Value the Present.
After hundreds of years of educational space planning, we are now increasingly transformed by online education and the collaboration environment. The library as well as educational institutions still provide collections and reference services, but it is not so simple. We need to be aware that individual learners need services based on belonging and sharing knowledge. Not having a plan for the individual learner can lead to a decrease in student success and not having the space is even worse. OK. Let’s parse that – creating a library plan for the individual learner ensures a stronger educational responses and improves outcomes for students.
Bring Your Whole Self, Not Just the Best Plan
Like many others caught in our current circumstances. You must have high standards for your learning and engagement platform. You must be ready for extra scrutiny. You can shine by putting the spotlight on safe space planning and a magnifying glass on adaptive strategies to encourage library use. These can be both physical and online services environments.
CONSTRUCT A LEARNING KIT
According to Mitchel Resnick (MIT media Lab) and Brian Silverman (Playful Invention Company), the following principles for constructing a learning kit are:
- Low Floor and Wide Walls
- Make Powerful Ideas Salient – Not Forced
- Support Many Paths, Many Styles
- Make it as Simple as Possible – and Maybe Even Simpler
- Choose Black Boxes Carefully
- A Little Bit of Programming Goes a Long Way
- Give People What They Want – Not What They Ask For
- Invent Things That You Would Want to Use Yourself
- Iterate, Iterate – then Iterate Again
They studied gaming to support learning and making things. (Reflections on Designing Learning Kits)
LEARNING PODS
Having a strategy for your library’s space plan is a good thing. In the hybrid world, we need to understand how to get the most we can out of the physical environment. We must provide library space to support new types of learning activities. We need to examine the user needs. We need to build solutions to support learning behavior, interactions and interactivity.
Guidelines that can be used to support your library space planning
- Create Library Environment that encourages safe access (low floor)
- Create Library Environment that encourages expert users to create their own research (high ceiling)
- Create Library Environment with Wide Walls – i.e. provide space to enhance personal experiences
- Create Strategies to facilitate the sharing of collections, partnerships, social media programs and communications
CONTACT US TO CREATE A PROGRAM FOR YOUR ONLINE and PHYSICAL LIBRARY DESIGN.
Create an effective and coherent strategy for organizing, analyzing and deploying library activities for individual learners. CONTACT AARON COHEN ASSOCIATES
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COMMON CORE AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR ORGANIZATION
DIGITAL LIBRARY PHYSICAL WORK
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