What is a "digital learning commons"?
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The village green, or “common,” was traditionally a place to graze livestock, stage a festival, or meet neighbors. This concept of social utility underlies the philosophy of the modern digital learning commons, which is a flexible environment built to accommodate multiple learning activities. Designing—or redesigning—a commons starts with an analysis of student needs and the kind of work they will be doing.
Why is it significant? As a place where students can meet, talk, study, and use “borrowed” equipment, the learning commons brings together the functions of libraries, labs, lounges, and seminar areas in a single community gathering place. This face-to-face forum supports the sharing of student ideas outside the classroom, comple- menting the shift in pedagogy toward collaborative media and team efforts. As a bonus, the learning commons can be an ideal venue to blend face-to-face with virtual meetings, allowing the broad population of students who commute or telecommute to join their teams in project discussions. What are the implications for teaching and learning? The commons is a gathering space for students, but it offers a great deal to the whole academic community. Campus resources like libraries, media labs, and experimental classrooms can be clus- tered in a single space, enabling students to make connections between them and direct their own learning. Teachers can enjoy more flexibility in assigning projects because the commons offers spaces for work to be done either individually or collaboratively, with media support or without. Perhaps most importantly, the commons invites students to devise their own approaches to their work and to transfer what they learn in one course to the work they do for another. A well-equipped learning commons says to a student, “Here you have tools, room to collaborate, equipment, advice, research options, and access to expert information. Now it is up to you to build something worthwhile: a paper, a presentation, an education.” Adapted from the Educause article, "7 Things You Should Know About.. the Modern Learning Commons." Nostolgic for the past? Listen to this... |
Words from Wood Hill Middle School on Vimeo. Music Class' - Public Service Announcement "Words"Titanic 3 from Wood Hill Middle School on Vimeo. The Titanic makes an unscheduled call to the Port of Wood Hill |
