Vision 20/20 - Shifting Lenses: The Learning

Commons for Today and Tomorrow

Jeanne L. Narum, Principal – Learning Spaces CollaboratoryThe 7th Annual Canadian Learning Commons Conference at Bishop's University

June 9-11, 2014

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The characteristics of the community of learning that will be using the spaces… can also describe the community of planners.

Communities embrace a common vision….

Weaving discussions of vision into the process at the earliest stages and throughout the process is a means to build a reflective

community of practice.

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A vision of what:

your students, as learners, should become….

your spaces will enable your community to become.

your institutional culture should be and become, ensuring that the physical learning environment enables the community to face its future with confidence and distinction.

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Spaces that work: clearly reflect learning goals within the

institutional context…

acknowledge the role of serendipity in learning…

are so inviting, safe, and well-equipped that they are magnets for learners at all stages, most hours of the day, seven days a week…

anticipate the future, agile and adaptable…

contribute to the humanity and the aesthetics of physical environment of the campus. 5

What works – the power of:

Questioning

Story-telling

Visioning

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The power of the unaided individual mind is highly overrated. Much human creativity is social, arising from

activities that take place in a social context in which interaction with other people and the artifacts that

embody collective knowledge are essential contributors. Social creativity is not a luxury but a necessity to address

the problems faced by societies in the 21st century.

—Fischer, Gerhard. “Social Creativity: Making All Voices Heard.” University of Colorado, Center for LifeLong Learning and Design.

http://l3d.cs.colorado.edu/~gerhard/papers/social-creativity-hcii-2005.pdf

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The College of the Holy Cross

An intellectual neighborhood , a vibrant building inviting all to ‘come inside, stay inside.’

— LSC Guide. 2013.8

Georgia Institute of Technology

…authorable, responsive, flexible spaces… that support changing, responsive, collective leadership.

— LSC Guide. 2013. 9

Dickinson College

Centrally-located social spaces to allow for group study, project displays, and informal ‘intellectual collisions.’

— LSC Guide. 2013. 10

North Carolina Central University BRITE

Technology-enabled classrooms extend students reach to the global realm.

Those with carefully planned connections to the variety of formal and informal spaces essential for becoming a STEM learner, a STEM practitioner.

— LSC Guide. 2013.11

What works – the power of:

Questioning

Story-telling

Visioning

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WHAT EXPERIENCES MAKE THAT BECOMING HAPPEN?

WHAT DO WE WANT OUR LEARNERS TO BECOME?

WHAT SPACES ENABLE THOSE EXPERIENCES?

HOW DO WE KNOW?13

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Agents of their own learning

Transdisciplinarians: Renaissance people for the digital age

Entrepreneurs. Analysts and creators of digital technologies

Creative thinkers, who recognize there may be a new solution

Tolerant participants, who appreciate diversity of multiple cultures

Effective communicators, with skills for multiple media and venues

Well-trained experimentalists who think critically

Aware of the powerful role they play in their own learning

Connected with faculty, support providers, and peers during the learning process

Digitally literate citizens who communicate about and use technology effectively 15

Exchanging learning, mentorship, and discovery between teachers and students

Immersing students in a world of group learning and cutting-edge instrumentation

Becoming exposed to diverse disciplines, ways of learning, pedagogical approaches

Learning from the space, not just in the space

Constructing and applying knowledge to relevant problems

Having easy access to cutting-edge visual technologies and staff with relevant technical expertise

Having students take ownership of the space— feeling comfortable and in control

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To be able to ask a question clearly is two-thirds of the way to getting it

answered.

— John Ruskin (1819 – 1900)

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WHAT EXPERIENCES MAKE THAT BECOMING HAPPEN?

WHAT DO WE WANT OUR LEARNERS TO BECOME?

WHAT SPACES ENABLE THOSE EXPERIENCES?

HOW DO WE KNOW?18

What works: The power of questioning

In the process of imagining 21st century learning commons, what key question should be explored?

? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

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—How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School, National Research Council. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 2000.

Chris Impey—University of Arizona. The changing relationships between instructor and learner 20

National Research Council. Discipline-Based Education Research:

Understanding and Improving Learning in Undergraduate Science and

Engineering. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2012.

National Research Council. A New Biology for the 21st Century.

Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2009.

National Research Council. The Engineer of 2020: Visions of Engineering

in the New Century. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press,

2004.

National Research Council. Expanding Underrepresented Minority

Participation: America’s Science and Technology Talent at the Crossroads.

Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2011.

Engage to Excel: Producing One Million Additional College Graduates with

Degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.

President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. February

2012.

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What works – the power of:

Questioning

Storytelling

Visioning

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From the LSC Guide: Duke University: Link Teaching and Learning Center

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From the LSC Guide: Duke University: Link Teaching and Learning Center

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From the LSC Guide: University of Pennsylvania Libraries: Weigle Information Commons & Education Commons

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From the LSC Guide: University of Pennsylvania Libraries: Weigle Information Commons & Education Commons

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Eastern Kentucky University: Noel Studio for Academic Creativity27

Eastern Kentucky University: Noel Studio for Academic Creativity

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What works: The power of storytelling

What spatial affordance is most essential for a 21st century learning commons?

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What works – the power of:

Questioning

Story-telling

Visioning

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Wondering if questions now being asked are valid when planning for an uncertain future

Wondering what stories would be shared a decade from now at a conference such as this

Wondering if we have the courage to ask the audacious question.

Shifting Lenses: The Learning Commons for Today and Tomorrow

…reflecting on the state of the learning commons model at this juncture

…explore developments, strategies, practices, accountability, design and governance issues that will shape it in the future.

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WHAT EXPERIENCES MAKE THAT BECOMING HAPPEN?

WHAT DO WE WANT OUR LEARNERS TO BECOME?

WHAT SPACES ENABLE THOSE EXPERIENCES?

HOW DO WE KNOW?32

Will every space be seen as a potential space for learning?

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A Fabric of Learning in Spaces

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—How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School, National Research Council. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 2000.

Chris Impey—University of Arizona. The changing relationships between instructor and learner 35

Can different spaces be transformed into “brain-changing,” “game-changing”spaces?

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Can different spaces be transformed into “brain-changing,” “game-changing”spaces?

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What if all spaces were imagined as student-owned spaces?

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What if all spaces were imagined as student-owned spaces?

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What if all spaces were imagined as student-owned spaces?

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Will “creativity” become the driving learning goal for all students?

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Can communities of planners see themselves as communities of learners?

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Can communities of learners become communities of makers, innovators, entrepreneurs, creators?

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What if the power of emerging technologies was embraced in our planning?

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What if the power of emerging technologies was embraced in our planning?

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What if the power of emerging technologies was embraced in our planning?

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What keeps me up at night?

What are the “what if” and “why not” we should be asking now?

What is the most audacious question we should be asking in embracing the complexity of an unknown future?

Shifting Lenses: The Learning Commons for Today and Tomorrow

…reflecting on the state of the learning commons model at this juncture

…explore developments, strategies, practices, accountability, design and governance issues that will shape it in the future.

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Creativity is a lot like looking at the world through a kaleidoscope. You look at a set of elements, the same ones everyone else sees, but then

reassemble those floating bits and pieces into an enticing new possibility. Innovators shake up their thinking as though their brains

are kaleidoscopes, permitting an array of different patterns out of the same bits of reality.

Changemasters challenge the prevailing wisdom. They start from the premise that there are many solutions to a problem and that by

changing the angle on the kaleidoscope, new possibilities will emerge. Where other people would say, “that’s impossible. We’ve always done

it this way,” they see another approach. Where others see only problems, they see possibilities….

—Rosabeth Moss Kanter. Evolve! : Succeeding in the Digital Culture of Tomorrow. Harvard Business Review Press. 2001. 48

…Kaleidoscopic thinking is a way of constructing new patterns from the fragments of data available—patterns that no one else has yet imagined because they challenge conventional assumptions about how pieces of the puzzle ….fit together….

—Rosabeth Moss Kanter. Evolve! : Succeeding in the Digital Culture of Tomorrow. Harvard Business Review Press. 2001.

What works: The power of visioning

? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? … 49

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…cultures in interaction frequently establish contact languages, systems of discourse that can vary from the most

function-specific jargons, through semi-specific pidgins, to full-fledged creoles rich enough to support activities as complex as

poetry and meta-linguistic reflection.

— Peter Galison, Image and Logic: A Material Culture of Microphysics. University Of Chicago Press, 1997.

We live in tumultuous times…the ways forward is to become more open, more

experimental and to embrace the unknown. We cannot turn inward, nor can we allow our institutions to become overly

centralized, calcified and risk averse. If America were a company, freedom and

exploration would be our core competencies.

—National Innovation Initiative. 2005.

WHAT EXPERIENCES MAKE THAT BECOMING HAPPEN?

WHAT DO WE WANT OUR LEARNERS TO BECOME?

WHAT SPACES ENABLE THOSE EXPERIENCES?

HOW DO WE KNOW?52

The objective is thus to construct and organize spaces that enable children to:

• express their potential, abilities and curiosity

• explore and research alone and with others, both peers and adults

• perceive themselves as constructors of projects and of the overall educational project….

An environment that is pleasant to be in, that can be explored and experienced with all the senses and inspires further advancement in

learning.

—Carlina Rinaldi. In Dialogue with Reggio Emilia: Listening, Researching and Learning. Routledge, 2005.

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Jeanne L. Narum, Principal

Learning Spaces Collaboratory

202.232.1300

http://pkallsc.org/

jlnarum.lsc.ico@gmail.com

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