Learning Spaces Research: Framing Actionable Knowledge

Abstract

The chapters in this book both contribute to, and raise fundamental questions about, the knowledge that is valuable in the creation of good places to learn. Whether one is designing, managing or inhabiting a learning place, there are kinds of knowledge that can beneficially affect the relations between one’s activities and surroundings. What does this mean for research? Are there directions in which learning space research might be steered, or ways it might be organised, that might improve the likelihood of useful discoveries? While we are happy to agree that valuable knowledge often appears through serendipity , in this chapter we also argue that more explicit framings of the nature of useful knowledge can help strengthen our collective endeavours. More specifically, we provide some framing for the production of actionable knowledge in learning space research by: looking at the situations of designers , managers and users of space; attending to both analysis and design; factoring in both fast and slow (reflective , interpretive) modes of thought, and warning against the dangers of narrow ontological or epistemological assumptions. Understanding the relations between qualities of learning spaces and the vitality of valued learning activities is not straightforward. It requires diverse forms of knowledge and ways of knowing—linked in holistic, systemic or even ecological modes of knowledgeable action.