News

Campus snapshot

[ The University of Melbourne Voice Vol. 1, No. 3  16 - 30 April 2007 ]

The Learning Lab

A new teaching and learning space in the University of Melbourne’s School of Chemistry – the Learning Lab – provides a model and ‘laboratory’ for new approaches to the teaching of first year chemistry. Chemistry subjects are taken by students majoring in the sciences and by those in engineering, the medical, health and veterinary sciences, commerce and arts. The Learning Lab aims to foster development of group and collaborative approaches to teaching and learning in a specifically designed space and using state of the art technology. The multi-level space accommodates a class of up to 40, in five zones of up to eight students, each arranged for active discussion. Each zone has PCs and access for laptops, a document camera and a large LCD display controlled either centrally by the tutors, or independently by the students in the group. Learning Lab design and development team member, Associate Professor Peter Tregloan, reports the newly opened space currently hosts around 35 classes and 1200 students a week.