Innovating Lecturing: Spatial Change and Staff-Student Pedagogic Relationships for Learning

Abstract

Lecture halls, an enduring feature of higher education landscapes, are undergoing a spatial revolution. These materialize a pedagogic imaginary of technology-enhanced, student-centered learning. This article investigates the pedagogic performance of a contemporary lecture theater in regional Australia, presenting mixed-method data from a broader case study. Four design principles – learner-centricity, connectivity, flexibility, and affordances – organize the analysis, finding that spaces, technologies, staff, and students work in conjunction to perform a spectrum of teaching modes. In practice, staff pedagogic repertoires, spatial literacies, and teaching philosophies entangle in socio-spatial pedagogic relationships that facilitate, rather than dictate, student learning in lecturing spaces.