Vision 20/20 - Shifting
Lenses: The Learning
Commons for Today and
Tomorrow
Jeanne L. Narum, Principal – Learning Spaces Collaboratory
The 7th Annual Canadian Learning Commons Conference at Bishop's University
June 9-11, 2014
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The characteristics of the community of
learning that will be using the spaces… can
also describe the community of planners.
Communities embrace a common vision….
Weaving discussions of vision into the
process at the earliest stages and throughout
the process is a means to build a reflective
community of practice.
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A vision of what:
 your students, as learners, should
become….
 your spaces will enable your community to
become.
 your institutional culture should be and
become, ensuring that the physical
learning environment enables the
community to face its future with
confidence and distinction.
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Spaces that work:
 clearly reflect learning goals within the
institutional context…
 acknowledge the role of serendipity in
learning…
 are so inviting, safe, and well-equipped that
they are magnets for learners at all stages,
most hours of the day, seven days a week…
 anticipate the future, agile and adaptable…
 contribute to the humanity and the
aesthetics of physical environment of the
campus.
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What works –
the power of:
 Questioning
 Story-telling
 Visioning
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The power of the unaided individual mind is highly
overrated. Much human creativity is social, arising from
activities that take place in a social context in which
interaction with other people and the artifacts that
embody collective knowledge are essential contributors.
Social creativity is not a luxury but a necessity to address
the problems faced by societies in the 21st century.
—Fischer, Gerhard. “Social Creativity: Making All Voices Heard.” University of Colorado, Center for LifeLong Learning and Design.
http://l3d.cs.colorado.edu/~gerhard/papers/social-creativity-hcii-2005.pdf
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The College of the
Holy Cross
An intellectual
neighborhood , a
vibrant building
inviting all to
‘come inside, stay
inside.’
— LSC Guide. 2013.
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Georgia Institute of
Technology
…authorable,
responsive,
flexible spaces…
that support
changing,
responsive,
collective
leadership.
— LSC Guide. 2013.
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Dickinson College
Centrally-located
social spaces to
allow for group
study, project
displays, and
informal
‘intellectual
collisions.’
— LSC Guide. 2013.
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North Carolina Central
University BRITE
Technology-enabled
classrooms extend
students reach to the
global realm.
Those with carefully
planned connections to
the variety of formal and
informal spaces
essential for becoming
a STEM learner, a
STEM practitioner.
— LSC Guide. 2013.
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What works –
the power of:
 Questioning
 Story-telling
 Visioning
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WHAT DO WE WANT OUR LEARNERS TO
BECOME?
WHAT EXPERIENCES MAKE THAT BECOMING
HAPPEN?
WHAT SPACES ENABLE THOSE EXPERIENCES?
HOW DO WE KNOW?
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Agents of their own learning
Transdisciplinarians: Renaissance people for the digital age
Entrepreneurs. Analysts and creators of digital technologies
Creative thinkers, who recognize there may be a new solution
Tolerant participants, who appreciate diversity of multiple cultures
Effective communicators, with skills for multiple media and
venues
Well-trained experimentalists who think critically
Aware of the powerful role they play in their own learning
Connected with faculty, support providers, and peers during the
learning process
Digitally literate citizens who communicate about and use
technology effectively
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Exchanging learning, mentorship, and discovery between
teachers and students
Immersing students in a world of group learning and cuttingedge instrumentation
Becoming exposed to diverse disciplines, ways of learning,
pedagogical approaches
Learning from the space, not just in the space
Constructing and applying knowledge to relevant problems
Having easy access to cutting-edge visual technologies and
staff with relevant technical expertise
Having students take ownership of the space— feeling
comfortable and in control
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To be able to ask a question clearly is
two-thirds of the way to getting it
answered.
— John Ruskin (1819 – 1900)
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WHAT DO WE WANT OUR LEARNERS
TO BECOME?
WHAT EXPERIENCES MAKE THAT
BECOMING HAPPEN?
WHAT SPACES ENABLE THOSE
EXPERIENCES?
HOW DO WE KNOW?
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What works: The power of questioning
?????????
In the process of
imagining 21st century
learning commons, what
key question should be
explored?
?????????
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Chris Impey—University of Arizona. The changing relationships
between instructor and learner
—How People Learn: Brain,
Mind, Experience, and School,
National Research Council.
Washington, D.C.: National
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Academy Press, 2000.

National Research Council. Discipline-Based Education
Research: Understanding and Improving Learning in
Undergraduate Science and Engineering. Washington, DC: The
National Academies Press, 2012.

National Research Council. A New Biology for the 21st Century.
Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2009.

National Research Council. The Engineer of 2020: Visions of
Engineering in the New Century. Washington, DC: The National
Academies Press, 2004.

National Research Council. Expanding Underrepresented
Minority Participation: America’s Science and Technology Talent
at the Crossroads. Washington, DC: The National Academies
Press, 2011.

Engage to Excel: Producing One Million Additional College
Graduates with Degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering,
and Mathematics. President’s Council of Advisors on Science
and Technology. February 2012.
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What works –
the power of:
 Questioning
 Storytelling
 Visioning
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From the LSC Guide: Duke University: Link Teaching and Learning Center
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From the LSC Guide: Duke University: Link Teaching and
Learning Center
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From the LSC Guide: University of Pennsylvania Libraries: Weigle Information Commons & Education Commons
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From the LSC Guide: University of Pennsylvania Libraries:
Weigle Information Commons & Education Commons
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Eastern Kentucky University: Noel Studio for Academic Creativity
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Eastern Kentucky University: Noel Studio for Academic Creativity
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What works: The power of
storytelling
What spatial
affordance is most
essential for a 21st
century learning
commons?
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What works –
the power of:
 Questioning
 Story-telling
 Visioning
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 Wondering if questions now being asked
are valid when planning for an uncertain
future
 Wondering what stories would be
shared a decade from now at a
conference such as this
 Wondering if we have the courage to
ask the audacious question.
Shifting Lenses:
The Learning Commons for
Today and Tomorrow
…reflecting on the state of
the learning commons
model at this juncture
…explore developments,
strategies, practices,
accountability, design and
governance issues that will
shape it in the future.
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WHAT DO WE WANT OUR LEARNERS
TO BECOME?
WHAT EXPERIENCES MAKE THAT
BECOMING HAPPEN?
WHAT SPACES ENABLE THOSE
EXPERIENCES?
HOW DO WE KNOW?
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Will every
space be seen
as a potential
space for
learning?
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A Fabric of Learning in Spaces
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Chris Impey—University of Arizona. The changing relationships
between instructor and learner
—How People Learn: Brain,
Mind, Experience, and School,
National Research Council.
Washington, D.C.: National
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Academy Press, 2000.
Can different
spaces be
transformed into
“brain-changing,”
“game-changing”
spaces?
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Can different
spaces be
transformed into
“brain-changing,”
“game-changing”
spaces?
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What if all spaces
were imagined as
student-owned
spaces?
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What if all spaces
were imagined as
student-owned
spaces?
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What if all spaces
were imagined as
student-owned
spaces?
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Will “creativity”
become the
driving learning
goal for all
students?
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Can communities
of planners see
themselves as
communities of
learners?
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Can communities
of learners
become
communities of
makers,
innovators,
entrepreneurs,
creators?
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What if the power
of emerging
technologies was
embraced in our
planning?
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What if the power
of emerging
technologies was
embraced in our
planning?
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What if the power
of emerging
technologies was
embraced in our
planning?
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Shifting Lenses:
 What keeps me up at night?
 What are the “what if” and “why not”
we should be asking now?
 What is the most audacious question
we should be asking in embracing the
complexity of an unknown future?
The Learning Commons for
Today and Tomorrow
…reflecting on the state of
the learning commons
model at this juncture
…explore developments,
strategies, practices,
accountability, design and
governance issues that will
shape it in the future.
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Creativity is a lot like looking at the world through a kaleidoscope. You
look at a set of elements, the same ones everyone else sees, but then
reassemble those floating bits and pieces into an enticing new
possibility. Innovators shake up their thinking as though their brains
are kaleidoscopes, permitting an array of different patterns out of the
same bits of reality.
Changemasters challenge the prevailing wisdom. They start from the
premise that there are many solutions to a problem and that by
changing the angle on the kaleidoscope, new possibilities will emerge.
Where other people would say, “that’s impossible. We’ve always done
it this way,” they see another approach. Where others see only
problems, they see possibilities….
—Rosabeth Moss Kanter. Evolve! : Succeeding in the Digital Culture of
Tomorrow. Harvard Business Review Press. 2001.
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What works: The
power of visioning
…Kaleidoscopic thinking is a way of constructing
new patterns from the fragments of data available—
patterns that no one else has yet imagined because
they challenge conventional assumptions about how
pieces of the puzzle ….fit together….
—Rosabeth Moss Kanter. Evolve! : Succeeding in the Digital Culture of
Tomorrow. Harvard Business Review Press. 2001.
????
????
?…
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…cultures in interaction frequently
establish contact languages, systems of
discourse that can vary from the most
function-specific jargons, through semispecific pidgins, to full-fledged creoles rich
enough to support activities as complex as
poetry and meta-linguistic reflection.
— Peter Galison, Image and Logic: A Material Culture of
Microphysics. University Of Chicago Press, 1997.
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We live in tumultuous times…the ways
forward is to become more open, more
experimental and to embrace the
unknown. We cannot turn inward, nor can
we allow our institutions to become overly
centralized, calcified and risk averse. If
America were a company, freedom and
exploration would be our core
competencies.
—National Innovation Initiative. 2005.
WHAT DO WE WANT OUR LEARNERS TO
BECOME?
WHAT EXPERIENCES MAKE THAT BECOMING
HAPPEN?
WHAT SPACES ENABLE THOSE EXPERIENCES?
HOW DO WE KNOW?
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The objective is thus to construct and organize spaces that enable
children to:
• express their potential, abilities and curiosity
• explore and research alone and with others, both peers and
adults
• perceive themselves as constructors of projects and of the
overall educational project….
An environment that is pleasant to be in, that can be explored and
experienced with all the senses and inspires further advancement in
learning.
—Carlina Rinaldi. In Dialogue with Reggio Emilia: Listening, Researching and Learning.
Routledge, 2005.
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Jeanne L. Narum, Principal
Learning Spaces Collaboratory
202.232.1300
http://pkallsc.org/
jlnarum.lsc.ico@gmail.com
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