Learning Commons - Concept Paper
Collaborative Learning Space Beyond the Classroom
Photographs of learning commons in academic libraries are available as a downloadable Powerpoint presentation. The photographs show an evolution from 10 years ago when the learning commons was really the library with computers to the current concept of the learning commons as a social, collaborative learning space.
Things are evolving fast.
- Download the Learning Commons Photos Powerpoint presentation (28.34MB)
What is a Learning Commons?
The learning commons is a learning space beyond the classroom which sustains the learning experience from the class session into other learning contexts. It provides an integrated work environment for students and academics with learning spaces and technologies that support learning theory principles. Learning commons:
- Are student-centred learning spaces that provide seamless access to the University's information resources
- Support all flexible learning methodologies that students may require now and in the future
- Provide a single point of access to support services such as information literacy, learning support, research support, and IT support
The learning commons is a learning hub which facilitates socialisation as part of the learning experience. In a wider context they can provide integrated services for academic staff as well as students and support innovation in teaching and learning.
The underlying principles are:
Co-location, Cooperation, and Collaboration.
Why a Learning Commons for CSU Libraries?
Learning Commons are a response to:
- Changes in the way students behave
- Changes in the way they learn
- Changes in the way they are taught
Changes in use behaviour
There have been dramatic changes in library use by students over the last 10 years
- Physical visits have declined
- Physical lending has declined
- Electronic usage is climbing exponentially
- Students expect instant service wherever they are, whenever they want it
- They are time-poor, juggling jobs family and study
- Group collaboration is the norm
- Technology is integral to the learning experience: if it isn't online it isn't any good, they don't want it, they don't trust it
- Libraries are no longer quiet places with discussion areas, they are noisy places with quiet areas
- Students expect to be able to eat and drink in the library
- Using your mobile phone is a right
Changes in the way students learn
The average 20 year old:
- Uses the web for social activity and study
- Expects to be able to find what they want online whenever they want it
- Doesn't want to wait
- Normal activities use sms, blogging, instant messaging, Google, peer to peer services like BitTorrent for music and movies, and engage with community bulletin boards like Craigslist
- Expects to use these tools for all of their activities, including study
These students are already with us. We also need to worry about the next generation coming along behind them - the next generation considers the current generation dinosaurs in their use of technology.
At the VALA Conference in Melbourne in February 2006, Sandy Payette presented a paper on how students use the internet. Sandy leads digital library research and development projects at Cornell University's Information Science program and is founder and co-director of the Fedora Project that deploys sophisticated open-source software supporting digital libraries, institutional repositories, digital archives, and educational software. She described watching two 10 year olds over a couple of hours as they used the Web. They were playing. They used:
- Yahoo chasing up information on some music they were interested in
- Sidetracked onto Google following up a biography and then looked up different sorts of animals
- This took them onto Neopets, a collaborative online community / wiki / blogging site
- Then they used PowerPoint to create a presentation about their own pets.
These are the next generation of university students. Should we care that students are changing? We should; we should care a lot. These students will bring a big wave of change to universities. There will be new models of scholarship which will use new models of technology. If we don't provide what the new generation of students want, they will go somewhere that does.
Changes in the way students are taught
Librarians are not teachers and pedagogy is not our field, but what we observe and increasingly cater for in the library is:
- There is a focus on learning as opposed to being taught
- Group work is common
- Problem based learning - students define what they need to learn and what resources they need to accomplish that learning
These things change patterns of library use and the way we cater for student needs.
Library to Learning Commons
Librarians still believe we have a role on the scholarly learning process.
- The web is not a library, although students treat it as if it is
- Assessment of quality or fitness for purpose is still required
- We need to provide an environment which surrounds students with scholarly materials of all formats from print to Web and gives them the tools to engage with those materials
- They need group spaces and single spaces
- They need quiet spaces and noisy spaces
- They need flexible spaces and furniture they can move around to suit the needs of the group at the time
- They need access to refreshments
- They need access 24/7 within the bounds of security requirements
- They also want a single point of help: hence it isn't just the Library: DIT and learning skills are also involved
And because this is CSU, we need to provide a virtual learning commons to cater for the 70% of students who are DE.
We already have my.csu but this is not the virtual learning commons. We need:
- Student centred focus
- No need to understand university's organisational structure to get information required
- One point of entry to access all help
- Ability to Google search the site
- Rapid response to queries
- Access to all services 24/7
The proposed subject/course portals may offer a solution - student can access everything from there?
How does this affect teaching staff?
What responses will you make?
- How will that intersect with the Learning Commons?
- How does the Library engage with you?
- How does the Library support learning and teaching at CSU?
Guelph has a cohesive model:
And so does Calgary:
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