Postgraduate Course: Digital Education: Spaces (EDUA11475)
Course Outline
| School | Moray House School of Education and Sport |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
| Course type | Online Distance Learning |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course considers the complex and changing relationship between technology and space, including the ways that digital resources profoundly affect the conceptualisation and construction of those settings where educational activity is performed. Combining theoretical work with practical activities, students will examine how the flow of data and proliferation of digital resources actively shape learning spaces, for instance through personalisation, mobility, commercialisation and the de-centring of the physical classroom and campus. |
| Course description |
Digital technologies profoundly affect how, where and when teaching and learning happens. In this course we ask how digital technologies are helping to reshape our learning spaces, for instance by increasingly enabling educational activity to be performed in domestic, social and transitory settings beyond the classroom and campus. A 'learning space' refers here to any setting where teaching, writing, reading, reflection, training or any other form of educational activity happens. This includes traditional settings like lecture theatres, labs, and libraries, but also the museum, gallery, studio, forest, city, café and elsewhere.
To achieve this, you will have the freedom to tailor course themes, readings and assignments to the learning spaces that are most personally or professional meaningful. This may be the school, college, university, library, cultural heritage, professional training, or another setting. You¿ll apply theory and research to practice, engaging with themes could include augmented reality, hybridity, mobility, power, sustainability, and the design of positive learning spaces.
Guided by the expertise of the MSc in Digital Education team, you'll participate in research-informed activities and events featuring leading scholars. Stay at the forefront of this dynamic field, with access to the latest studies and innovations that are shaping the future of educational spaces. Join us as we redefine the classroom, campus and other spaces for learning.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2025/26, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 0 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
196 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
There are two assignments in this course:
Postdigital account of a learning space (30%):
Building upon the conceptual and methodological grounding covered in the opening weeks of the course, you will prepare a postdigital account of a learning space. To do this you will first document your different learning spaces over a fixed period of time. This may include taking notes, photographs, reflections, and more. You will then present these data alongside a 1000-word rationale reflecting on what they say about the relationship between learning spaces and digital technologies.
Essay (70%):
You will prepare a 2500-word essay that explores one of the course themes in depth. This will be a theme of your choosing, and connected to your interest or professional need. It will be a written essay, although you are encouraged to include visual and other material where it helps to illustrate ideas or to advance arguments.
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| Feedback |
The course will be characterised by regular feedback opportunities, including formative and summative feedback from staff, peer feedback achieved through group exercises, and opportunities for self-generating feedback.
Each 2-week block will include a short (non-assessed) practical exercise where students will share examples of work before offering comments and encouragement in response to artefacts produced by their peers. As well as nurturing an active and collaborative community, each student will benefit from being exposed to a broader range of perspectives, while also engaging in dialogue with their peers. Staff will take a light touch approach in these activities, offering general pointers to the group that will enable students to generate their own feedback.
The first piece of formal feedback will be provided at the midway point in the course. The Postdigital account of a learning space assessment (worth 30%) is designed and timed to provide timely and constructive feedback in a relatively low-stakes setting. Students will receive individualised feedback from course staff that will feed forward into the second half of the course and the major summative assessment exercise (the essay).
Upon completion of the essay, students will be provided with individualised feedback that evaluates the submitted work against the assessment criteria, but also offers feedforward that can support subsequent study. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Conceptualise the relationship between learning spaces and technologies.
- Critically engage with research around learning spaces, including the potentialities and conflicts associated with digital technologies.
- Demonstrate a critical understanding of how digital technologies affect a range of traditional and emergent learning spaces.
- Generate and critically analyse data to understand the relationship between digital technologies and a specific learning space.
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Reading List
Bayne, S., Gallagher, M.S. & Lamb, J. Being ¿at¿ university: the social topologies of distance students. High Educ 67, 569¿583 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-013-9662-4
Hills, D., & Thomas, G. (2019). Digital technology and outdoor experiential learning. Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning, 20(2), 155¿169. https://doi-org.eux.idm.oclc.org/10.1080/14729679.2019.1604244
Lamb, J. & Carvalho, L. (2024). Postdigital Learning Spaces: Towards Convivial, Equitable and Sustainable Spaces for Learning. Springer, Cham. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-59691-9
Lamb, J., Fawns, T., Noteboom, J., & Ross, J. (2025). Choreography and improvisation in hybrid teaching. Higher Education Research & Development, 44(1), 98¿115. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2024.2435855
Mulcahy, D. (2018). Assembling Spaces of Learning ¿In¿ Museums and Schools: A Practice-Based Sociomaterial Perspective. In: Ellis, R., Goodyear, P. (eds) Spaces of Teaching and Learning. Understanding Teaching-Learning Practice. Springer, Singapore. https://doi-org.eux.idm.oclc.org/10.1007/978-981-10-7155-3_2
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Critical and reflective thinking: the ability to critically interrogate the complex ways that digital technologies affect learning spaces and practices
Communication: the ability to effectively present academic knowledge in digital and richly multimodal ways
Research: the ability to undertake a small-scale qualitative research exercise, including the generation and analysis of visual and sonic data. |
| Keywords | Learning space,Hybrid space,Mobile learning,Campus,Classroom |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Mr James Lamb
Tel: (0131 6)51 6243
Email: James.Lamb@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Annemarijn Huizinga
Tel:
Email: ahuizing@ed.ac.uk |
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