# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Recently, I wrote about the transformation of libraries from archives of resources to active learning commons that encourage exploration, creation, and collaboration. However, in that post, I profiled a number of locations that made significant financial investments in their redesign. Million-dollar learning spaces are often not a reality for most schools. However, that is no reason to abandon the concept of transformation. Here are four suggestions from librarians and educators who have transformed their learning spaces -- even without a budget.

Tip #1: Create an Agile Space

Classrooms and libraries often have a uniform appearance even though they could be used for a multitude of activities. Elissa Malespina -- history teacher, librarian, and Coordinating Supervisor of Educational Technology for the Parsippany-Troy Hills (New Jersey) School District -- recommends putting caster wheels on tables and bookshelves. This relatively inexpensive adaptation allows you to quickly push tables together for collaborative activities, or move bookshelves out of the way to open up more space, ultimately creating a more flexible learning environment.

To encourage collaboration and brainstorming around the room, Jennifer Lagarde -- classroom teacher and librarian from North Carolina -- recommends using whiteboard paint, chalkboard paint, or shower board to transform tables, walls, and floors into writing and drawing spaces where students can brainstorm, share ideas, and co-create. She also suggests using plexiglass, cut to the size of the table, to create another editable space. This way, you can remove and place things (flyers, student work, graphic organizers, sentence strips, etc.) underneath to guide student interactions.

In a Teacher-Librarian Virtual Cafe webinar this fall, Jennifer co-presented the concept of MacGyver Librarianship: The Art of Doing More w/Less! From giant spools to donated furniture, she has a number of recommendations for how to create truly unique learning spaces.

Tip #2: Design an Inviting Space

When Carolyn Foote redesigned the library at Westlake High School in Austin, Texas, she included a "juice bar" as a space that would encourage teachers and students to congregate and engage in co-learning. Similarly, Laura Fleming -- Library Media Specialist in New Milford, New Jersey -- repurposed a room in her library to create a library lounge, where students could gather to read, eat, work, and socialize. To save money, she even tiled the floor in dictionary and atlas pages using Elmer's glue and water!

Other suggestions from both Elissa and Laura for accomplishing this goal include:

Get donations of jigsaw puzzles, Legos, and board games, and put them out for students to play with during free time.

Consider permitting food and drink in lounge spaces, and if possible, include a coffee/tea/hot chocolate station.

If it falls in line with the school or district Acceptable Use Policy, encourage the use of personal devices and even provide charging stations.

Include varied seating areas such as cafe and gaming tables.

When students and teachers want to congregate in learning spaces, opportunities for spontaneous co-learning may present themselves. In Too Big to Know, David Weinberger writes that "the smartest person in the room is the room." By reinvisioning a learning space, more students may come inside.

Tip #3: Build a Makerspace

At the heart of constructivism lies the concept that " to understand is to invent" (Jean Piaget, 1976). When students have the opportunity to construct their own understanding, they engage in more meaningful learning. So in transforming your library or any other learning space, think about providing opportunities for all students to invent, tinker, create, and learn.

Designing this space doesn't have to break your budget, either. Jennifer suggests visiting your district's surplus furniture warehouse to search for "treasures," using old wire spools from the local telephone or electric company to build tables, and soliciting donations from families -- especially when they are ready to clean out their closets. Old video game systems, outdated computers, and other gadgets can be great additions to your makerspace.

Tip #4: Create a Community

The first step in transforming your library, or any learning space, from a place of content dissemination, archive retrieval, and solitary learning is changing the culture of the space. Gino Bondi, in Our Learning Commons: One How-To for 21st Century Learning, describes the shift as being "more than a room":

It calls for the creation of new environments that improve learning. It is about changing school culture and about transforming the way learning and teaching occurs. It is a transformation that calls for physical, virtual, and pedagogical changes as well as a shift in mindset for all players.

Laura suggests that the culture of your library should not only encourage meaningful student learning, but also provide the tools, resources, and opportunities for your students to thrive and flourish. While we have been discussing the impact of transformation on libraries, all learning spaces could support your learners and encourage them to contribute to building a dynamic community.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
4 Tips to Transform Your Learning Space | Edutopia

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Recently, I wrote about the transformation of libraries from archives of resources to active learning commons that encourage exploration, creation, and collaboration. However, in that post, I profiled a number of locations that made significant financial investments in their redesign. Million-dollar learning spaces are often not a reality for most schools.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Find and save recipes, parenting hacks, style inspiration and other ideas to try.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The teens involved in every step of the planning process for The Mix helped make this teen zone the place to be. Explore the results as Manager Cathy Cormier takes us on a virtual tour of the multiple areas of SFPL's teen zone, their uses and the tools they feature.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Idea Gallery - Ideas & Inspiration from Demco

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Idea Gallery View the galleries of library spaces and products for ideas to address your challenges.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Find and save ideas about Collaborative Space on Pinterest, the world's catalog of ideas.

# data[].attributes.body
DEMCO

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.entities[].name
How Successful Teams Collaborate Using Social Media

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.entities[].name
National Center for Urban School Transformation

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.entities[].name
Power of Visualization and Collaboration

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Thinking about developing collaborative spaces in your library? With today's technology we can collaborate anytime, anywhere and with anyone around the globe. But sometimes we need to be face-to-face and we need spaces that don't merely allow collaboration to take place - but rather, elevate working collaboratively.

# data[].attributes.body
Changing Spaces.

,LAURA WERNICK

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Sign in with your credentials to access the EBSCOhost premium information resources provided by your subscribing institution.

# data[].attributes.headline
                 Space Age            
            
                David Jakes            

# data[].attributes.subject
                 Space Age            
            
                David Jakes            

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Space Age
David Jakes 2014-09-03 03:31:54
Can classrooms be reimagined beyond the walls of the school building? "The classroom remains a location of possibility." This quote from the HipHopEd Manifesto describes the essence of what classrooms have represented for years - a location for preparing students for the opportunity of possibility. The statement also suggests that the classroom remains a relevant entity, even in a time when the opportunities for rethinking the traditional educational experience seem boundless. Today, learning can occur anytime, anywhere, and with anyone - in the same place or throughout the world. Students can use technologies that engage and empower them to not only consume and process information, but also to create and share with a global audience. Given those opportunities, now is a good time to rethink and reshape what the typical "classroom" is and what it represents. What will it take to make the classroom a mission-critical learning location? How can we transform classrooms into spaces that support a contemporary education? Can the very notion of a "classroom" be rethought to provide a new context for learning, one that enhances the capacity of technology to connect to people, ideas, conversation, and resources beyond the walls of schools? A new design for new needs Rethinking space begins with adopting a new mindset about the relationship of space to learning. First, redesigning a classroom begins with rejecting the notion that it has to be a room. The word "classroom" evokes a mental image: 800 square feet of space, with rows of steel-frame desks that face the front of the room, along with a whiteboard, screen, digital projector, and teacher desk. While that setup has served learning for years, it's outdated and incapable of realistically supporting new dimensions of learning. Second, any space change should be based on what educators and school leaders want the student learning experience in their schools to be. This vision should specifically describe what they want students to experience. It should be developed through an inclusive process that represents the wants and needs of the community. This vision - or manifesto - should reintroduce wonder and creativity back into learning. It should state how schools intend to develop student learning skills (what learners do) and habits (how learners think), and express how they will create the conditions for the development of learning dispositions (how learners act). As you might expect, the development of this focus, and the mindset and approach it declares, has implications for how spaces are designed. Catalyst for space change School boards must consider how the explosion of technology impacts the development of new spaces for learning. Almost all schools now are more closely considering the role that technology has in a new more expansive type of learning experience. With the current explosion of smaller, faster, more affordable, and more powerful technology, many schools now are engaged in the conversation about ubiquitous technology and its impact on learning. This conversation usually leads to consideration of one-to-one programs that provide devices to each student. By using ubiquitous technology, schools have the opportunity to create learning experiences that: * are not constrained by the physical location of school. * are accessible across a wide range of technology and are always "on." * are more connective and social, making learning a networked experience beyond the walls of school. * are an opportunity to access support resources. * use school as a part of a larger ecology of learning opportunities available in the school's community, and globally, as well. * place value on informal learning opportunities beyond the formal school curriculum. * are blended, making use of learning in physical spaces, but also using digital spaces that contribute as much as the physical spaces. * offer online courses for learning. Given this, the questions that school boards should consider are: Can the current spaces in their schools support a different type of learning experience created by the inclusion of contemporary technology? Can schools become a place where every student has access to a worldwide network of information and creative capacity? Most likely, the traditional classroom described earlier will not meet these expectations. So, should school boards make the development of learning spaces a priority? The answer to that is an unequivocal yes. Learning spaces should be a critical consideration of school change and improvement, and what school boards consider when supporting new directions in teaching and learning. Ultimately, school boards need to be able to answer a very important question: How can the spaces where students learn become multidimensional? Toward a new ecology of space The process of rethinking, improving, and creating spaces begins with developing a language that is capable of supporting space change. The following definitions are essential to understanding how to change spaces: * Flexible: The space can be reshaped to support different learning experiences. * Agile: The space can be reshaped quickly and efficiently. * Adaptive: The space can support an evolving perspective of the student learning experience. * Intentional: The space is designed in accordance with the expectations of the student learning experience. * Interconnected: Physical spaces such as classrooms are connected to other learning locations, including digital locations for learning. * Technological: Spaces support the use of school-issued and personally owned technology. Steps to reshape space With these ideas as a foundation, it is important to begin thinking of what school learning spaces can become, and consider moving towards a model that recognizes that learning now happens in both physical and digital spaces. Let's begin with the physical spaces. Most likely, you aren't tearing down your school anytime soon, so how can you begin to reshape physical spaces? Here are some practical steps to take to begin: 1. Begin by developing a manifesto as described above. What does learning look like? Include everyone in this process, including your students. 2. Take a learning space inventory. What types of spaces do you have currently that support your declaration of the student learning experience? This inventory will identify your starting point and alert you to gaps that you can address. 3. Locate "magnet spaces" where students gather in your school. Figure out why they attract students and, if possible, replicate those conditions in other locations. Visit spaces outside of school where students congregate, and use those ideas in the redesign of school spaces. 4. In the classrooms, remove steel-frame desks and replace them with tables or furniture that support a more flexible and collaborative experience. 5. Reclaim space in classrooms by eliminating the teacher desk and replacing it with several chairs and a table that can be used for conferencing by students and the teacher. 6. Rethink classroom wall space and "declutter" the walls. Many classroom walls have too much on them, creating excessive visual stimulation for students with materials that do very little to support learning. 7. Provide writing surfaces in your classrooms. This can be accomplished with portable whiteboards, by creating writing surfaces on walls with a wall treatment, or by purchasing tables with writing surfaces. 8. Develop an incubator area where teachers can experiment with different space configurations and how they support student learning. Offer professional development on learning spaces. In addition to changes in physical locations for learning, school boards should consider supporting the development of digital spaces for learning, especially if there are one-to-one programs starting or already in place. Such spaces add increased capacity for learning, make learning accessible beyond the typical day, and provide a location for learning online where students can work safely and productively. A contemporary school digital space for learning can be composed of the following elements: * A digital location for each teacher's course. This "virtual" space is predominately owned by teachers and provides all of the resources students need to be successful in the course. The digital space provides access to resources, calendars, discussion forums, and other tools that create a central location for a student's work. * A digital location for students. This space is predominately owned by students and gives them access to a wide range of tools for creating and collaborating. Students use this space while they are at the school and can take the contents with them when they graduate. The space provides tools that support learning in a variety of ways and promotes student choice in how they use the space. It is essential that students and teachers can access these spaces on any type of device- ranging from a desktop computer to a laptop-as well as on tablet devices and smartphones. David Jakes (djakes@cannondesign.com) is a digital designer and strategist with CannonDesign and The ThirdTeacher+ in Chicago.

Published by National School Board Association. View All Articles.

This page can be found at http://mydigimag.rrd.com/article/Space+Age/1803616/223733/article.html.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
David Jakes 2014-09-03 03:31:54 Can classrooms be reimagined beyond the walls of the school building? "The classroom remains a location of possibility." This quote from the HipHopEd Manifesto describes the essence of what classrooms have represented for years - a location for preparing students for the opportunity of possibility.

# data[].attributes.headline
Collaborative Learning Spaces Become Virtual Reality

# data[].attributes.subject
Collaborative Learning Spaces Become Virtual Reality

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Collaborative Learning Spaces Become Virtual Reality

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A high school extends its learning environment to the cloud with an avatar-based pilot.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Find and save recipes, parenting hacks, style inspiration and other ideas to try.

# data[].attributes.headline
Library Design Showcase 2012: Collaborative Learning

# data[].attributes.subject
Library Design Showcase 2012: Collaborative Learning

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
It's hardly news anymore: The library is no longer a place for (just) solitary silence. The following facilities have made a special effort to provide space for cooperation and collaboration, while still respecting other patrons' desires for silence.

North Carolina State University Libraries, D. H. Hill Library, Raleigh

Collaborative Learning: The renovated Hill Library created spaces for several levels of collaboration. The technology sandbox encourages peer-to-peer learning in a laboratory with access to large-scale display and gesture-based computing tools. Faculty and staff can experiment with the space itself, particularly in ways that blend the physical with the virtual. The renovation also transformed the former print periodicals room into a silent reading room with marble-topped tables and ample access to power outlets.

Renovation
Architect: University Architectural Staff
Size: 13,600 sq. ft. renovated, 340,000 sq. ft. total
Cost: $910,380
Photo: Marc Hall, North Carolina State University

Collaborative Learning: Study rooms and shared work booths support students who wish to work together at Columbia University's Science and Engineering Library. The facility hosts more than 50 high-end computer workstations with specialized software to support user needs. Double-height windows fill the library's column-free space with natural light.

New Construction
Architect: Rafael Moneo Valles Arquitecto
Size: 13,000 sq. ft. (library only), 188,000 sq. ft. (full building)
Cost: $40 million (library only)
Photo: Michael DiVito

Collaborative Learning: When Spartanburg High School underwent a construction project to incorporate 9 th-graders into the school's student body for the first time, administrators took the opportunity to modernize its library. The new floor plan incorporates an easy-to-monitor area for collaboration and socialization that can also host events for up to 50 attendees. Offices that lined the exterior wall were eliminated to improve daylighting, low ceilings were raised in many sections, and accent lighting, cork flooring, and wooden-veneer ceilings were used to add visual interest.

Renovation
Architect: McMillan Pazdan Smith, LLC
Size: 3,180 sq. ft.
Cost: $4.4 million (library and other renovations)
Photo: Fred Martin Photography, Inc.

Collaborative Learning: Scotts Valley Library occupies a former indoor roller rink. The roller rink inspired the raised platform that forms the library's teen space, with booth seating that supports collaborative work and socializing. The children's library supports active learning, while small meeting rooms can be used for a variety of group activities.

Collaborative Learning: The Centennial College Library offers 250 study, research, and collaborative work spaces for students, including workstations, small-group media-viewing carrels, technology studios, and video conferencing. An atrium with a living wall provides additional informal study and lounge space.

Collaborative Learning: McMillen High School's library includes a conference room for small team assignments and a production room for group projects. One of the conference room walls is coated with Idea Paint, which turns the surface into a dry-erase board.

New Construction
Architect:
Size: 6,400 sq. ft.
Cost: $37 million (full building)
Photo: bkm Total Office of Texas

Collaborative Learning: Different zones at Pierce College Library encourage different types of usage. The Collaborate Zone promotes group work, while the Flex Zone allows students to reconfigure tables and chairs and the Design Studio provides a variety of software and technical tools for practical application of their ideas. Other zones offer spaces for quiet reading and study.

Collaborative Learning: Flexible options throughout the Eastern Campus Library support different learning styles. The library boasts both group study rooms and individual study carrels, as well as group work tables with multiple seating options. Two heavily used information-literacy classrooms have centrally placed worktables and computers around the perimeter to accommodate both group discussion and individual work.

New Construction
Architect: JCJ Architecture
Size: 33,000 sq. ft.
Cost: $14.5 million
Photo: Paul A. Turano, SCCC

Collaborative Learning: The learning commons at the Perry Library has six collaboration rooms, each designed to accommodate four to six people, with flat panel monitors, laptop hookups, and computer, as well as one larger room for up to ten people. Near the entry is a seating area with a large screen and computer designed for interactive presentations, while a separate room allows students to practice class presentations on the same equipment found in all university classrooms.

Collaborative Learning: The remodeling of the Colonial Heights branch focused on expanding area for teen and children's services and supporting a new homework coach program for youth. Two glassed-in study rooms serve the coach program and offer easily monitored space for small groups to study at other times.

Renovation
Architect: N/A
Size: 12,211 sq. ft.
Cost: $136,000
Photo: Don Burns, Sacramento Public Library

Collaborative Learning: The Valley Library dismantled its reference stacks in 2009, making room for collaborative workspaces on the main floor adjacent to the learning commons. Amenities include more than 160,000 square inches of fixed and mobile dry-erase surfaces, two media:scapes that allow students to display up to six laptops on large-screen monitors, and mobile tables, chairs, and screens that allow students to customize the space to their needs.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Library Design Showcase 2012: Collaborative Learning | American Libraries Magazine

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
It's hardly news anymore: The library is no longer a place for (just) solitary silence. The following facilities have made a special effort to provide space for cooperation and collaboration, while still respecting other patrons' desires for silence. North Carolina State University Libraries, D. H.

# data[].attributes.headline
William Jewel College Turns Its Library Into a High-Tech Collaborative Learning Space

# data[].attributes.subject
William Jewel College Turns Its Library Into a High-Tech Collaborative Learning Space

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Coppell ISD's newest campus, Richard J. Lee Elementary fosters an environment of collaboration for 21st Century learners. Take a look at what the campus has to offer.

# data[].attributes.headline
Thompson, Greg. "4 Keys To Designing The Classroom Of The Future." T H E Journal 41.9 (2014): 18. MasterFILE Main Edition. Web. 22 Nov. 2014.

# data[].attributes.subject
Thompson, Greg. "4 Keys To Designing The Classroom Of The Future." T H E Journal 41.9 (2014): 18. MasterFILE Main Edition. Web. 22 Nov. 2014.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Sign in with your credentials to access the EBSCOhost premium information resources provided by your subscribing institution.

# data[].attributes.headline
LIPPMAN, PETER C. "Collaborative Spaces." T H E Journal 40.1 (2013): 32. MasterFILE Main Edition. Web. 22 Nov. 2014.

# data[].attributes.subject
LIPPMAN, PETER C. "Collaborative Spaces." T H E Journal 40.1 (2013): 32. MasterFILE Main Edition. Web. 22 Nov. 2014.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Sign in with your credentials to access the EBSCOhost premium information resources provided by your subscribing institution.