Flexible Learning Spaces

Think for a minute about the tools you used at the start of your career in education. Perhaps you began before email and cell phones. Perhaps you were there for the World Wide Web's debut. Maybe you've always been able to read, write and collaborate in digital spaces.  Perhaps you began with Microsoft's suite of tools and copy machines that served as hub-printers scanners and copiers. Maybe you used an overhead project or document camera or a Promethean board! 

As a digital pioneer and long-time educator, I've enjoyed learning through every change. What hasn't changed much, however, are classrooms or learning spaces. Sure, I remember Debbie Dillar's Spaces & Places, and thinking about doing away with a teachers' desk in  my earlier classrooms.  I remember one year running a donor's choose campaign so that I could buy a variety furniture to use flexibly and then allowing students to choose where and how to work in our room. Flexible learning environments go far beyond that. 

Singapore American School embarked on a reimagining process several years ago. They are designing flexible learning environments for the next century hoping to shift from: 

• isolated to teamed 
• teacher-directed to student-directed 
• isolated content to integrated content
• classroom-based to community-connected and collaborative

These shifts and more are illustrated below. As you can imagine, much like the learners we serve, we educators are all in different places on this continuum. 

Though we're in different places, we are all learning. And that, if sometimes frustrating, excites too. To get in on the excitement, check out this animation of what the campus may eventually become: 

Incredible, isn't it?! Architecture, our architects, Fielding International, and the spaces our students and faculty are talking about and shaping are inspirational and aspirational.   We're exploring and learning alongside one another in the high school.  It's daunting and thrilling work. I'll share a few of those daunting and thrilling stories from my own practice in the coming weeks. 

PS: Want to see more cool designs? Check out Designing for a Better School by Roan Bosch, whose work includes the Western Academy of Beijing.