Scale-Up! Classroom design and use can facilitate learning

SCALE-UP is an acronym for Student-Centred Active Learning Environment with Upside-down Pedagogies. The term upside-down pedagogies refers to a flipped or inverted classroom approach that is characterised by flipping teaching and learning responsibilities; instead of students first hearing a lecture and then doi ng homework, students can watch a lecture or otherwise prepare for class at home and then practise what they have learned in class. This paper discusses active learning strategies and how legal education can utilise such approaches, explores how studio classroom design can facilitate such strategies, describes the configuration of a Scale-Up classroom, provides exercises that can be incorporated into such a learning space, and elaborates on the advantages and disadvantages of the use of the pedagogy in a redesigned learning space. It concludes that requiring students to complete some practical exercises in class, participate in discussions with peers, or work on assignments where the lecturer has some input, may engage students in the learning process, encourage them to attend class and to accept more responsibility for their learning.