Learning Commons

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:

Guelp information hub concept graph

And so does Calgary:

Calgary information hub concept graph

Top of page