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Chapter 6: Building an effective learning environment

Figure 6.1: One learning environment

Announcement

The purpose of this chapter

When you have completed this chapter you should be able to:

  • design and implement a learning environment that best meets the needs of your course and student

Building a comprehensive and effective learning environment is an important condition for implementing teaching and learning for the digital age. This chapter discusses the key components of a learning environment and how these are affected by developments in a digital age. The chapter covers the following topics:

  • 6.1 Integrating design principles within a rich learning environment

  • 6.2 What is a learning environment?

  • 6.3 Learner characteristics

  • 6.4 Managing content

  • 6.5 Developing skills

  • 6.6 Learner support

  • 6.7 Resources

  • 6.8 Assessment of learning

  • 6.9 Culture and learning environments

  • 6.10 Conclusions

    • Also in this chapter you will find the following activities:

    Key Takeaways

    1. Context – the learning environment – will influence or determine teaching strategies, as well as epistemology and pedagogy
    2. Thus to be able to design effective teaching, it is necessary to create an effective learning environment.
    3. Digital technology allows for the creation of significantly different learning environments from the traditional classroom environment.
    4. All effective learning environments need a number of different components, and these components will vary, depending on context and the epistemology that drives teaching.