The Missing Link: Aligning Blended Curricula with Physical Learning Spaces in Health Interprofessional Education

Abstract

This chapter addresses the topic of aligning physical learning spaces with contemporary curricula in medicine and health professions education on university campuses. It is argued that the design of physical learning spaces is more important than ever at a time of an increased use of virtual learning approaches and a rapidly changing health landscape. The section discusses how to develop an educational building program of new learning spaces and how to repurpose existing spaces. A conceptual framework is based on the four scales—the networked learning landscape model—which was developed to assess existing learning spaces , analyze them in relation to emerging curricula and to design new learning spaces. The networked learning landscape model also enabled the dynamic integration of differing scales, something all to often overlooked in the development of new or repurposed existing learning spaces. The Karolinska Institutet case study provides insights into how educational leaders can take charge of developing physical learning spaces based on the educational theory. It also provides insights into how to work with faculty prior to, during and after a building project; indeed, how to—ultimately—give contemporary curricula an aligned physical expression to improve student learning based on current evidence and theories in education. The overall aim of this chapter is to present a case study which offers a practice-based, research-informed approach of how to ensure that the physical infrastructure of educational organizations supports high-quality learning. Karolinska Institutet and the Karolinska University Hospital, Sweden, are used as a case study on how to develop a building program for repurposing existing, and producing new, physical teaching and learning spaces. This case study is offered as an example of how to develop a process involving academics in lead roles in the teaching and learning space development program in order to better inform the educational purpose of a learning space project and its outcome s (Ellis and Fisher in Adapting to change in university learning space: Informing and being informed by feedback from senior university leaders, 2014). The emphasis is on how the approach and process were developed rather than the actual design and spatial solutions, which will make this case relevant for other sectors outside medical and health professions education. The case study presented here is based on the Future Learning Environment Project between 2009 and 2016. Over an 7-year period, the Future Learning Environment project at Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital has been a whole-of-institution endeavor, aimed at providing the best possible learning environment for students, teachers and leaders to meet Karolinska Institutet’s and the Karolinska University Hospital’s aspirations, visions and missions (Karolinska Institutet, 2017a, b). The case study illustrates the use of research outcomes from a variety of sources and sectors in a translational sense for the practice of designing and realizing learning spaces (Ellis and Fisher, in Place -based spaces for networked learning. New York, NY: Routledge, pp. 241–255, 2017).