University of Glasgow Connect

The Guild seminar series: Designing teaching and study spaces to support educational change

We have recently opened a new Learning and Teaching building, the James McCune Smith Learning Hub (JMSLH). Within the building are new teaching and study spaces that support collaborative learning and social study space as well as quiet study space. 

The experience for students and staff is unlike anything else on the campus and reflects a commitment to supporting active learning.  

We're offering two seminar sessions on 2 March 2022 to explore the development and the possibilities for other universities. Each is tailored for a slightly different audience although for some people, both may be of interest.  

The seminars will be chaired by Professor Moira Fischbacher-Smith, Vice-Principal (Learning & Teaching), University of Glasgow.

Session 1: Designing teaching and study spaces: A collaborative approach to design 

The focus is on the opportunity that the JMSLH provided and how we worked across Estates, ITS, L&T and with our student partners.  We will discuss how we developed design principles to shape our approach, a new student support model, and how we worked with industry partners – in this case, with Steelcase. In this two-hour long session we offer around 45 mins of presentation, then Q&A with a panel including colleagues from estates, IT, academic development and former student project board members.  

Session 2: Supporting educational change  

In this session, the focus will be on the approaches we have taken to engage colleagues in changing educational practice.  We will look at the role of the pilot spaces across campus as we developed designs for the new building, the engagement with the first year course coordinators and some ideas for supporting future teaching practice.  In the discussions we will give some consideration to the possibilities of multi-disciplinary teaching teams. 

Primary audience: academic developers, learning technologists, learning support staff and academics, possibly also departmental heads. 

Find out more and register

Professor Moira Fischbacher-Smith is responsible for strategy and policy development for learning and teaching, oversees quality enhancement, admissions policy and widening participation, and leads on collaborations with the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA), Further Education Colleges and Glasgow International College.  She is a member of the Project Board that is developing a new Learning and Teaching Hub on the University's main campus and oversees refurbishment of central teaching spaces on campus.