Open-space learning

Open-space Learning or OSL

Open-space Learning, or OSL, is a pedagogic methodology that was created, developed, and practiced at the University of Warwick beginning in 2007. OSL is an interdisciplinary, or better, a transdisciplinary pedagogy, that seeks to challenge the lecture and seminar mode that dominates as the teaching orthodoxy in most British universities. The pedagogy is dependent on the use of physically 'open' spaces - in the sense that tables and chairs are absent - and an 'open' approach to intellectual content and the role of the tutor. Participants in OSL, typically but not exclusively, learn in an 'embodied' way. Further detail is available on the OSL website, and in Open-space Learning: a Transdisciplinary Pedagogy. ^[1]

Origins

OSL developed from the work of Warwick's CAPITAL Centre (Creativity and Performance in Teaching and Learning), which was one of the Higher Education Funding Councils of England's (HEFCE) CETLs (Centres of Excellence in Teaching and Learning.) CAPITAL was a collaboration between the Institute of Education at Warwick, the Department of English, and the Royal Shakespeare Company. The basic idea was to apply the practices and theories of the theatrical rehearsal room and the theatrical ensemble across a university curriculum. From these early aspirations developed a pedagogy that has now been used successfully in a dozen departments including Chemistry, Law, Business, English, Mathematics, and Medicine.

People

OSL is a collaborative pedagogic practice and does not, therefore, have a single originator or author. Individuals involved in creating and developing the practice and theory include, in alphabetical order: Susan Brock, Jonathan Heron, Ruth Leary, Nicholas Monk, Jonothan Neelands, Robert O'Toole, Paul Prescott, Paul Raffield, Carol Chillington Rutter, Peter Sadler, and Barry Sheils. The project was made possible by a grant from the National Teaching Fellowship Scheme run by the Higher Education Academy.

References

^ Monk, Nicholas, Jonathan Heron, Jonathan Neelands, Carol Chillington Rutter. Open-space Learning: a Study in Interdisciplinary Pedagogy. London: Bloomsbury, 2011. Bloomsbury Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities. Print and Web.

External links

University of Warwick Royal Shakespeare Company

[1] Monk, Nicholas, Jonathan Heron, Jonathan Neelands, Carol Chillington Rutter. Open-space Learning: a Study in Interdisciplinary Pedagogy. London: Bloomsbury, 2011. Bloomsbury Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities. Print and Web.

[1]