CONNECTSpace Project: Final Report

Abstract

The CONNECTSpace at the University of Sydney Business School represents a major intervention in learning space innovation, designed to support the Connected Learning at Scale (CLaS) curriculum transformation program. Conceived as a flat floor, collaborative learning environment timetabled for 160 students from the Business School and the Faculty of Engineering, the space was co designed by academic and professional staff and students to challenge foundational assumptions about university teaching spaces. Its design sought to reorient the centre of pedagogical gravity away from teacher centred performance and towards student driven connected learning, emphasising the creation, leverage, and activation of peer networks as core components of the learning experience.

This report has three aims: first, to critically examine the design decisions underpinning the space and evaluate how these choices cultivate the capacities required for connected learning at scale. Second, it investigates the epistemological activities and affective responses elicited by the space, drawing on early experiences of students and educators during the first year of operation. Third, it provides insights analogous to a post occupancy review, reflecting on how the space functions in real pedagogical practice. While not an architectural or technological evaluation, the report foregrounds the lived teaching and learning experiences of the staff and students who have “resided, bent, broken, and learned” within the CONNECTSpace. The ongoing 2025 pilot demonstrates how the space continues to evolve as technologies mature, staff literacy deepens, and new learning environments emerge across the institution.