{"id":1503,"date":"2018-03-28T14:44:48","date_gmt":"2018-03-28T18:44:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www-chris.dawsoncollege.qc.ca\/news\/?p=1503"},"modified":"2021-08-04T16:58:43","modified_gmt":"2021-08-04T20:58:43","slug":"world-first-56-feet-of-digital-teaching-space-at-dawson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www-chris.dawsoncollege.qc.ca\/news\/world-first-56-feet-of-digital-teaching-space-at-dawson\/","title":{"rendered":"World first: 56 feet of digital teaching space at Dawson"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Reprinted with edits from files from Nureva and EducationDive)<\/em><\/p>\n

Photo credit:\u00a0Tom Berthelot<\/em><\/p>\n

Calgary-based Nureva Inc., an award-winning collaboration-solutions company, has partnered with Dawson to create the world\u2019s largest installation of its visual collaboration systems in a single classroom.<\/p>\n

The unique configuration is located in an active-learning classroom at Dawson (3H.10) and includes eight Nureva Walls that have created 56 feet or just over 17 metres of digital workspace. This enhances active learning by providing students with more powerful tools for collaboration and expanded interactive space where they can create, visualize and manipulate learning objects while building knowledge together.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been more than a decade since a small group of professors at Dawson started to experiment with active learning. Today, those early initiatives have evolved into a movement that\u2019s transforming the way teachers teach and students learn.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has injected new life into the kinds of things I can do in the classroom,\u201d says Chris Whittaker (Physics), one of the College\u2019s early proponents of the student-focused approach to teaching.<\/p>\n

Based on the academic literature and research done in his own classrooms, Whittaker is confident that his students learn better when they spend less time listening to him lecture and more time working together through collaborative activities and projects. \u201cStudents are getting to much deeper levels of conversation, asking me much more profound questions and engaging with the material in a way that I\u2019ve never seen before.\u201d<\/p>\n

To support this growing interest in active learning, the College has created several unique learning spaces equipped with innovative technology tools that are opening up exciting new possibilities for both teaching and learning.<\/p>\n

Using technology to shake up teaching<\/h4>\n

Dawson\u2019s main focus is teaching, so it\u2019s not surprising that an increasing number of its faculty want to make learning more student centered.<\/p>\n

Through a combination of research and experience, the college has learned lessons about what works and what doesn\u2019t when it comes to implementing active learning strategies. Importantly, says Whittaker, the development of pedagogical capacity can be enhanced by the right space and the right technology. \u201cWhen you combine development in the pedagogy, technology and a design of a classroom space, you can get much better learning opportunities,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why Dawson College is supporting active learning on several fronts. There\u2019s a thriving learning community for professors who share ideas on using active learning techniques in their teaching. The college has also created three technology-rich active learning classrooms. These unique spaces are filled with interactive tools that enrich the collaboration experience for students and allow professors to \u201cpush the envelope\u201d in their teaching practice.<\/p>\n

Putting \u201cfantastic learning tools\u201d into the hands of students<\/h4>\n

When you step inside the active learning classrooms at Dawson, you don\u2019t see a traditional technology setup with one interactive workspace for the teacher. Instead, multiple touch surfaces are spread around the room, giving student groups their own spaces for collaboration.<\/p>\n

Two of those high-tech classrooms are equipped with seven interactive whiteboards in each room. And the newest space has eight\u00a0Nureva\u2122 Walls<\/a>\u00a0running\u00a0Span\u2122 software<\/a>\u00a0installed in a single classroom. This unique configuration transforms the walls into 56′ (17.06 m) of digital workspace and is the world\u2019s largest installation of\u00a0Nureva visual collaboration solutions<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Whittaker says that the goal was to create as many opportunities as possible for students to collaborate, so putting multiple systems in one room simply made sense. \u201cWe felt, \u2018Why wouldn\u2019t you put a fantastic learning tool into the hands of the people who need it \u2013 the learners?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

That bold and innovative approach is having dramatic effects on the quality of collaboration.<\/p>\n

Elizabeth Charles is a researcher at Dawson College who studies the impact educational technology and innovative spaces have on learning. Charles says large shared interactive workspaces give students more room to think and encourage collaborative conversations, which result in deeper learning.<\/p>\n

She says because the Nureva Walls can be linked, creating a continuous digital canvas, they add an \u201cexciting\u201d immersive element to the active learning space. \u201cAs a teacher, you can create an environment that your students can immerse themselves in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pushing the limits for better learning<\/h4>\n

Active learning is clearly catching on at Dawson College. Today, nearly 20 percent of faculty members are using these techniques in their teaching. Whittaker expects the new Nureva technology products to spark even more interest. He says professors who were already eager to use the interactive whiteboard classrooms are now \u201cblown away\u201d by what they can now do in the new Nureva room.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re starting to understand how far an interactive touch surface can go,\u201d says Whittaker, who is now looking forward to seeing the new directions he and his colleagues can take learning to make it more memorable and meaningful for their students.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.nureva.com\/company-news\/eight-nureva-walls-transform-active-learning-classroom-at-dawson-college<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Reprinted with edits from files from Nureva and EducationDive) Photo credit:\u00a0Tom Berthelot Calgary-based Nureva Inc., an award-winning collaboration-solutions company, has partnered with Dawson to create the world\u2019s largest installation of its visual collaboration systems in a single classroom. The unique configuration is located in an active-learning classroom at Dawson (3H.10) and includes eight Nureva Walls…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":207,"featured_media":1504,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www-chris.dawsoncollege.qc.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1503"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www-chris.dawsoncollege.qc.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www-chris.dawsoncollege.qc.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www-chris.dawsoncollege.qc.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/207"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www-chris.dawsoncollege.qc.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1503"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www-chris.dawsoncollege.qc.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1503\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1505,"href":"https:\/\/www-chris.dawsoncollege.qc.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1503\/revisions\/1505"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www-chris.dawsoncollege.qc.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www-chris.dawsoncollege.qc.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www-chris.dawsoncollege.qc.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www-chris.dawsoncollege.qc.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}