Better Learning Environments

Does your induction room look like this?

Chairs and desks in a classroom

Let’s unpack why most training rooms are like this:

• It fits in the most people into the space you have
• Everyone is facing the front
• Attempts to replicate a classroom environment
• Discourages talking between attendees
• Everyone else does it right?

When reflecting critically on if your attendees are engaged and generating the desired learning outcomes and you find yourself not happy, why not attempt a different room configuration?

It’s one of the simplest, and small changes you can make today to generate a better learning environment. 

Let’s unpack the above reasons why you chose the 2×2 to convince you to try a change:

• Fits the most people in a room
  • Incorrect, small group arrangements can fit in just as many people in a room, consider the below alternatives
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• Everyone is facing the front
  • Is that what you want? It means that people when speaking can’t see how the people behind them are responding (visually) to their comments. This type of arrangement diminishes psychological safety (listen here for a primer from Safety on Tap) in the room. It further means that people can’t work in small groups to overcome issues or achieve learning outcomes. With most of our work now being team based, shouldn’t we be promoting collaboration, not isolated thinking?
• Attempts to replicate a classroom environment
  • Because learning happens in a classroom environment right, wrong. For those of you who don’t have kids, this is now what classrooms & learning environments now look like.
    

    

    Don’t worry though some universities are still slow to catch on. They days of the lecturer & teller are over, the rise of the facilitator has begun. Also most people don’t have fond memories of their time at school, why would we want to replicate those feelings and influence our people in this manner?

• Discourages talking between attendees
  • Because silence is the best learning environment? C’mon, we want interaction, we are not just transferring information, we should be attempting to introduce and create relationships in our learning environments.  To assist this, small cards folded over in a tent fashion with attendees names written on both sides help this process. Even encouraging people to draw a small picture of their interests will help with starting a conversation.

Everyone else does it right – well no, and I hope now, armed with the above and a new mindset towards learning environments you can change yours and those who you interact with.

If you need a little more help a free design process is available here, which is a virtual layout tool that helps you design customised and effective learning environments to promote learning. Use this tool to rearrange and set-up mock areas, and map out virtual seating charts.