Faculty development Kick-off Event

Space Matters: Supporting Active Learning

Adam Finkelstein, Associate Director, Learning Environments, McGill University

Students in higher education that engage in deep learning show greater educational gains and success. In order to create these opportunities for meaningful, deep learning students need to be actively engaged in the classroom. While active learning can be implemented in any classroom, where we learn has a significant impact on how we learn. As educators, we need to be aware of the impact that learning spaces can have on learning and how we can best take advantage of them. We will examine evidence of how students learn, the impact that space can have on learning, and why space matters for not only active learning, but for all learning.

Adam Finkelstein

About Adam Finkelstein

Adam Finkelstein is currently Associate Director, Learning Environments (Physical and Digital) at Teaching and Learning Services at McGill University. He develops university-wide initiatives to improve teaching and learning environments.

In his tenure at McGill, he has managed a team of instructional designers and multimedia programmers. He has developed many different types of award-winning technology-enhanced teaching and learning projects for McGill including multimedia CD-ROMs, learning objects, simulations, and other online environments - including multiple previous implementations of McGill'ss learning management systems.

His area of research interest includes the interrelationship of teaching and learning in physical (classroom, teaching and simulation labs) and digital (online learning) environments. He has also been very much involved in the implementation of technology in education and instructional/learning design for online and face-to-face learning.

Over the last few years, he has been focused on designing innovative physical and virtual learning spaces. He is currently the Chair of two groups responsible for the selection, design, and renovation of classrooms and teaching labs at McGill, including numerous new Active Learning Classrooms and Labs. He is also Team Lead for the design and delivery of McGill's first four Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).