Learning Environments Update September 2024

Library – Study Spaces – Technology

Currently, the learning environment space in Bournemouth is closed as part of refurbishment work to the clock tower and is currently housed in room 197 and will reopen again in the first quarter/early part of 2026.

Under normal circumstances, the Learning Environments (LEs) are central to studies, supporting students from all curriculum areas, and of all levels and abilities. It’s in the LEs students find the invaluable combination of resources, support, study spaces, and technology essential to their studies, enabling them to begin and continue their courses with confidence.

A Reminder of the LE Services to Help with Your Studies

The Library

Our Bournemouth and Poole campus libraries provide students with access to thousands of physical resources relevant to their studies. Students rely on our resources to provide them with the essential and wider reading they need to succeed and to develop their understanding. In the 2023-2024 academic year more than 14,000 physical items were loaned to students and staff, an increase of more than 30% on the previous year. Demand is growing year by year, a direct result of our efforts to communicate the value of the resources to students and to develop a closer integration with curriculum areas.

As well as a large physical collection, the Learning Environments also provide access to a substantial digital collection. Students have access to thousands of e-books, millions of academic journal articles, 3D anatomy and physiology resources, recordings of theatre productions, hundreds of digital play scripts, millions of copyright-free images, archived TV recordings, and much more.

Our free and easy-to-access digital collection makes our resources accessible to students anywhere, anytime, whether at college, at home or on the move, providing students with a flexible, individual learning experience.

Students often feel overwhelmed by the volume of available information, so we provide support in accessing, navigating, and making the best use of our resources. 1-to-1, small group, and class sessions can be booked for tailored support. 

In addition, the Learning Environments provide study skills support which aims to stock our students’ academic toolboxes with the essential tools and skills they need to work independently and confidently. Whether students are learning these skills from scratch or sharpening current skills, our support can be tailored to their needs. Our study skills support covers: referencing, accessing resources, literature searching, research and evaluation skills, and assignment writing. In 2023-2024 more than 300 students attended at least one study skills session, an 84% increase on the previous year. 

The Bournemouth campus Learning Environment provides additional English practice for ESOL students. Small group and one-to-one sessions are available, and students can self-refer or be put forward by their tutor. Speaking, listening, reading, comprehension and writing skills are all covered, and students can benefit from support which is tailored to their individual needs.   

This spring, we relocated our Bournemouth campus library to a temporary location for the duration of one of the site’s exciting construction projects. Through a fantastic team effort 10,000 books were relocated and a new open-access library space was established. The library will be reinstated in its original location in the Clocktower building next year.

Study Spaces

We’ve welcomed more than 60,000 visitors through our doors in 2023-2024, a 20% increase on last year. For many students, the Learning Environments are centrally positioned within their college experience and provide the hub around which their academic lives revolve.

The Learning Environments provide students with dedicated study spaces where they can work collaboratively as a group or independently in isolation. Our 11 study rooms and pods were in high demand throughout 2023-2024, with more than 3,000 bookings amounting to over 8,000 hours of study time, a more than 40% rise from the previous year.

Each booking is evidence of our students prioritising their studies and taking responsibility for their time on campus to give themselves the best opportunity to succeed.

For so many students, the Learning Environments provide invaluable spaces and quiet conditions in which they thrive.

Technology

The Learning Environments provide access to the essential technology students need to succeed in college. Laptops are available for loan within the library spaces, of which we’ve loaned over 4,000 since September 2023, more than 50% than the previous year. The laptops, and the PCs located within the Poole campus Learning Environment, are essential to our students, many of whom do not have access to technology at home. 

The Poole campus Learning Environment is home to exciting new technology in the form of an immersive room and VR suite. This technology will provide the opportunity for immersive, interactive lessons in which students can literally step into their studies with wrap-around interactive projections and VR headsets. 

Immersive experiences can be tailored to courses and provide an exciting new teaching tool and learning experience. We’re thrilled to have this new technology within our Learning Environment, and we look forward to seeing the exciting ways it will be implemented in the coming year.