CONCEIVING AND CREATING A NEW learning space could be viewed as an opportunity, or a challenge, or perhaps both. This could be your chance to develop an innovative space to help students learn and to help faculty teach. On the other hand, this “opportunity” could become a mixture of competing interests and ineffective committees complemented by a seemingly endless sea of architects, consultants, contractors, and administrators, all with divergent points of view and visions.
In the middle of this universe of constituents, you have the task of bringing a team together to create a learning space that is effective, sustainable, and scalable.
Your challenge: to nimbly navigate a wide assortment of obstacles and pitfalls that can pervade the project. Or perhaps you are going “where no one has gone before.” The key to your success may be to know how to select the right people to sit at the table and how to match your new learning environment to the teaching and learning that is to occur there. Hopefully you will avoid hearing, “Danger, danger, Will Robinson,” as spoken by the B-9 robot in the popular 1960s TV show Lost in Space.
If you follow some specific guidelines and design strategies, you can avoid being lost in your own learning space project.
The Constituent Groups
One of the first strategies to ensure your success is to carefully identify and understand your constituent groups. This process starts with your learners. While much has been written about millennial learners, the Net Generation, the XYZ Generation, and others, it is important not to make generalizations. It’s true that many of today’s learners energetically embrace the technology trend of the day, but we must also be aware that not all students learn in the same way. Some students flourish with group projects in collaborative settings much like spaces identified in learning commons. Other students may prefer to learn as individuals and may not be heavy technology users. Providing spaces that are flexible, engaging, and able to address a wide variety of learning styles and strategies is important to consider. While millennial students may be generally classified as able and efficient multitaskers, not all of them learn effectively the same way.
Key Learning Space Design Elements 1. Space utilization
2. Lighting
3. Sound reinforcement and treatment
4. Teaching and learning activities
5. Ergonomics
6. Interior architecture
7. Translucent technology
Your key constituent group involved in developing a learning space can be quite broad. Senior faculty may resist technology due to their reliance upon “chalk and talk” teaching strategies. Younger faculty may be comfortable with current technology trends but may not have the necessary IT support to effectively utilize technologies in their curriculum. To avoid this polarized landscape, it may be beneficial to explain and demonstrate the potential of innovative learning environments. In many instances stakeholders are resistant to new technologies or learning spaces merely because they haven’t been exposed to them. Demonstrating the “what ifs” of innovative learning spaces to key stakeholders provides a more positive environment to ensure success for your project. Carefully and graphically demonstrating how effective learning spaces can enhance teaching, learning, and collaboration is essential.
Beyond the academic point of view lies the architectural perspective. Architects give your project form and function. An architect interprets your vision, develops a plan, and makes it a reality. However, architects also have the potential to focus on their vision rather than the client’s. When project blueprints are 35 percent complete, it is a critical time. In architectural terms your project is nearly 80 percent designed, which illustrates the importance of clearly articulating your project vision early on. At this stage, having your learning space clearly articulated is critical. Venturing too far past this point may result in change orders, cost overruns, or, worse still, an ineffective learning space. A similar phenomenon can occur with your technology or AV consultants if they too focus on their own vision of how your learning space should look. Consultants may come to your project with their own perceptions or biases. They may be biased with what they are most familiar with, or be motivated by a desire to develop their own portfolio, rather than focused on what might be best for your institution.
Learning Space Design: Pathways to Success 1. Remember the 35 percent rule.
2. Get your seat at the "big table."
3. Develop your advocates.
4. Don't rely on individual constituents.
5. Understand the perspective of stakeholders.
6. Publicize successes.
7. Be objective.
