Presented at EDUCAUSE Annual Conferences and Library Facilities

Institutions are renovating spaces to develop learning or information commons in libraries, academic buildings, and student centers. In some cases, existing commons need refreshing. Information or learning commons are informal learning spaces that offer an environment for collaborative, technology-enabled learning with support from information professionals. Because these projects require a major infusion of resources and often entail a multiyear planning and building process, many institutions grapple with how to structure a process that will yield the best result for the institution.

This seminar will focus on the planning process for these initiatives. Issues we will discuss include establishing a vision for the project; identifying key partners in the planning process; involving campus constituencies; collecting data that will inform the planning process; identifying institutional priorities that should inform the planning process; understanding emerging technology, learning, and information trends that will have implications for the facility; and planning assessment activities.

The session will discuss the results of the recent ARL survey on the management of public computing, including the demand for and scale of library public computing, staffing and organizational structures, budgeting and upgrades, security, authentication and authorization, policies, and assessment and measurements of success. Notable innovations in library public computing will be highlighted.

Whether initiating or advancing learning space design, efforts to bring together space, technology, and pedagogy for learner success have sufficiently matured to reveal a set of principles for engaging in the process. Through presentations, activities, and discussion, we will explore how to apply these principles and will determine a methodology for initiating, assessing, and advancing learning space design appropriate for your institutional context.

The workshop will be divided into four topics: What do I want? How do I get it? How do I support it? Does it work? For each topic, you will learn about trends and issues and explore examples from existing learning spaces. This seminar will provide you with principles and frameworks within which to understand the larger issues, as well as an opportunity to begin to apply these concepts to your home institution through a series of hands-on activities and discussions.