A large aspect of ergonomics is the ability to design a learning environment around a pedagogical philosophy. According to Dubai-based furniture provider OFIS, it is this synthesis of education principles with design considerations that gives real gains in education.

“On the whole, classroom design and equipment in the region has been mostly governed by a budget-driven viewpoint. Classroom design has been mostly static with the instructor at the front, facing the rank and file of learners,” says Ajay Deyal, CEO, OFIS. “Design is treated almost as an afterthought, with buyers mostly concerned with fitting in a certain number of tables and chairs per room.”

With an influx of new ideas on how well-designed environments can not only help learning delivery but also deliver a robust long-term investment, taking refuge in convention may not cut it any more.

“For instance, the problem with the typical teacher-learner setup is that schools and colleges automatically end up wasting up to 33 percent space at the front of the lecture hall. Even if the front of the classroom is equipped with seats, learners would want to sit a few rows back to ensure adequate space between themselves and the instructor.And to top it all off, it’s well known how disinterested the very back-benchers are in classroom proceedings. So, not only does convention necessitate a waste of space, but also leads to unequal education delivery to the rows further from the instructor,” asserts Deyal.

Traditional models of classroom and educational institute design are being challenged by new entrants in Middle Eastern education markets.“Even though some high end intuitions are sticking to conventional design, other institutions with a mandate to offer quality all-round education are realising the importance of design considerations in education delivery,” he observes.

Social science research methods have consistently shown that learners and instructors have different cognitive approaches that result in the dissemination and acquisition of information in different ways. As processes of cogitation differ, so do environmental preferences and design requirements.Historically, pedagogy has been pigeon-holed into the spaces left over when design decisions are taken, but that is changing bit by bit.

According to Deyal, the new paradigm of classroom ergonomics calls for a pedagogy-centric approach. “A newer approach to the design paradigm focuses on understanding how learners are acquiring and negotiating their information, and constructing the environment around that. Physical setups that reflect pedagogical approaches are more durable, usable and productive. “For instance, different setups are required to facilitate one to one learning, small teams, or larger collaborative learning. We have seen many implementations of the modern classroom, where there are specific areas for concentrated learning, group learning break outs, and practical learning. Some areas favour paired learning, while other rooms may be designated theatres for large lectures where learners interact differently,” he says.

Incompatibility between the physical environment and the learning method of a learner can result in unnecessary barriers that need to be hurdled before the actual process of education can start. Starting with an approach that examines pedagogical issues before design can remove some of these barriers, improving the dissemination and acquisition of learning.

Deyal is enthusiastic about the new model of education provision.“At OFIS,we've made a conscious decision to take on a different business model.OFIS is not in the practice of selling mere chairs and tables. We think of ourselves as design solution providers, not furniture vendors. We believe in a process of collaborative requirements identification before making recommendations.

“If buyers only look at quantitative concerns at the outset, they might miss out on rewarding alterations leading to didactically sound design. We would very much rather understand from our buyers how they impart their education, and what they do to facilitate learning. The process of learning entails multiple considerations, and the physical environment is an important part of it.

“Ideally,we would only move onto numerical discussions of quantity once we've reached a consensus on what the institution wants to accomplish, and have collectively worked out some design schematics that might help further their pedagogy,” he explains.

Of course, a by-product of pedagogy centricity is a change in contact people. For buying teams, with all their expertise, usually have an interest in securing adequate fittings at competitive rates. Unless they are comprehensively briefed, buying teams will not have the in-depth understanding of didactical principles that educators do.

Acknowledging the issue, Deyal notes, “We generally put in a request to talk to the educators themselves, as opposed to just the buying team. While buying teams are usually working from a brief that is quantitative, educators can be a gold mine of useful information on how education is delivered in the school, and help us tailor our recommendations accordingly.”

In the Middle East, it is not unheard of for the Directors of Education to directly be involved in purchase decisions so that all acquisitions are consistent with the institution's pedagogy. Purchasing decisions are also influenced by architects and their recommendations on spatial capacity and layout.Yet architectural input would ideally need to be accompanied by a pedagogical understanding of curricula to be useful.

Deyal thinks that educators are taking more of a stake in the buying process, and are involved in proxy decision making.“Even though educators' influence on buying decisions can be patchy,they are nevertheless increasingly aware of key trends and advances in their fields, and give recommendations to purchasing officers.

As negotiation between stakeholders, including educators, principals and buyer teams takes off, the task of acquiring furnishing for classroom takes on a more complicated hue. Realising that different stakeholders have different needs, and no one layout will suit every educator's need,OFIS is looking at flexible classrooms that can be easily changed around based on the lesson plan and on the needs of individual learners.

“A major issue with design and equipment is that rapidly changing paradigms of pedagogy are rendering classroom setups obsolete faster than before.As instructors come up with new ways of engaging their learners, environments that obstruct these new approaches will not be used willingly. This can then lead to buyers having to speed up acquisition and purchase cycles to keep pace,” says Deyal.

Quicker purchasing cycles translate directly into more cost, with environments having to be replaced before their physical lifecycle has ended. This has lead to different definitions of the concept of 'durability'. A term initially confined to understanding how long it might be before a chair falls apart now must take into account how long a given environment might keep pace with the didactic demands placed on it.

A related issue pushing environments to obsolescence is the rapid digitisation of classroom environments. With information communication technology becoming an integral facet of education, a design environment that ignores infrastructural space for computers, cables and other accoutrements will quickly go out of date.

The answer, according to Deyal, is to develop flexibility in design and implementation. The more versatile a designed environment is, the better it can cope with changing pedagogical techniques.

This flexible, pedagogical approach is not without its catches. Buyers, usually harassed with deadlines and budget constraints, are in the habit of addressing furniture requirements at the very end.Per se, pedagogy-centric design is not necessarily more expensive than others.However, such design does require a thorough requirements analysis, consideration of learning philosophy, and time consuming educator buy-in.

Treating furniture not as commodity but an integral aspect of design will result in greater time, effort and overheads. Buyers will have to invite buy-in from educators and perhaps even learners while working collaboratively towards education environment design. Even if the actual cost of furnishings is treated as equal, the pedagogycentric approach entails more educator, architect and buyer hours spent on defining requirements and reaching agreement. In education, time has a strong opportunity cost.

Nevertheless, in the face of changing education delivery, buyers will do well to ask themselves whether the conventional approach to furniture and environmental design will continue to serve them well.