ELI 05 Fall Focus Session

In my second interview with Lori Gee and Terry Hajduk,  we discussed participant questions related to their ELI '05 Fall Focus Session presentation, The Importance of Informal Spaces for Learning, Collaboration, and Socialization. While our first conversation focused on issues of institutional culture, this interview addresses the design process for informal learning spaces. Participants asked Gee and Hajduk to address:

• How widely Gee and Hajduk's views on informal space design are shared across the architect / designer community
• The extent to which architects and designers may be approaching the design process based on "boilerplates from the past"
• The weaknesses of applying business space design models to learning environments, and
• Their starting points for designing a library today, based on contemporary views of informal spaces.

If you would like to view their original presentation in addition to listening to the attached MP3 file, you can access it via the focus session proceedings.

Lori Gee, Learning Environments Strategist for Herman Miller, Inc., and Terry Hajduk, Principal at ARX Design, conducted the general session presentation The Importance of Informal Spaces for Learning, Collaboration, and Socialization at ELI's 2005 Fall Focus Session in Sept. Recently, they joined me to discuss two sets of participant questions stemming from their presentation.In the first interview, which is attached as an MP3 file, Gee and Hajduk discuss some of the cultural issues related to the design of informal learning spaces. In particular, focus session participants were interested in getting their views on:

• Integrating a student-centered design philosophy into research-centric institutional environments
• Guidelines for piloting informal space design approaches;
• Strategies for getting student input into the design process, and
• Whether assessment findings establish the effectiveness of informal space design approaches in enhancing learning.

As you listen to the interview, you may find it useful to review Gee and Hajduk's original presentation, whi

 The attached MP3 file contains the audio from the general session presentation conducted by Nancy Chism at the ELI ’05 Fall Focus Session. In her presentation, Chism sought to set the context for the design of informal learning spaces in terms of their relation to the institution’s academic mission. She discussed:

• Establishing a shared understanding of what might fall under the heading of "informal learning spaces"
• Thinking about what constitutes the "instituitonal mission" and its various dimensions
• Identifying how institutional mission and space intersect
• Examining different spaces and determining what they say about learning (built pedagogy), and
• Identifying informal learning space issues about which we need a greater understanding.

If you would like to view her PowerPoint slides while listening to the presentation, you can access them through the focus session proceedings. A PDF file with the text from her remarks is also available as part of the proceedings.

 

The attached MP3 file contains the audio from the general session presentation conducted by Lori Gee and Terry Hajduk at the ELI ’05 Fall Focus Session – Design of Informal Learning Spaces. In their presentation, Gee and Hajduk highlighted the following principles as central to the design of effective informal learning spaces:

• The entire campus is a learning environment that provides opportunities for further learning;
• Informal spaces for learning, collaboration, and socialization are critical components of both scheduled and unscheduled campus spaces; and
• Space drives behaviors and behaviors need to change for our society to realize its learning goals.

Gee and Hajduk explored these principles across a range of institutional examples. To view those examples while listening to the file, you can download a PDF file of their presentation from the focus session proceedings.

The attached MP3 file contains the full audio from the general session presentation conducted by Malcolm Brown and Phil Long at the ELI '05 Fall Focus Session - Design of Informal Learning Spaces. In the presentation, Brown and Long identify three trends as significantly influencing the present and future of informal learning space design:

• Intentional support for social learning strategies, informed by principles
• A return to human-centered design, and
• Support for diverse, personally-owned devices to enrich academic learning.

You can review the presentation slides while listening to Brown and Long’s session by downloading their PowerPoint file from the focus session proceedings.

Nancy Chism, Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, served as the opening speaker for the ELI 2005 Fall Focus Session on informal learning space design. Her presentation focused on how an institution could be design its informal spaces to support its academic mission.

Following the session, I interviewed Dr. Chism regarding questions focus session participants submitted about her presentation. In the attached MP3 file, we discuss assessment issues related to informal learning space design and strategies for engaging students in the design process.

In the last 3-4 minutes of the interview, I highlight a few related Web pages. To save a few minutes, you can access those URLs here:

• The EDUCAUSE Learning Space Design Constituent Group homepage (http://www.educause.edu/Community/ConstituentandDiscussionGroups/5983)
• The ELI Learning Space Design topic page (http://www.educause.edu/LearningSpace/5521)
• The ELI 2005 Fall Focus Session Proceedings (http://www.educause.edu/Proceedings/8993)

To provide additional context for the ELI 2005 Fall Focus Session, I spoke with Dr. Ken Graetz, Director of E-Learning atWinonaStateUniversity . Dr. Graetz has a background in social psychology, with research interests in team and group dynamics, social cognition, and computer-supported collaborative work.

Graetz discusses the impact the learning environment has on the way people think and feel. He also describes way in which the current generation of students truly views virtual spaces as places and the implications that has for teaching and learning.

Joan Lippincott, Associate Executive Director of the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI), joined me for an interview to supplement our recent focus session on informal learning spaces. Joan has held positions in a number of libraries, so I wanted to get her views about the role of libraries and information commons as informal learning spaces. I also asked Joan to explore how we might adjust these spaces to take advantage of what we know about students and how they learn.

We had a great program on informal learning space design at our recent focus session, but we also wanted to share with you the perspectives of a few experts who couldn’t present last week in Phoenix. In the attached MP3 file, I discuss learning space design with William Dittoe, the founding member of Educational Facilities Consultants, a firm that helps colleges and universities develop learner-centered designs.

My conversation with Bill focused on three major issues. One was the importance of the shift from an instructor perspective to a student viewpoint in conceptualizing learning spaces, which truly ties the design focus to learning. The second concerned the movement away from an emphasis on individual spaces to thinking about a learning complex in which learning can take place anywhere. And finally, Bill and I discussed the planning process required to bring these and other relevant issues together.