Library to Learning Commons
As many of you now know, we have been awarded
a $35 000.00 grant from Education Matters to help redesign our learning commons
into a space where students can access resources, investigate, explore and
create. On the afternoon of January 20,
our staff came together to begin the work ahead. We looked at the principles of a learning
commons to ensure we had a common understanding through the work of David V.
Loertscher (https://crcpd.ab.ca/uploads/userfiles/0a5c758365f7.pdf)
Some of the key components of a learning
commons were discussed:
·
A collaborative physical
and virtual environment that invites and ignites participatory learning
·
A responsive dynamic that
is invested in school-wide improvement through an evidence-based process of
design, modify, rethink, redesign, and rework.
·
Professionals who can successfully
lead out front, or lead from the middle, or push from behind are great
candidates to head a learning commons.
Another important part of our resign was the
consulting of students. Our Library
Assistant had a conversation with every classroom and their feedback for our
learning commons included:
·
Student centred furniture
(special chairs, soft furniture, whiteboard tables etc)
·
Specified atmosphere (color
preferences, soft music, lighting, living wall etc)
·
Specialized technology (ipads,
headphones, computers, speakers, cameras etc)
·
Purposeful spaces (reading,
puppets, stage, makerspace, art etc.)
·
Book collections (graphic novels,
signage, history, organized in genres etc.)
As we move forward, we are excited to share
this journey of transformation. Our
funds must be spent by August 2017 so I will be sharing our work and progress around
the redesign.
Sincerely,
Ms. Paull
