The Impact of space on students' perceptions of the value and quality of their learning experience: a case study of the Collaborative Learning Forum

Universities in Australia and worldwide, are building a new generation of learning and teaching spaces which are designed to encourage and support active and collaborative modes of learning and teaching. However, there is little evidence to show that students will recognise the contribution these spaces make to their learning. Temple (2008) argued that spaces may become more salient to students once they are satisfied with the quality of learning and teaching that occurs within them. In the present study, ten teachers worked collaboratively to develop and implement active and collaborative approaches to learning and teaching in their respective units. These approaches drew upon the affordances of one of these new generation spaces at Macquarie University, namely, the Collaborative Learning Forum. Evidence from a student evaluation survey (n=279) confirms Temple’s (2008) proposition and also suggests ways to encourage students to adopt a deeper approach to learning and to increase their satisfaction with the value and quality of their learning experience.