A Beautiful Example

Hyman, S. C. (2014). Planning and creating a library learning commons. Teacher Librarian, 41(3), 16-21.

This is a beautiful article; I am fighting the urge to copy it verbatim for my Vision assignment. Shannon Hyman details her district’s process of building a LEED-Certified Elementary School and creating a Learning Commons with great deliberateness. Intentionality, beauty, literacy, and connection run through this process and presumably the space itself. Hyman writes that “planning a center of teaching and learning means restructuring existing notions about libraries as storage spaces and constructing a vision of the space as a scaffold to support both formal and informal learning experiences simultaneously.” (Hyman, 2014, p.16). She offers specific examples of seating choices, marine-grade fabrics, foldable tables; she also shows clearly how students use the space and how this use is purposeful, readily adaptable to different learning purposes, and aligned with the school’s goals. This purposeful alignment shows in her statement that planning followed the 

“AASL Standards for the 21st-century Learner in Action (2009) and our school's inaugural initiatives, which include the precepts that learning is cooperative, empowering, active, and meaningful. Our planning team knows intuitively that in order to maintain the integrity of this vision and create a culture of readers, we must tend to the space, the furnishings, the collection, and most of all the people. We make every decision based on three distinct priorities-people, flexibility, and durability-knowing that the core of our learning community requires a learning commons. Our LLC is not a storage place for books and equipment with limited accessibility. Students are greeted with a series of posters that remind them that in this space we think deeply, speak gently, read widely, and work hard.” (Hyman, 2014, p. 17)”

Hyman goes on to describe the power of collaboration and the primacy of literacy in an elementary school library; she posits the Learning Commons as the center of a story that radiates through the school and offers a beautiful quotation by Mem Fox about how literacy sharing is collaborative in nature.  Love of story and careful attention to children’s needs—as evidenced by clear planning and ergonomically designed gliders, tables, and stools—make this library one I’d love to see in person.  She clearly explains the multiple roles that the LLC plays, saying that though its design, “our LLC is a curious balance of two worlds: cozy, restful spaces for overly stimulated minds and roomy areas that activate wonder, the exchange of ideas, and exploration” (Hyman, 2014, p. 21). I highly recommend this article. 

A Student-Designed School Library

Chambers, Julia

Hohenadel, Kristin. (2014, Feb. 26). Eighth-graders design and build a school library for the 21st century. Slate [Weblog]. Retrieved from http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_eye/2014/02/26/eighth_graders_at_realm_charter_school_in_berkeley_design_and_build_their.html

This is the first example I've seen of a school library that was entirely designed (and built!) by the eight-grade students who use it. Students were given a space for a "library" and they came up with a space that greatly resembles the Learning Commons models we've been studying. Students were given free-reign as to what might go in this space, and the students chose openness, comfort, and hang-out space over stacks of books. They designed bookshelves using a "X"-shaped module theme (X as a functional shape, but also as metaphor for the algebraic unknown.)  The Berkeley charter school has run out of funding, but has plans to fundraise to realize the vision. (Watch the Kickstarter video.)

Evaluation: I love the student-driven nature of this project and am intrigued by how closely the ideas resemble what we've been talking about as a Learning Commons space. What is absent in this picture is a librarian or information specialist. Imagine what this space could do with an innovative school librarian at the helm!

Selling the Transformation from Library to Learning Commons

Chambers, Julia

Johnson, Dean. (2013, October). Power up! The new school library. Leveraging Teacher Leadership/Educational Leadership 71(2) p.84-85. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/oct13/vol71/num02/The-New-School-Library.aspx

Summary: This article provides an overview of the physical learning commons. The author likens the Learning Commons to a kitchen in contrast to the “grocery store” qualities of a traditional school library. The transformation from one to the other requires repurposing the space to match the digital age of learning. Giving students ownership is key to the process and buy-in and can be achieved through physical comforts, accessibile hours, enabling spaces to produce and showcase work. The author suggests that the emphasis of the traditional library has shifted from teaching how to find and organize information to how to evaluate and use information for higher learning, and so the librarian needs to have a teaching space and his/her desk should be prominently placed and set up for one-on-one assistance.

Key technologies include laptops; video/laptop projection systems for computerized slideshows with accompanying sound; audio amplification; interactive whiteboards; audience response systems. The article also provides some selling points for school leaders,such as focusing more on the library program vs. space, viewing librarians as teachers who can lead the implementation of technology into existing curriculum, and recognizing the role students play in shaping this space.

Evaluation: I thought this was a great overview that sells the idea well. I’m planning on sending this article to our head of school.

Governor signs bills to expand broadband in California

By Rachelle Chong posted on October 4, 2013 in Digital Divide, Legislation, News 

Posted by Rene Hohls

This article on the recent bills signed into law in California expanding broadband service is a reminder to us all that we may be moving towards a digital world and digital services in libraries, but the virtual world is not accessible to everyone. Not yet anyway. No matter where you stand in politics or your views on government involvement with access to information in our society and our schools, it is impossible to ignore the fact that in many states, even tech-savvy California, there are still millions of people who cannot access information on the Internet.

This article mentions students specifically as the beneficiaries of the newly expanded broadband services and potential grant-funded digital access, but much of what is available to students will depend on the school they attend and the district funding decisions made by the local school board. The distance between the ideal learning commons we discuss in this class and the actual learning environment in which millions of students across the country operate is vast.

It is important for us as the gatekeepers of information, and in most cases the technological access to that information, to recognize where students and teachers are coming from and try to always meet them where they are. And if they are in Mendocino County, it will be a physical learning commons - not a virtual one. Not yet anyway. 

Play or Learning?

Jessica King

Crow, S. R. & Robins, J. (2012). Play in the library. Teacher Librarian, 39(5), 36-43.

             

Summary:

         Crow and Robbins (2012) address the decreasing amount of time that schools are giving over to “play” time for students by cutting down recesses and cutting out arts and music lessons. It is their argument that this is detrimental to children because “play is a way for children to make sense of the world they will inherit” (p. 36). The authors then discuss the way in which “play” can be used to engage and teach students and that the library is the perfect place to do this because of the vast amount of resources it has available. There are three ways to allow students to “play” in the library and take control of their learning: inquiry-based learning, storytelling, and questing. Inquiry-based learning is that chance for students to question and explore topics that interest them. Storytelling is reading and listening to stories as well as creating their own stories in their own formats. Questing focuses more on the navigation of the multitude of resources that are available and learning how to find the right resources. About half way through the authors do switch to the term "Learning Commons" when they are referring to the library and reference the book The New Learning Commons. The authors keep the focus on the library perspective and offer examples from activities schools have instigated. 

Use of Node Chairs

 

 

 

This is a great video that shows how Node chairs can be used to enhance student learning.
Node chairs not only allow teachers and students to reconfigure class seating, but are also more comfortable and useful for the students.

 

 

Using environmental psych. to make the physical LC more accessible (an older article that remains relevant!)

Sinclair, Kimberly

Doll, C. A.  (1992).  School library media centers: The human environment.  School Library Media Quarterly, 20, 225–229. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/aasl/

            aaslpubsandjournals/slmrb/editorschoiceb/infopower/selctdollhtml

            In this article, Doll examines the psychological needs, ranging from academic to social and personal, that the physical school media center fulfills for different students, in an effort to yield information that teacher librarians can use to make the learning commons a more welcoming, appealing space for students. Although written long before school media centers or libraries might be referred to as learning commons, this article remains relevant due to the fact that, although technology has changed dramatically during the decades in which it was written, human psychology and behavior regarding physical spaces in our culture remains more static; therefore, any revelations about psychological needs that the media center fulfills can be transferred to the learning commons today.

            Doll begins by reviewing the literature of research created by environmental psychologists, which identifies several factors influencing how individuals relate to and behave in physical settings: personal space, territoriality, the need for privacy, and a desire for variety. In the first instance, researchers noted that people tend to build and view surrounding personal spaces an extension of their personalities, therefore requiring varying distances between themselves in others, depending upon the relationship with others nearby and the context of the proximity to others. Based on this information, teacher librarians are advised to arrange library furniture such that students can maintain at least four feet distance between themselves and strangers in the common space, with reminders that teens’ personal space should be as respected by library staff as the staff would be of respecting adults’ personal space. In discussing territorial behaviors, researchers noted that humans tend to “claim” certain areas even when studying, based on where they sit at a table and how they arrange their personal belongings; in order to maximize limited space with these behaviors in mind, therefore, the author offers several suggestions (such as furnishing more small, round tables, rather than fewer/larger rectangular ones) for maximizing limited seating space, by balancing territorial behaviors with minimal personal space requirements. However, researchers point out that round tables will more readily attract and accommodate small groups of acquaintances (vs. strangers), so that librarians should use rounded tables with carrels to allow individuals more privacy and/or to denote that certain areas are quiet/study areas, as opposed to small group/quiet-discussion spaces.

            Additional notable observations, which were made by environmental psychologists and then adapted for teacher librarians’ use by the author, include:

o   Taking advantage of bookshelves, carrels, and portable panels to allow students to fulfill the need for private spaces

o   Ideally arranging the physical learning commons area to accommodate three levels of privacy/focus: 1) quiet spaces for focused activity, built for privacy and minimal audio-visual distractions; 2) spaces for light reading and quiet conversation, with soft background noise; and 3) spaces for students taking a break and/or engaging in lively social interactions, where people can enjoy snacks, listen to music, and walk around

o   Blues and greens in commons décor result in the most focused, pleasant student behaviors (although pains should be made to avoid the “institutional green” shade, which carries disagreeable associations)

o   Carpets help with environmental noise and appeal to younger teens and children in particular

o   Comfortable furniture should be flexible in arrangement, so that students can exercise some ownership in adapting the environment to enhance group learning

            In conclusion, Doll summarizes by reiterating the need for flexibility (on the librarian’s behalf) on one hand, and individualization for students’ needs, on the other. With so much subjectivity in the world, it’s refreshing to have some specific, objective recommendations that school librarians can take to anticipate and be more responsive to learners’ needs.

Physical Learning Commons - York University

York University Learning Commons


The link above will take you to an article about the York University Learning Commons.  Some of the pictures are spectacular.  Yes, the budget was $1.9 million but there are still some pretty good ideas for a physical learning commons.  I particularly like the semi-enclosed booths and I've heard of High School libraries that use booths in their libraries.  The glass enclosed classrooms are nice too.  I'm not sure what purpose the steps serve, they don't look too comfortable to me, though they seem to be well inhabited.  Anyway, I thought the photos were worth a look.

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