In-between dominant learning spaces: revealing a gap in our thinking about interstitiality and learning

A profound understanding of the higher education learning space is emerging through recent works that pay more attention to the learner's experience than to creating landmark architecture. (Harrison & Hutton, 2013). The aim of the workshop is to prove that technology and media can disrupt instrumental thinking about the learning space. It will, introduce the problem of learning binaries (10 minutes) introduce the concepts of in-between space in relation to hybrid learning, and liminality (10 minutes) generate and share stories in small groups in which personal and portable digital technologies and media play a pivotal role at the intersection of formal and non-formal physical, digital hybrid learning space (25 minutes) conclude by devising a manifesto for liminal learning! The session will build upon ideas of Third Space and hybridity (Gutierrez et al. , 1999), in-between space (Shortt, 2014) and liminality (Turner, 1969). Participants will co-produce stories and discover new spaces for new ideas of learning. There is a gulf between views that perpetuate outmoded forms of higher education and our future aspirations for learning in hybrid, connective spaces. We need to overcome resistance to, and fear of, the transformed learning space and relinquish the persistent realities of yesterday’s structures and cultures. We need to embrace transformative thinking based on what we know about people, learning, space and today’s digital technologies. Binaries are often used to describe higher education learning, which are convenient but mostly meaningless: physical-virtual, formal-informal, teaching-learning, private-public, and others. In this workshop we will explore learning binaries and reveal them to be barriers to understanding deep, rich and hidden learning continua with which we can transform learning. A key idea behind liminality is the ritual of passing from one state to another (Turner, 1969). As we examine and break down learning binaries we will identify ritual transition points which can be used to challenge, inspire or shift the learner from dependent directed learner to independent, autonomous and self-determined learner. However, we will also consider ideas like translocation, displacement and alienation in order to understand the learner’s sense of being lost or out of sight in-between conceptions of dominant learning spaces. We will reflect on the role of the digital in facilitating transition through the learning space. References Gutierrez , K. D., Baquedano‐Lopez, P., & Tejeda, C. (1999). Rethinking diversity: hybridity and hybrid language practices in the third space. Mind, Culture, and Activity, 6(4), pp. 286-303. Harrison, A. & Hutton, L. (2013). Design for the changing educational landscape: Space, place and the future of learning. Routledge. Shortt, H. (2014). Liminality, space and the importance of ‘transitory dwelling places’ at work. Human Relations, 68(4), pp. 1–26. Turner V.W. (1969). The ritual process: structure and anti-structure. Chicago: Aldine.