Towards digital campus – improving usability of learning environments

Abstract

Purpose: Digital learning environments provide new possibilities for organizing education. Additionally, these developments are transforming the existing and future learning environments. This research is based on a national project called DigiCampus in Finland. The project develops e.g. physical-digital learning landscapes for campuses.<br/>Design/methodology/approach: The approach is qualitative, more specifically descriptive and explorative. The approach was chosen to identify the functional and structural layers of retrofitted, digitally enriched learning environments. Three case studies are conducted in different universities. The first case study investigates the maturity level of the digital learning environments of existing buildings. The second case study introduces a multi-location classroom in two different campuses. The third case study presents a learning environment which is enriched by using different kind of smart tools which gather data for different purposes about the use of the learning environment. The chosen cases had similar intentions to use digitalization to update the existing spaces according to new ways of learning and teaching. The emphasis in each case was in the increase of collaboration and widening diversity in the campus environment. The data used in the analysis was comprised of the documentation of project plans for the retrofitting and other written material.<br/>Findings: Cross-case analysis indicates that both the digital and the physical architecture can be understood as layers for different functions and different stakeholders. Such structure provides a framework for developing usable digital learning environments.<br/>Practical implications: The outcome of the research is a checklist for usable digital learning environments, which points out the topics to be co-created among different stakeholders in developing the digital campus.<br/>Originality/value: The research provides an evidence-based overview of usability of digital learning environments emphasizing especially the retrofitting challenges in the process of developing both physical and digital usability simultaneously.<br/><br/>Keywords: learning landscape, digital, physical, usability, campus<br/>