Where should we sit? Classroom seating arrangements and student learning

As we prepare for the next academic year, many of us are no doubt anticipating a (partial at least) return to campus-based teaching.

OSDU's Katy Savage and I were in a handful of teaching rooms in the Graham Hills Building recently and began discussing the impact of classroom seating arrangements on teaching and learning. We reached the conclusion that what might seem trivial can have a potentially significant impact on a whole raft of considerations - from the teacher's approach to teaching and learning to the kinds of learning activities that might work (or not work) in certain learning spaces, student and peer learning, and various issues related to accessibility and inclusivity.

While there are always, of course, physical limitations to the ways in which certain on-campus teaching spaces can be configured, today's micro CPD input includes a helpful infographic from the Yale Poorvu Centre alongside a helpful annotation of each example to promote discussion and reflection on this important topic.