New Learning Spaces

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These scenarios show Net Gen students and faculty engaged in learning practices that are leveraged by Information Technology (IT), a process that requires either improving current practices or creating new ones. The underlying theme remains the same, however: cultivating learning practices consistent with learning theory and aligned with the habits and expectations of Net Gen students (and soon professors!) who have been "raised on" IT. The scenarios suggest the importance of integrating all learning spaces, formal and informal. For most higher education institutions, the lecture hall will not disappear; the challenge is to develop a new generation of the lecture hall, one that enables Net Gen students and faculty to engage in enlivened, more interactive experiences. If the lecture hall is integrated with other spaces — physically, as well as virtually — it will enable participants to sustain the momentum from the class session into other learning contexts. The goal is not to do away with the traditional classroom, but rather to reinvent and to integrate it with the other learning spaces, moving toward a single learning environment.

Building on these scenarios, Table 2 illustrates how Net Gen characteristics (such as the proclivity for group work) and learning theory might be supported by learning space design and IT. Learning theory is central to any consideration of learning spaces; colleges and universities cannot afford to invest in "fads" tailored to the Net Gen student that might not meet the needs of the next generation.

For example, start with the Net Gen students' focus on goals and achievement. That achievement orientation ties to learning theory's emphasis on metacognition, where learners assess their progress and make active decisions to achieve learning goals. Learning space design could support this by providing contact with people who can provide feedback: tutors, consultants, and faculty. This could, in turn, be supported in the IT environment by making formative self-tests available, as well as an online portfolio, which would afford students the opportunity to assess their overall academic progress.

Table 2. Aligning Net Gen Characteristics, Learning Principles, Learning Space, and IT Applications

Perhaps the most challenging aspect of these new learning spaces is the need for integration. As institutions create an anywhere, anytime IT infrastructure, opportunities arise to tear down silos and replace them with a more ubiquitous learning environment. Using laptops and other networked devices, students and faculty are increasingly able to carry their entire working environment with them. To capitalize on this, campus organizations must work collaboratively to create a more integrated work environment for the students and faculty, one that better serves the mobile Net Gen students, as well as a faculty faced with the initial influx of these students into their ranks. This will involve not only libraries and IT organizations, but also facilities planning and buildings and grounds departments. Development organizations may also become involved as institutions look for the resources needed to implement these new learning spaces.

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© Malcolm Brown. Used with permission.

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