For students at Oaklands college in Hertfordshire, the future's here, and it's shocking pink. Wander round the Welwyn Garden City campus and you'll find groups of students bent over laptops as they study together in flexible workspaces - a mix of internet access, books, whiteboards, comfy chairs, staff desks, and the rather surprising chequerboard effect of those shocking pink and black tables and chairs.
Look a little closer, and you might notice something even more unusual: that student beauticians and builders are sharing the same space - called a curriculum learning cluster (CLC) - and learning from each other.
"Our research says students want to learn there. It's pink and black and really in your face, and that's what they're motivated by," says Richard Everett, until recently director of e-learning at the college.
"It's the breakdown of all the barriers that makes it work," he says. "The staff work in there and they see how innovative it's been, and how positive for students' learning. It's very flexible and it changes the whole learning experience." Lecturers say behaviour and attendance have improved among groups working in the cluster.
CLCs are just one innovation of many since Oaklands failed its Ofsted inspection in 2003. Principal Mark Dawe told staff that if Oaklands did not embrace new technology, they would be out of a job within five years as students went elsewhere. Now the college is rated as "satisfactory", on course to being "good" - and by trialling new working methods it knows exactly how to plan its new building, due to open in 2011.
"It's about building a difference, not just a different building, as someone said at one of our conferences," says Gerard Hayes, who, as manager of the eastern regional support centre of the Joint Information Systems Committee (Jisc), advises colleges on their responses to technology in teaching.
By 2010, more than £4bn will have been spent over 10 years on improving college buildings, through government-backed capital programmes administered by the Learning and Skills Council. Already, trends are emerging: welcoming public spaces, technology upgrades and often the disappearance of traditional libraries. Curriculum areas that traditionally involved the public - such as hairdressing - are also moving front-of-house.
Hayes says creating a "wow" factor is not the main drive behind most designs, with pedagogy, lifelong learning and the need to attract the "Google generation" more important. But some colleges have seen enrolments rise as a result of their new look. Many use their atriums as semi-public spaces to entice local people in, and perhaps encourage them to return to learning. Buildings must also be future-proof: some may find open plan too noisy for studying, he says, while small classrooms could prove constraining.
Oaklands' classrooms remain, but student experiences are changing as teaching moves towards collaboration and facilitation. Its pioneering use of e-mentors - students who help staff with technology - has also taken off dramatically.
Virtual learning environment use is up 500%, while courses with e-mentors on roll saw a 6% rise in success (a combination of retention and achievement) and an 8% improvement in retention. "I cannot prove a causal relationship but there are better results on those courses," says Everett. "I think the e-mentor sets up really good relationships in the class and with the teacher, and the teacher gets good feedback about what works."
Staff, who initially hated the idea, now appreciate it. The 100-plus e-mentors get benefits and there are no plans for the scheme to end. "The technology is always changing," says Everett.
Former e-mentor James Belmont says he gained strong communication skills and a greater sense of confidence through his mentoring experience.
Belmont, now at university, has left a legacy that may lead to more change - video kiosks, developed with a grant from the college's e-innovation fund. "Our lot won't fill out a feedback form," says Everett. "But they will record what they think."
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Oaklands college: oaklands.ac.uk
