Education Central

One of the values that underpinned the development of Education Central was that the building would be a lighthouse to the university community and beyond, allowing staff to explore, research and demonstrate the nexus between technology, space, and new paradigms of learning informed by networks and connectivity. Within the space of one year, Education Central, clearly acting as a lighthouse, is challenging the way that the whole of the University is thinking about how we teach students, accommodate their diverse learning styles, build a sense of community amongst learners, capitalise on technological advances in delivery modes, and ensure that students are truly at the heart of our enterprise. It is gratifying to read preliminary research results that reveal overwhelmingly positive student responses to the new spaces: “I just want to go to uni just to be in the building! [laughs] No! I mean serious!” (student). And it is perversely gratifying to discover that non-Education staff jockey for use of the spaces because they appreciate the affordances they offer, and that non-Education students beguilingly assume tenancy in common to the point, on occasions, of being a nuisance.