Social Learning Space

Eventually, the documents began to come to light...

Less heralded, the Society of College, National and University Libraries, published its SCONUL vison 2010 in 2005. The small group who developed the vision identified four major themes for special mention. They were:

• personalisation;
• collaboration;
• space; and
• management and skills.

Under the heading 'space', the vision statement suggests that,

"Library and information services will incorporate a range of non-traditional activities into their building, such as student support services, learning cafes and social learning space."

The debate over social learning spaces would seem to have emerged in the UK during the 2005-2006 academic year. Berry O'Donovan, in a newsletter item on social learning space, suggests that Scandinavia and the USA took the lead in putting this concept into practice, but that the UK is catching up. The main examples cited in the UK where this concept has been deployed are the Saltire Centre at Glasgow Caledonian University, Warwick University's Learning Grid and the Cass Business School's Cyril Kleinwort Learning Resource Centre, while Oxford Brookes plans to build such a space as part of its student learning experience strategy.

Ms O'Donovan indicates that social learning spaces combine:

• social activities, such as eating and drinking, getting to know people, staying in touch with people, hanging out and meeting in groups;
• learning activities, for example studying with others, group project work, meeting with advisors and student representatives' meetings; and
• technology-mediated activities, for example writing, editing, printing, online research, email, online discusssion. online workshops, online collaboration, playing games and socialising online.

Chris Rust concurs that the idea of a social learning space covers a wide range of possibilities. In the introduction to the second symposium on Re-designing Universities: Social Learning Space, he sketches a spectrum that runs from a space that is used primarily for social activities but where some learning might also take place, such as an internet cafe, to a space that takes into account the fact that learning often requires social interaction, and is designed accordingly, with flexible architecture and movable furniture. Crucially, such a space facilitates both formal and informal learning which is both student-centred and collaborative. Reiterating O'Donovan, Rust asserts that social learning spaces combine social activities, learning activities and technology.