Free Book To Download To Ipod Rethinking College
Janet Denzel
In January 2007, I was hired by Springfield Township School District to teach English. One of the first pieces of advice I received was, "Seek out Joyce Valenza." I took this advice and sought out Joyce, the STSD librarian, immediately. Joyce and I collaborated on several lessons and she was always excited to help my class find new ways to approach research and Language Arts. Although it was three years ago, Joyce was ahead of the curve and understood the necessity of information literacy and the importance of emerging technologies and the evolving library.
Many schools that have adopted a 1:1 program have made the mistake of forgetting the library. The library is the cornerstone of every school and is in a current state of flux. No one knows what to make of the library and some feel it is a relic in the context of schools. New information technologies emerge and the library is soon forgotten or pushed to the side, however, the library has never been more important.
While the aesthetics of the library must change, the mission is still the same: connect students to vast networks of information. As many schools acquire and integrate more technology, the case for rethinking the library and the librarian emerges. Similarly, the case for integrating lessons in information literacy is becoming a necessary skill all students must learn and develop.
Schools must collectively rethink the library and not completely change it or simply forget about it. Develop a committee that will work towards evolving the library and allow students, teachers, academic technologists, administration, and librarians to exchange ideas in a collegial manner. Expect resistance to change. Expect an all out rally for the preservation of books. Expect the "technology is a distraction" sentiment. Expect resistance from every angle but turn that resistance into questions. Which books can we still use and which can we replace with new technologies? If our students are distracted, are we really providing them with engaging lessons? And if so, what do those lessons look like? How can we harness new technologies and blend them with ageless resources? If our budget is tight, how can we still incorporate new information literacy learning strategies in the absence of technology?
The next step is to rethink the library's design. The contemporary library should still house books, but blend in new and emerging technologies. It should look like a hip coffee shop with plenty of outlets for students to connect as well as comfortable places to read a book. Where there used to be print periodicals and encyclopedia sets, we now have an iPod or iPad station. We must accept that the modern library is everywhere, but before we present that concept to our students they must understand how to use it effectively. The one element that should never change in a library is the librarian.
While books and periodicals may soon be replaced by Kindles and iPads, the school librarian will never fade. However, he or she must evolve and accept new trends. The school librarian should embrace new technologies and help guide students through the vast fields of information. Students need to understand how to effectively search, cite, and integrate. These skills have never been more important. The library should not be avoided, but embraced by all teachers and students.
The library will always have a place in schools and places of learning. The design may change but the mission will endure. Teachers must find ways to integrate lessons in information literacy and lead students in the direction of accessing information and making smart connections. One of the best connections they can make is with their librarian.
These connections must happen. Many students come to my English 101 course in college thinking Google is the only outlet for information and not competent enough to use online databases. And these are just the basics. While Google has become our best friend, students need to know the best route for accessing information in a field of tangled weeds. Students must possess the skills to discern and filter credible information while sifting through the weeds.
I am not writing this post as the foremost expert on library science and information literacy, rather, someone who wants to provoke a conversation. The library will always be relevant, but the ways in which we access and use the library will change as we continually evolve our practice. There are many librarians out there making great strides in promoting a new direction in information literacy, however, there are just as many taking a stand against change. If you are one of the reluctant ones, please make an effort to embrace, even if it is only in small, incremental steps, this change. Be part of the conversation, promote emerging technologies in your library, and embrace your librarian. Really. Give them a hug.
This chapter examines significant trends in learning space design, both in new construction and in renovation, and relates them to learning theory and technological advances. Three major trends inform current learning space design:
The rapidly increasing accessibility of digital technology also has changed learning space design. Digital technology continues to advance at a frenetic pace, offering greater capability while simultaneously becoming more mobile and more affordable. Five years ago, most students purchased desktop computers; two years later, most purchased laptops. The implications are significant: more affordable and mobile technology facilitates greater access to content and resources. This enhanced access, in turn, has made it possible to implement a learning paradigm that emphasizes active learning, formative assessment, social engagement, mobility, and multiple paths through content. Although specific technologies may come and go, the enduring trend is technology becoming more capable, affordable, and mobile.
The unrelenting pace of technology change can make IT decisions rapidly obsolete. While platforms and applications come and go, the psychology of how people learn does not. Constructivist learning principles, specifically activities identified as encouraging learning, can be translated into design principles that guide tactical decisions, ensuring that the designs we build and the technology we deploy serve a clear educational purpose. This suggests a design methodology with a clear "genealogy" having constructivist principles as the "parent" of design principles leading to specific tactics that support and enhance learning.
Social interactions such as debate, discussion, and teamwork, for example, encourage learning, prompting a design requirement for rooms that can be reconfigured quickly for small discussion groups. If accepted, this principle leads to decisions such as selecting lightweight, wheeled chairs that permit easy reconfiguration of the room's seating.
The traditional layout of auditoria and lecture halls has rarely provided for social engagement among students. No doubt we all have many classrooms whose floor plans look essentially the same. This arrangement is not conducive to discussion among students; the design optimizes instructor transmission. In the traditional classroom floor plan, students receive content, packaged and presented with a "one size fits all" approach, regardless of the learners' unique needs or styles.
There is an increased emphasis on alternatives to a simple transmission model of pedagogy. Personal response systems, videoconferencing capabilities, floor plans that foster face-to-face contact among students, technology that supports the sharing of computer screens, and virtual whiteboards indicate a shift in learning spaces to support how people learn.
Many signs herald a move toward active and social learning spaces. Interest in informal learning spaces stems from the realization that informal spaces are particularly conducive to working spontaneously and deliberately in small or medium-sized groups. "Rethinking" informal space is characterized by coordinating architecture and technology to create powerful learning environments based on floor plans, furniture, and technology. This rethinking embraces services and products such as wireless networks and plasma screens supported by partnerships among units, such as the library and IT.
The trend toward human-centered design is embodied in the shift from the information commons to the learning commons. The term "commons" means "land or resources belonging to or affecting the whole of a community," according to the Oxford American Dictionary, which seems particularly pertinent to the trend of human-centered approaches in learning space design. The notion of the commons is evolving, with an increasing emphasis on users and the range of services learners require; the learning commons illustrates human-centered design.
The learning commons is human-centered. The term learning signals a significant change: the focus is not just finding information but applying that information in productive ways to deepen and strengthen learning as well as to construct knowledge. Learning, not information, is increasingly the focus. The move away from transmission to constructivist learning and developments in technology has enabled this redefinition of the commons. If the constructivist model reflects how people learn, a more human-centered design of learning space is a positive change. (See Table 1.)
The increasing integration of computing technology into the mainstream of daily activity enables this transition. One size may be adequate for all, but it's not particularly good for any given learning activity. Learning spaces in the 21st century need to foster discovery, innovation, and scholarship, not simply contain them.
Building spaces for learning has always involved collaboration among a variety of campus groups, including students and departmental faculty. As the emphasis on supporting learning activities rises, more ownership shifts to faculty and students. They are assisted, rather than led, by architects, builders, and facilities professionals. Learning environments should be developed by those who will use them.1 Faculty and students are the product experts, while the architect is the space development expert. Shifting the focus to users of the space links the process to the human-centered design outcome. It also emphasizes learning activities rather than resources as the driving factor: people and learning, not managing capital goods, must take precedence.
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