8 essential ingredients for your learning commons As schools look for effective ways to bring their libraries into the digital age, many are reinventing them as learning commons. These dynamic spaces are no longer hushed sanctuaries of knowledge. The school library 2.0 is a nerve center of active exploration and discovery. The books are still there but the volume has been turned way up on learning. Thriving libraries In his article Power Up! Johnson says while a library’s core purpose has remained the same – providing access to information – what has changed is how students access it and what they do with it when they get it. A learning commons So what is a learning commons? “It’s a new way of doing school,” writes learning commons advocate Gino Bondi on his Learning the Now blog. A learning commons is like a collaborative kitchen School library expert Joyce Valenza has a great analogy for what a library used to be and what it should become. How you set up your kitchen is really up to you. 8 learning commons essentials: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
(Rethinking) Makerspaces Kids have always made in my library. We encouraged digital and visual and dramatic and rhetorical creativity before, during, and after school. But for a while, I’ve questioned the value of using already heavily used real estate to randomly carve out space for a 3D printer, electronics stations and sewing machines. A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to chat with Amos Blanton, project manager of the Scratch online community, and a member of the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at MIT Media Lab. Amos makes the case for makerspaces as powerful, authentic, relevant learning experiences, and for when and why library may be the very right space to create a makerspace. Here’s the video of our chat and a few of key points to consider before adopting a maker culture for libraries Amos’ key points: School pressures make it challenging to make space for interest-driven learning. A Makerspace is not a one-size-fits-all kind of space. Freedom to choose changes the way students invest in a project.
Remake Your Class: Building a Collaborative Learning Environment (Video Playlist) Steve: My name is Steve Mattice, I'm a math and science teacher here at Roosevelt Middle School. I have been teaching for about seven years now. Narrator: Steve had a problem. His classroom was too small for the 36 students who poured in and out every period. And too cramped to accommodate the student-to-student collaboration he knew encouraged deeper learning. Steve: They're extending this knowledge when they're working together, they're happier and more positive and more likely to participate. Narrator: Then he met the folks at the "Third Teacher Plus," whose job it is to help educators re-imagine their learning spaces. Christian: Teachers around the country will totally identify with this classroom, an incredible number of kids and limited space. I'm Christian Long, and I was a high school English teacher for about 15 years. Melanie: When people think design a lot of times, they think veneer, they think decorating. Steve: I use the ELMO or the overhead a lot. Let's hear about it.
NOT YOUR GRANDFATHER’S LIBRARY When Sheri McNair, library media specialist at James I. O’Neill High School in Highland Falls, NY, came to her district four years ago, she stepped into a very traditional space that was mostly taken up by free-standing stacks of books, traditional wooden tables, and eight computers that “needed to go,” she laughs. McNair quickly realized that she was spending most of her time scraping the heavy wooden desks across the floor, rearranging the space to encourage classes to come in. So the first thing she did was move the freestanding stacks. “I put the books around the perimeter, which opened up a ton of space. Instant improvement!” Over the next three years, McNair completely renovated the space, adding carpet tiles, rolling chairs and tables with whiteboard tops, 50 computers, and 60 Samsung Chromebooks. “I inherited an outdated space with lots of rules—no talking, no food, no backpacks, no devices,” says McNair. Need any proof that a library transformation is worth the time and money?
Make Space: How to Set the Stage for Creative Collaboration eBook: Scott Doorley, Scott Witthoft, Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford Uni, David Kelley: Kindle Store 21st-Century Libraries: The Learning Commons Libraries have existed since approximately 2600 BCE as an archive of recorded knowledge. From tablets and scrolls to bound books, they have cataloged resources and served as a locus of knowledge. Today, with the digitization of content and the ubiquity of the internet, information is no longer confined to printed materials accessible only in a single, physical location. Consider this: Project Gutenberg and its affiliates make over 100,000 public domain works available digitally, and Google has scanned over 30 million books through its library project. Libraries are reinventing themselves as content becomes more accessible online and their role becomes less about housing tomes and more about connecting learners and constructing knowledge. Cushing Academy in Ashburnham, Massachusetts has been in the vanguard of this transition since 2009, when it announced its plans for a "bookless" library. From Library to Learning Commons Photo credit: Francis W. Transparent Learning Hubs
Collaborative Learning Spaces What does the "classroom of the future" look like? Instead of the traditional lecture-oriented room, this new classroom emphasizes group learning and collaboration. The instructor serves as a facilitator, handing out projects, answering questions, providing resources, and moving around the room as necessary. Students work in groups to learn, and activities are structured to emphasize collaborative, active, student-based learning. The new classroom of the future emphasize group learning and collaboration. Students sit in small groups, work together on problems, discuss solutions with their instructor, access data from the Internet, and present their results using multimedia software. Multiple electronic display surfaces oriented on different walls: Projected images using ceiling mounted projectors for large groups. Budget Concerns Ensure that building infrastructure, power, conduit, sight lines and support structures are ready before purchasing computer and audio/visual equipment.