A Vision for FLEXspace: Flexible Learning Environments eXchange
Lisa Stephens, Joseph Moreau, Mark McCallister, Jim Twetten, Clare van den Blink
Proposing a new community of practice and open access, peer-reviewed learning space respository to support the education community
What is the FLEXspace Vision?
The attributes describing the space can be displayed next to the
image in a variety of layouts (Figure 2).
The Flexible Learning Environments eXchange – FLEXspace
is a robust, open access repository populated with examples
of learning spaces. It will contain high resolution images and
related information that describes detailed attributes of these
spaces from institutions across the globe.
The FLEXspace business and partnership model must be
sustainable over the long-term in order to encourage
contributions. To encourage this sustainability the early
thinking includes:
•External hosting. Contract with a service provider to avoid
institutional burdens of hosting a production service within a
partner or sponsor institution.
The incentive for participation is to showcase innovative
design solutions open to peer review ranking and comments.
As more contributions are received, the repository will
emerge into a very useful planning resource for education
and supporting entities at multiple levels.
FLEXspace Prototype
FLEXspace is currently being tested in prototype. The SUNY
FACT2 Learning Environments Task Group partnered with
ARTstor™ for a proof of concept on their new Shared Shelf™
product that was still in Beta (2011).
Figure 2: Large Image coupled with side-by-side attributes display
What is the Value of FLEXspace?
Consistent with EDUCAUSE Seeking Evidence of Impact, a
small group of committed stakeholders seeks to scale the
prototype so it may:
•Provide ROI examples of peer solutions
•Decrease the facilities planning-to-construction time cycle
•Encourage consistent terminology across stakeholder
groups (facilities planners, architects, faculty, instructional
support, administration and information technologists)
•Demonstrate a variety of ways to capture traditional content
for repurposing in digital environments (course capture,
tutorial applications, developmental education)
Figure 1: Shared Shelf Attribute Collection Page for Record Entry
The SUNY Learning Environments Task Group (LETG)
completed an environmental scan that found a need for a
repository to store and share a broad range of content
including:
•High resolution images
•Lower resolution images in various formats
•Video
•Planning documents and/or blueprints
•RS 232 source code
•A taxonomy describing learning environment attributes and
pedagogical objectives (active learning, hands-on space,
virtual simulation or immersion)
Shared Shelf™ enables different types of content to be
uploaded and filtered depending on the criteria described.
(See Figures 1 and 2)
Next Steps & Major Milestones
Ensuring a Sustainable Resource
Spring
2013
Demo Prototype &
Listening Tour
SUNY, CCUMC, NMC, ELI,
Sloan-C/MERLOT
Summer
2013
Draft
Governance
Compile Feedback, Form
Advisory & Business Plan
Fall 2013
Pilot Production,
Dedicate Staff
Peer Testing, Revision,
Communicate Updates
•Create a Sponsorship Model to reduce or eliminate
institutional cost burden. It is feasible that vendors and
manufacturers of furniture, equipment and services will
support this effort in order to display implementation
examples to new clients in a non-commercial environment.
Spring
2014
Production
Release 1.0
Listening Tour 2.0
•Create competition through “best of class” rankings by
online voting systems or peer editorial review boards.
Who do I contact for more information?
Any of the current partners listed in the title can help.
Lisa.Stephens@suny.edu has agreed to serve as a point of
contact while formative steps are underway.
•Highlight novel and innovative solutions that
demonstrate use of content capture and curricular
integration. Share these examples broadly through online
and traditional publications.
•Staff properly! Avoid creative solutions where the service
is integrated as a student project or part time responsibility.
Create a business model that enables this service to be
successful over the long term to build confidence.
FLEXspace support may fit into a partner’s business or
service delivery model, but it should always remain “a gift to
higher education, not a burden.”
•Engage in perfection through production. Accept that
refinements will be made as part of production rollout.
Follow a timeline according to key milestones, but don’t allow
perfection to become the enemy of the good – it’s a
community effort.
•Enable a way to “rate” or “scale” solutions through peer
review.
FLEXspace Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
How much will it cost to participate in this new
Community?
This will be determined by the emerging business plan and
how levels of sponsorship are defined. If you are interested
in serving as a sponsor, please reach out to a FLEXspace
member.
When will additional information be available?
An Advisory Board should be in place by Summer 2013, a
Communication Plan will be part of the early organizational
efforts. Please be proactive an reach out to a named
partner.
Who are the committed stakeholders at this time?
The organizations below agree this project has merit and
have committed cash and/or in-kind resources.
Leveraging Partnerships to Create a New FLEXspace Community of Practice
A number of organizations have committed to continuing discussions to define a business and partnership model.
The immediate goal is to continue the “Listening Tour” and determine the level of interest and support to expand this vision!
Education
Community
CCUMC
ELI
MERLOT
ARTstor
FLEXspace Community of Practice: Participants from Higher Education, K-12, Museums,
Continuing Education and Specialized Training Environments who will benefit from this service,
and sponsors who can showcase application of products in a non-commercial environment
Consortium of Colleges & University Media Centers – Contribution of membership interest academic and corporate members design, deploy, maintain, and support learning spaces
EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative – Contribution of Learning Space Rating System or similar
solution to support a rubric to “score” learning environments
Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning & Online Teaching – Contribution of peer
review and partnership model already adopted in their open access learning object repository
ARTstor - a not-for-profit hosted database environment that now allows for open distribution
models creates the service foundation with their Shared Shelf™ product
FLEXspace Collaborator Acknowledgements:
Joseph Moreau, Vice Chancellor of Technology - Foothill-De’Anza Community College District
Brad Snyder, Associate Director - Classroom Technology Services – SUNY Cortland
Lisa Stephens, Senior Strategist, SUNY Academic Innovation
Clare van den Blink, Director of Academic Technology – Cornell University
Kim Scalzo, Director - SUNY Center for Professional Development
Mark McCallister, Associate Director, Office of Academic Technology – University of Florida
Malcolm Brown, Director, EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative
Gerry Hanley, Exec. Dir. – MERLOT & Sr. Director, Academic Technology Svcs., California State Univ.
Jim Twetten, Director – Academic Technology – Iowa State University
Carey Hatch, Associate Provost for Academic Technologies and Information Services, SUNY
Conference Presentation Available on YouTube!
Search “YouTube + CCUMC + Repository” to view the prototype demonstration.
Special Thanks to the SUNY FACT2 Learning Environments Task Group
www.buffalo.edu