Students ’ Union Manager Neil MacKenzie talked to the Big Move and gave us the student view of this new and exciting building .
Students excited about the new learning spaces
Students ’ Union Manager Neil MacKenzie talked to the Big Move and gave us the student view of this new and exciting building .
Neil has been involved from an early stage ; facilitating meetings between the architects and students to get a good design that meets the expectations of 21st century learners . He has attended various meetings since , and when we spoke to him he gave us his views and those of the student body .
Neil welcomed the design principles and identified the key features for students as being : “ More open for students to interact with each other in different ways – to use technology in different ways and to work collaboratively in a way that they will when they leave the college . A more collaborative building can be translated into a real strength for our students .”
Neil took up his role as Students ’ Union Manager at Bradford College in October 2011 . Prior to this he worked at the University of Sheffield SU as Representation & Democracy Manager .
Neil explained : “ To me the building is all about the open space and the open learning space – the bits of the space that aren ’ t defined - that will be defined by the students as they use them – I just think that ’ s so important for the development of our students and for the college ’ s role in Bradford .”
Neil sees the increase in open spaces within the building as a critical success factor and as particularly exciting :
“ We need more spaces in which students can come in at the start of the day , maybe have a class in the morning , hang around in the college , see their friends , do some studying , maybe do some group work , then go to a class later in the day . I ’ m excited to be in a building where there ’ s going to be room for students to spend their day in a learning environment .”
To hear the full interview with Neil please click here .
Neil is no stranger to the HE environment during his time as an undergraduate he was an executive officer at Leeds University Union .
When we asked Neil what was for him a key feature of the building he suggested that ; “ To have different types of students mixing together sharing the learning experience can have a really beneficial impact on a whole range of students , particularly those who are going to be working with young people later in their careers , to be able to interact to support their learning .”
Every week we will bring you an interview with the people involved in this great step forward for our college . Those involved in all aspects of moving teaching , learning and assessment forward , those involved in supporting learning and those involved with technology and the security , safety and wellbeing of our students and staff .