Linking Pedagogy and Space

A range of artificial lighting characteristics have been found to influence our visual and cognitive capabilities, mood, motivation and/or (social) behaviour—all affecting how we (academically) perform. One such influential characteristic is spatial contrast, or the way light is distributed in space causing a pattern of light and darkness. This study looks at if and how spatial contrast influences pupil behaviour, and specifically their ability to concentrate. We first explored whether variances in pupil noise, physical activity and mood, which have been found to affect concentration, occur when exposed to either a high or a low spatial contrast in their learning environment. Preliminary data from field experiments in a primary school indicates towards decreased noise levels and improved environmental satisfaction when a high spatial contrast condition is present. This implies improved environmental circumstances to concentrate. Further research to confirm this assumption will be un...

When changing from traditional classrooms to innovative learning environments it is crucial to include the users of the environment in the design process. However, participatory processes might be limited by contrasting expertise, cultures, priorities or project restrictions, which poses a risk to the alignment of spatial design and pedagogical practices. To meet this challenge, the article proposes a postdesign participatory activation process aimed to support the transition into new learning spaces. This is exemplified in an empirical case, where co-design methods and physical design objects have been explored as tools to foster spatial literacy and competencies in a fifth-grade cohort (teachers and students), and potentially match pedagogical practices with spatial affordances. Participatory activation is believed to be an ongoing process because learning environments are not static designs-they keep evolving based on people, pedagogies and practices.

This chapter advances the idea that in order to improve twenty-firstcentury learning environments for students and particularly for teachers, it is necessary to enhance the spirit of collective culture, called 'WE', versus the spirit of individualism, called 'I', and provides an example of how this is reflected in the design of learning spaces. Both of these cohorts use learning, working and doing processes, and face major changes from educational mandates. A 'WE' cultural environment will be discussed in order to support multiple aspects of collaboration and creativity, where hub-specific solutions empower the two groups as collectives, supporting a 'WE LEaRN HUB' setting. Connecting practice to research, a process of change in school design related to the 'WE' culture is presented through an academic park built in Israel. This academic park uses an introductory design of the hub's setting approach, supporting the 'WE' of both communities and reflecting new approaches in learning processes.

A Web survey of 1,715 college students was conducted to examine Facebook Groups users' gratifications and the relationship between users' gratifications and their political and civic participation offline. A factor analysis revealed four primary needs for participating in groups within Facebook: socializing, entertainment, self-status seeking, and information. These gratifications vary depending on user demographics such as gender, hometown, and year in school. The analysis of the relationship between users' needs and civic and political participation indicated that, as predicted, informational uses were more correlated to civic and political action than to recreational uses.

UPPR’s multi-dimensional approach has a strong focus also on the provision support for extreme poor households children’s education through a grant for up to 3 years. Gazipur City Federation, due to its proximity to Dhaka City, has many urban poor communities with children that have very low levels of education that impacts their potential to break out of the cycle of poverty. By focusing on providing education to the extreme poor and poor, and training on stopping early marriage, Gazipur CDC groups have begun making an improved change within their communities. Beside appropriate distribution of the education grants of UPPR, the Primary Group and CDC leaders were able to improve and support access to primary education through free studentships and education materials by liaising with the municipality and the school authorities.

Given the increasing uptake of the social network site Facebook, mass communication researchers have begun focusing on what drives people to use the site and what kinds of information they interact with. Perhaps because of the relative novelty of Facebook, little research has scratched beneath the surface to explore why people engage in certain functions the site offers. Attention to these engagements and the motivations behind them could help improve current mass communication approaches, especially in critical industries such as news media, where traditional models are struggling to evolve. This study explored user motivations for engaging in link-sharing through Facebook, uncovering motives that extend beyond those of previous research. The findings also consider the influence of those motivations on linking frequency, and link content, introducing motivations that add to current viewpoints of social network sites as information hubs. It also provides new media researchers and practitioners with novel insight into an increasingly important Facebook behavior.

A Web survey of 1,715 college students was conducted to examine Facebook Groups users' gratifications and the relationship between users' gratifications and their political and civic participation offline. A factor analysis revealed four primary needs for participating in groups within Facebook: socializing, entertainment, self-status seeking, and information. These gratifications vary depending on user demographics such as gender, hometown, and year in school. The analysis of the relationship between users' needs and civic and political participation indicated that, as predicted, informational uses were more correlated to civic and political action than to recreational uses.

This paper explores uses and gratifications of a content community on a social network service-a music video sharing group on Facebook. In a two-stage study, 20 users first generated words or phrases to describe how they used the group, and what they enjoyed about their use. These phrases were coded into 34 questionnaire items that were then completed by 57 new participants. Factor analysis on this data revealed four gratifications: contribution; discovery; social interaction and entertainment. These factors are interpreted and discussed, leading to design implications and guidelines aimed at informing the design of future online services that combine media sharing with social interaction to create online systems based on a rich and meaningful object-centered sociality.

The study examined the role of self-presentation on MySpace pages through the information users post on their sites. MySpace users were more comfortable with posting the broad pieces of information, like gender, race, zodiac sign, and hometown. They were not as willing to present personal information like income, whether they smoke or drank or groups they belonged to. Age and motivations for creating a page were major predictors of how much information people revealed about themselves.

With Twitter's functional shift from a personal messaging system to a news-and information-sharing platform, linking to information and other content has emerged as one critical use of the microblogging site. Through a survey of Twitter users, this study explored the motivations for those linking practices, examining them as a window into forms of information sharing and seeking on social network sites. Findings revealed a central social role for hyperlinks, indicating their use to seek information by soliciting reciprocal linking from other users. The study also considered the role of news and information sharing in the linking decisions of more popular users, as well as differences in linking motivations and practices based on specific topics. The findings provide new insights for researchers and practitioners into an increasingly important part of users' engagement and information flows on Twitter. Broader implications for communication scholars and practitioners are discussed.

ABSTRACT This paper explores uses and gratifications of a content community on a social network service–a music video sharing group on Facebook. In a two-stage study, 20 users first generated words or phrases to describe how they used the group, and what they enjoyed about their use. These phrases were coded into 34 questionnaire items that were then completed by 57 new participants. Factor analysis on this data revealed four gratifications: contribution; discovery; social interaction and entertainment.

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