How did the Physical Space Project go on to provide active learning conditions in the Faculty of Medicine of Tehran University of Medical Sciences?
Introduction: This article describes the steps of creating an active learning space based on John Kotter's Leadership Change Model and evaluating the consequences of creating this learning space in the Faculty of Medicine of Tehran University of Medical Sciences.
Method: This action research study was conducted from 2017 to 2019 after obtaining permission from Tehran University of Medical Sciences. The leadership of this change was guided by the John Kotter model and the evaluation of the consequences of creating the active learning space using a valid and reliable researcher-made questionnaire in collaboration with 265 basic science students through available sampling and 33 faculty members who had class in the Active learning space.
Results: The change leadership process was successful and resulted in the creating the active physical space. Based on the findings of this study, 129 students (48.76%) agreed and strongly agreed that learning in this area had a greater impact on deepening their learning. The results showed that 30 (90.91%) of faculty members believed that they spend more time in creating collaboration and teamwork activities.
Conclusion: It seems that changing physical space has facilitated group discussion and interaction. In this study, we describe the leadership experience of this change and evaluate the opinions of students and faculty about active teaching in the classroom. The application of this study is for managers and leaders in education in medical universities seeking to change curricula, as attention to physical change alongside curricula is generally neglected.
Keywords: Active Learning, Student-centered, Physical Space, Change Leadership, John Kotter Model