

Time: to be decided

Consider the learner as a negotiator and navigator of their learning, exploring and exploiting the connections available to them. How does this space signal to the student different ways for them to enact their learning by connecting with other people, by connecting ideas, or by connecting their course-long and course-wide learning experience?