Education 2.0 & 3.0

Harvard Physics Professor Eric Mazur is a teaching celebrity for his work to bring active learning into the lecture hall via his Peer Instruction program. So his comment during a Chronicle of Higher Education panel discussion (later reported in a Chronicle newsletter) that his online classes during the pandemic-impacted 2020-21 academic year were so successful…

Today, school libraries look quite different than they did when previous generations attended school.

Instead of rows of long tables and shelves filled with dusty books, school libraries now provide flexible and group learning spaces, movable furniture, iPads and computers, learning pods, and more.

Architects are being hired in certain schools to completely re-design and transform libraries to attract students to not only read, but use the space to their own advantage.

By making these facilities visually appealing, as well as comfortable and playful with elements such as reading nooks and beanbags, kids are more engaged and inspired to enjoy reading and learning.

Yesterday Carnegie Mellon University announced a new partnership with technology company Digital Science. CMU’s Keith Webster describes the mutual commitment to research discovery and smarter workflows that underpins this collaboration, and also outlines some of the ways in which academic libraries have changed; from their more dynamic use of space to the redeveloped tools and services made available to students and researchers looking to navigate the vast information landscape.

If you want to get my goat, or, I daresay, the goat of any librarian, make a gratuitous reference to shushing. The finger held to the lips, the aggressive whisper, the frown at a pin’s drop. We don’t do these things, but it’s a stereotype that is endlessly used in article titles and commercials, and it’s annoying.

Still, something struck me as I was recently mulling over what it is that libraries offer in our frazzled, commercialized, surveillant society. I’ve made the claim before that library values, if not actual library practices, could be beneficially applied to the digital platforms we use every day. Caring about privacy, intellectual freedom, the public good and free access to information for all would go a long way toward making our tech corporations more just and socially responsible. We may be making a little progress on that front. 

This blog post is personal short reflection of the work in the Learning Spaces theme at City, University of London over the past three years, where I have been an Educational Technologist. I entered the department which was bigger on the inside than the outside. Many adventures were had.

A lot of imagination, a little elbow grease, and the right tools can yield dramatic results like these.

If you’ve ever attempted to clear your head by taking a walk outside or zoning out by a window as the clouds roll by, you’ve intuitively hit on something that scientists have been researching for years: Our natural and built environments seem to affect how we think and feel. Researchers have recently focused on determining how environmental factors can affect kids’ ability to learn. Studies show that a well-designed learning environment supplements evidence-based pedagogy and curriculum design. Let’s examine four environmental factors that can enhance or hinder learning.

As librarians we often make it our life and vacation's mission to visit other libraries and drool over what they have (or haven't got), how they're organised things, what their displays look like - how the signage works out etc etc. and then we come home and try and adapt our current situation to optimise…