Effective project management, educational design considerations, building to meet growing learner demands and designing with sustainability in mind will form the agenda for a school building forum that opened in Dubai, UAE today (March 23).

The Building Future Learning Spaces conference will run until March 25 at Dusit Thani, Dubai. It will be a meeting place for leading education providers, investors and regulators as they discuss strategies on meeting the growing demand in quality educational facilities.

Dubai has one of the fastest population growth rates in the region and internationally, with population expected to reach 3.48 million by 2020, up from 2.21 million in 2013. The student population is expected to rise by over 100 000 from 2013, to stand at 360 000 by 2020 creating a need for exceptional education facilities (Colliers).

Dr Farooq Wasil, CEO, Goldline Education, stated that the population growth “definitely points towards a demand for private schools offering international curricula.”

Dr Wasil went on to say that the design of new education facilities will have to incorporate “open, flexible floor plans, modular furniture and highly mobile learning tools such as electronic chalkboards, portable computers, expandable networking, and interactive video.”

This will firstly create multipurpose areas that can accommodate larger student numbers as the student population grows, and will secondly facilitate new learning methods, he said.

Dr Cindy Gunn, professor and director, Faculty Development Centre, American University of Sharjah, said: “The future of learning is moving towards facilitated independent learning. Universities can prepare themselves for this by providing more active learning spaces and independent learning spaces for their students.”

“Faculty members will also need to be provided with training on how to teach in the active learning spaces and how to prepare students to become more autonomous, independent learners.”

Schools and universities will have to be designed to meet the needs of student centred learning, she added.

The event will also feature presentations from industry leading organisations consisting of Abu Dhabi Education Council, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Dubai International Academic City, Goldline Education and Consilium Education, among others.

Building Future Learning Spaces is supported by Nora, Timotay Group and Almoe Digital Solutions. – TradeArabia News Service