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This description of learning spaces is suggestive rather than prescriptive.
Learning spaces are complex, containing a multitude of variables. One of the
key variables is the institution itself. Learning spaces are institutional in
scope — their implementation involves the institution's culture, tradition, and
mission. These institutional factors must be taken into account in order to
design learning spaces to meet the needs of Net Gen students.
We must remind ourselves that today's students are only the "first wave" to
exhibit Net Gen characteristics. Soon, they will be graduate students and
assistant professors, bringing their Net Gen work habits to the faculty ranks.
In addition, faculty who are baby boomers and Gen-Xers are acquiring Net Gen
characteristics as they become more facile with — and dependent upon —
Information Technology (IT). Planning for Net Gen requirements cannot be
dismissed as catering to a single generation. IT and the work habits that IT
encourages are here to stay; planning for the Net Generation is tantamount to
planning for the future.
No single magic formula will guarantee successful learning spaces on every
campus. It is clear, however, that it will not be enough if we simply place
projectors, computers, and DVD players in the classrooms. Nor will it be
adequate just to provide scores of publicly available computers. Such tactics,
in isolation, may have little impact. Learning space design is a large-scale,
long-term project, involving building and maintaining consensus, curricular
vision, emerging technology, and layout and furniture options, as well as
intracampus organizational collaboration. Learning space design requires a
collaborative, integrated approach, with an overarching vision that informs and
supports specific projects.
The starting point for rethinking learning spaces to support Net Gen
students begins with an underlying vision for the learning activities these
spaces should support. This vision should be informed by learning theory, as
well as by recognition of the characteristics of the students and faculty who
use these spaces. An institution's specific culture, organizational structure,
and fiscal circumstances enter the equation, as well. Once a vision has been
established, the more concrete phases of planning can begin.
Acknowledgments
The author would like to thank his friend and colleague, Joan Lippincott of
the Coalition for Networked Information, for sharing her insight and advice, as
well as for her permission to use some of the ideas we articulated in our
EDUCAUSE Quarterly article.
Endnotes
- American Psychological Association, Board of Educational Affairs (BEA),
"Learner-Centered Psychological Principles: A Framework for School Redesign and
Reform," revision November 1997, http://www.apa.org/ed/lcp.html.
- National Research Council, How People Learn: Bridging Research and
Practice, M. Suzanne Donovan, John D. Bransford, and James W. Pellegrino,
eds. (Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press, 1999), pp. 12, 47; online
edition available at http://www.nap.edu/catalog/9457.html.
Further Reading
American Association for Higher Education, American College Personnel
Association, and National Association of Student Personnel Administrators, Powerful Partnerships:
A Shared Responsibility for Learning (June 1998).
Robert B. Barr and John Tagg, "From Teaching to Learning — a New Paradigm
for Undergraduate Education," in Learning from Change: Landmarks in
Teaching and Learning in Higher Education from Change Magazine 1969-1999,
Deborah DeZure, ed. (Sterling, Va.: Stylus Publishing, 2000), pp. 198–200.
Originally published in Change, Vol. 27, No. 6 (November/December 1995), pp.
12–25.
Jacqueline Grennon Brooks and Martin G. Brooks, In Search of
Understanding: The Case for Constructivist Classrooms (Alexandria, Va.:
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1993); online edition
available at http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/1999brooks/1999brookstoc.html.
Malcolm B. Brown and Joan K. Lippincott, "Learning Spaces: More than Meets
the Eye," EDUCAUSE Quarterly, Vol. 26, No. 1 (2003), pp. 14–16, http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/eqm0312.pdf.
Nancy Van Note Chism and Deborah J. Bickford, eds., The Importance of
Physical Space in Creating Supportive Learning Environments: New Directions for
Teaching and Learning, No. 92 (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2002).
National Research Council, How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience,
and School: Expanded Edition, John D. Bransford, Ann L. Brown, and Rodney
R. Cocking, eds. (Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press, 2000), http://www.nap.edu/catalog/9853.html.
Lennie Scott-Weber, In Sync: Environmental Behavior Research and the
Design of Learning Spaces (Ann Arbor, Mich.: Society for College and
University Planning, 2004), http://www.scup.org/pubs/books/is_ebrdls.html.
About the Author
Malcolm Brown is director of academic computing at
Dartmouth College. In this capacity, he oversees IT support for teaching,
learning, research, classroom technology, and media production. He has been
active with the New Media Consortium (NMC), serving as chair of the NMC Board
for 2003-2004, and is on the project board for the NMC Horizon Project for
2005. One of his areas of particular interest is learning theory and its
application in the classroom. He has presented on these topics at the EDUCAUSE
and National Learning Infrastructure Initiative (NLII) conferences, and has
participated in NLII focus sessions, as well as Project Kaleidoscope's planning
workshops for National Institute of Technology and Liberal Education (NITLE)
schools. Brown has also taught courses on topics in intellectual history in the
Jewish Studies program at Dartmouth.
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