I spent my day today touring around and discussing learning commons’ in both Rocky View and in Calgary, and I have to say, it has been some time since I have been as excited about a project as I am about our school’s transition to a full-fledged learning commons.
Due to space considerations, our traditional library lost it’s conventional ‘home’ in the school two years ago (I am now teaching in that space) and at the time it was a hard feature of our school to let go of. Our librarian worked exceptionally hard to transition the books and other physical attributes of the library throughout the school, and met with success with this reimagining of how books could be shared and used. It was a commendable effort, and truth be told, there are many features of the learning commons around our school right now, including the open sharing of learning tools, reading and literacy resources, interconnectedness of classrooms and production of 21st century learning artifacts using embedded and transferrable technology. However, since the inception of our broad learning commons, the one thing that has been missing is that ‘home’ of the program, that sense of place. Our librarian has a desk, yet in the true spirit of the learning commons, the truly adaptable learning space that is tailored to student learning simply was not available.
What we saw today was the way other schools have answered the call of transitioning spaces to meet the changing needs of students for learning. Some of the changes were subtle, (such as slips of paper that teachers send with students working independently to notify the librarian what task they will be working on) and some were profound (using the Metis system to sort books as an alternative to the Dewey decimal system) but one thing that struck me was how carefully all schools have considered the transition to be made to the new learning commons structure. While I have done some extensive reading on this topic lately, I wanted to share a few ideas I noticed doing walkthroughs today:
- exceptional and thoughtful use of space, highlighted by specific furniture choices and configurations
- easy to transition spaces, and the ability to configure several groups in one space
- independence of students and adults with students in the use of the space and resources
- resources that were ‘common’ material (including digital tools) that could be moved within and out of the space
- open spaces and the desire for more natural light
- thought and attention given to curricular connections and ease of access to highly linked materials
- development of the library commons culture, and a desire by administration to support it as a hub of the school.
- thoughtful use of technology including limiting use to one specific task at a time
- creative solutions to issues regarding space and resources; a can-do attitude
- the use of specific technologies to simplify processes for students (a touch-screen monitor instead of mouse for checking out books)
- engaging activities to draw students and classes in
- projects that inspire collaboration
I’m not sure what our final learning commons is going to look like, but I am certainly excited to be on this journey and to be part of the team. What a great opportunity to support learning and help create something spectacular for our students!
Developing Education 