Learning Commons:Taking the Learning Commons to the Next Level

Letters & background by D. Sharon Pruitt http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinksherbet/

Presented by:

Erin Hansen & Dan TinaburriTwitter: @hansenep @geekteacher

Portrait of a Student

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• A Learning Commons (LC) is a common, or shared, learning ‘space’ that is both physical and virtual. It is designed to move students beyond mere research, practice, and group work to a greater level of engagement through exploration, experimentation, and collaboration.

  The Virtual Learning Commons: Building a Participatory School Learning Community 2012

http://bit.ly/1fXUhB0 FranLHughes

• A LC is about changing school culture, and about transforming the way learning and teaching occur. http://bit.ly/1jlEgdk Mindfulness

• A LC is more than a room or a website.

• A LC allows users to create their own environments to improve learning.

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• It’s an idea factory – the place where everyone can safely and confidently share their thoughts.

• It’s a base camp where teachers and students bring the outside world in to inform their practice and learning.

• It’s a place where everything created becomes a contribution to the world body of knowledge.

http://bit.ly/1bOsGj6 HDhalstrom

• A LC acts upon the premise that the acquisition of knowledge is now an open, transparent, non-hierarchical, interactive and real-time process. 

http://bit.ly/1bynAHK Dan Zen

• A LC is the starting point – it’s the nerve center of a school, the place where learning isn’t about collecting dots but rather connecting them through cross-curricular partnerships that boost critical thinking, problem solving, decision making and communicating abilities.

http://bit.ly/1lJcvNF SNRE

• It’s our experiment lab: a place where kids and adults can take risks and experiment with new ways of doing school.

http://bit.ly/1c04VrF K. Terwolbeck

• A place where educational research can be played with and developed into programs that not only impact students but also provides “road maps” for teachers.

~Points adapted from Gino Bondi, VSB District Principal of Specialty Programs http://learningthenow.com/blog/?p=2222

and Loertscher, Koechlin, Zwaan and Rosenfeld http://www.schoollearningcommons.info

http://www.flickr.com/photos/plugusin/8613799176/

FROMTO

Teacher directed Process and active learning

Simple information assignments Complex knowledge construction

Four wall learning Networked and global learning

Finding information Learning that explores big ideas

Working in isolation Collaborative partnerships

Content retention Skill acquisition

Finding information Discovering knowledge

Students “doing school” Empowering Students to learn

Adapted from Gino Bondi, VSB District Principal of Specialty Programs http://learningthenow.com/blog/?p=2222

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How do we avoid perceptions like this?

Question:

Is a Learning Commons a Space or

a Philosophy?

Answer:

Both !!

http://w

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.flickr.com/photos/plugusin/8035424219/ Bill Ferriter

http://bit.ly/LWpISJ Brad Flickinger

It is a SPACE that…• Requires intentional and skilled

leadership/expertise

• is characterized by active learning, and not compliance and silence

• recognizes students are becoming not only better thinkers, but also makers, doers and problem solvers;

• promotes inquiry, collaboration and active engagement;

• empowers students and teachers to frame problems, generate ideas, refine solutions, collaborate with experts (locally and globally), and share results

~adapted from Gino Bondi, VSB District Principal of Specialty Programs http://learningthenow.com/blog/?p=2222

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Physical Space

• A LC doesn’t begin or end with the space

• Planning is KEY – before you start!

• Success is not determined by $$$$$$

Thoughts?

http://bit.ly/N5OpO3 Fran L. Hughes

http://bit.ly/1c5EfSN Fran L. Hughes

Showcase Space

http://www.flickr.com/photos/60399258@N00/6840954640/ Fran L. Hughes

Production Space – Green Screen, Video software, Collaboration

http://www.flickr.com/photos/60399258@N00/6943065129/ Fran L. Hughes

What do you notice?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/60399258@N00/6794860132/ Fran L. Hughes

http://www.flickr.com/photos/60399258@N00/4911833403/ Fran L. Hughes

Flexible Seating

The Virtual Mirrors the Physical

http://bit.ly/M06NHo Barisabak

http://www.flickr.com/photos/plugusin/6230346276/ William Ferriter

5 Categories for Social Learning

• 1. Formal Structured Learning (FSL)• 2. Group Directed Learning (GDL)• 3. Intra-Organizational Learning (IOL)• 4. Personal Directed Learning (PDL)• 5. Accidental & Serendipitous Learning (ASL)

http://c4lpt.co.uk/social-learning-handbook/examples-of-social-media-for-learning/

Types of Learning

http://c4lpt.co.uk/social-learning-handbook/examples-of-social-media-for-learning/

Choosing Tools for the VLC