Welcome and Opening Remarks

Prof. Yehudit Weinberger, Rector, Kibbutzim College of Education, Technology & the Arts

Mr. Eli Shmueli, Director, Meital – the Israeli Inter-University Centre for e-Learning

For recording of the opening greetings

Keynote

Professor Alejandro Armellini, University of Portsmouth: Designing for active blended learning and teaching in hybrid spaces

The earlier embedding of student-centred approaches into learning and teaching, co-creation and institutional capacity building were key to the transition to emergency remote teaching across the global HE sector from March 2020. In this session, Ale will reflect on how pedagogic transformation normalised before Covid-19 influenced the way institutions and their students operated during the pandemic. Drawing from his work at the University of Northampton between 2012 and 2020, and at the University of Portsmouth since 2020, he will explore what this preparedness involved, including creative and sometimes radical approaches. He will introduce Portsmouth's Digital Success Plan for Learning and Teaching, as the university embarked on the redesign of its portfolio for post-pandemic active blended learning in hybrid settings.

For the recorded presentation

Alejandro (Ale) Armellini is Professor and Dean of Digital and Distributed Learning at the University of Portsmouth in the United Kingdom. His key role is to provide leadership in digital learning and learning innovation. Before joining Portsmouth, Ale was Dean of Learning and Teaching at the University of Northampton, where he was the strategic lead for the redesign of all programmes for active blended learning. Ale is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. Ale’s research and doctoral supervision focus on learning innovation, blended and online pedagogy, institutional capacity building and open practices. He holds visiting professorships at several UK and overseas universities.

Lightning talks

Dr. Einat Gil, Kibbutzim College of Education, Technology & the Arts: A Three-fold perspective of hybrid learning spaces

Hybrid learning has become increasingly prevalent in the discourse of academic institutions and educational systems. The term has acquired numerous interpretations although it generally refers to different spaces of learning. The presentation introduces a three-fold evolving perspective of hybrid learning spaces from the first book chapter. It starts by focusing on historical roots and current meanings, presenting hybrid as blended. It then moves to Hybrid as a space of merging interactions, where connected mobile technology enters the space and adds to its dynamic. Last, we consider hybrid as fluid, to reflect a compound-like space where the boundaries of formal dichotomies are blurred and learner motivation takes a center stage.

For the recorded presentation

Dr. Tim Fawns, University of Edinburgh: H2m Pedagogy: Designing for Hybrid Learning in Medical Education

In May 2020, the University of Edinburgh announced the September launch of a hybrid model for all on-campus programmes. Teaching would be neither fully online nor fully on-campus, but able to take place in either or both modalities (e.g. remote and on-campus students learning together), and change location without major disruption to its design. In medicine, where learning practical skills through engagement in complex practice is crucial, there were significant pedagogical challenges. I discuss our approach to helping lecturers in medical education design for hybrid learning in a 2-metre world (i.e. where physical distancing requires a 2-metre separation between people) or “H2m”. 

For the recorded presentation

Dr. Anat Mor-Avi, Illinois Institute of Technology: Space WE-Q – Intelligent Space for Collaborative Creativity in Learning-driven Environments

Through a glimpse from a dissertation connecting education and architecture, the idea "Design and space do matter" in supporting innovation and a culture of a place in learning-driven domains’ will be discussed. Evidence indicates that collaborative creativity is essential for innovation, and creativity flourishes in contradictory patterns of settings and behaviours. This lecture introduces a study investigating hybrid spatial patterns supporting a collaborative culture with participatory creativity. The research studied how an active, adaptive design approach might emerge as support for paradigm shifts relative to the learning and creative processes. It further aims to present a relationship between learning, creativity, and space by introducing hybrid patterns of architectural affordances that may promote new learning behaviours and positive emotions impacting collaborative creativity.

For the recorded presentation

Professor Yannis Dimitriadis, University of Valladolid and Dr. Yishay Mor, Meital: Practical predictions for hybrid learning spaces

The chapters of this book provide a broad and deep perspective of the state of Hybrid Learning Spaces (HLS) and the emerging ethical, pedagogical, administrative, architectural and technological issues. Nevertheless – many readers might find themselves wondering what the concrete implications of these insights are, in the short, medium and long term. In an attempt to answer this question, we have conducted a rapid quasi-Delphi study among the authors of the various chapters. We will present key insights emerging from this study.

For the recorded presentation