Managing Academic Space

El espacio, ya sea físico o virtual, puede tener un impacto significativo en el aprendizaje. Learning Spaces se centra en la forma en que las expectativas de los alumnos influyen en dichos espacios, en los principios y actividades que facilitan el aprendizaje y en el papel de la tecnología desde la perspectiva de quienes crean los entornos de aprendizaje: profesores, tecnólogos del aprendizaje, bibliotecarios y administradores. La tecnología de la información ha aportado capacidades únicas a los espacios de aprendizaje, ya sea estimulando una mayor interacción mediante el uso de herramientas de colaboración, videoconferencias con expertos internacionales o abriendo mundos virtuales para la exploración. Este libro representa una exploración continua a medida que unimos el espacio, la tecnología y la pedagogía para asegurar el éxito de los estudiantes.

Three critical areas: managing time and space, managing student behavior, managing instructional strategies.

The great universities of the world are to a large extent defined in the public imagination by their physical form: when people think of a university, they usually think of a distinctive place, rather than about say the teaching or the research that might go on there. This is understandable, both because universities usually stay rooted to the same spot over the centuries; and because their physical forms may send powerful messages about the kind of places they are. The physical form of the university, and how the spaces within it become transformed by their users into places which hold meanings for them, has become of increased interest recently from both academic and institutional management perspectives, when trying to understand more about how universities work, and how they may be made more effective. Yet, despite its seemingly obvious importance, the available literature on space and place in higher education internationally is scant when compared to that dealing with, say, teaching and learning methods, or with evaluating quality, or many other topics. This book brings together a range of academic and professional perspectives on university spaces and places, and show how technical matters of building design, maintenance and use interact with academic considerations on the goals of the university. Space issues are located at an intellectual crossroads, where widely differing conceptual and professional perspectives meet, and need to be integrated and this important book brings together perspectives from around the world to show design and use issues are changing Higher Education.. Globally, higher education is being required to do more things – to teach more students, to be better at research, to engage more with business and communities; and many other things. These pressures are leading universities to reconsider their management processes, as well as their academic structures: an often-quoted saying is that "we make our buildings, and afterwards they make us". At a time when universities and colleges are seeking competitive advantages, ideas and analysis about space design and use is much needed and will be well-received.

The term Facilities Management has become global but fraught with confusion as to what the term signifies. For some, notably in the USA, Facilities Management remains a discipline of human ecology. Elsewhere the term has become conflated with an alternative meaning: providing or outsourcing the provision of various services essential to the operation of particular buildings. This volume redresses that imbalance to remind Facilities Management of its roots, presenting evidence of Facilities Management success stories that engage the wider objectives of the organizations they serve, and engaging students, scholars and critical practitioners of general management with an appreciation of the power and influence of physical space and its place in the theory and practice of organizations. This book includes management perspectives from outside the field to ensure that the issues raised are seen in an organizational and management context, informing debate within the Facilities Management fraternity. It draws on human ecology and the perspective of the firm as, itself, an intra-organizational ecology of social constructs. The ecology of a firm is not restricted to the firm’s boundaries. It extends to wider relationships between the firm and its stakeholders including, in an age of outsourced building services, the Facilities Management supply chain. This volume offers arguments and evidence that managing such constructs is a key role for Facilities Management and an important participant in the provision of truly usable spaces.