3. 3
What is a commons?Commons?
What is a
A set of resources maintained in the public
sphere for the use and benefit of everyone
(from Imagining a Smithsonian Commons)
4. 4
What is a learning commons?
A learning commons
must, therefore, in some
sense be a place where a “set
of [learning] resources [is]
maintained in the public
sphere for the use and benefit
of everyone”
But what kind of resources?
. . . and what kind of place?
5. 5
What in the world is a Learning
Commons?
– “A Learning Commons is a flexible
and responsive approach to helping
schools focus on learning
collaboratively. It expands the learning
experience, taking students and
educators into virtual spaces beyond
the walls of a school.”
• Home > Teacher Librarians > What is a
Learning Commons
17. 17
A related concept
Information commons
– Taking its roots from simpler
times when communities shared
communal land, the
Information Commons is the
modern academic equivalent of
a common space used for the processes of
information gathering and social collaboration.
It is where enlightenment meets interaction.
Knowledge fosters education.
• What is Information Commons? To us, it is Intuitive.
03//22//2011 //Steve Pryor
Advertising blog for Paragon school furniture
18. 18
Five Benefits of the Information Commons
1. The Commons puts students at the center
2. The Commons is built with student involvement
3. The Commons is a welcoming, useful gathering
place
4. The Commons makes connections
5. The Commons is a relevant, required space on
campus
– A “Commons” Experience:
Five Benefits of the Information
Commons
Submitted by Michael Stephens on November 17, 2008
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An expanded concept
The School Learning Commons
Knowledge Building Center
– What is a Knowledge Building
Center?
• A knowledge building center is an online
presence of a particular learning
experience that accomplishes a number
of things that a simple online directive
assignment does not usually do.
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A clearer definition
What is a Knowledge Building Center?
– A Knowledge Building Center is a virtual and
collaborative space where professors, teacher
librarians, learning leaders, teacher technologists or
other specialists are coaching learners in a
project, problem, learning experience, learning
community, etc.
They can be used with face to face instruction, blended
learning, or totally online learning.
• Knowledge Building Centers
Learning Commons Calgary 2012
• Template is at:
https://sites.google.com/site/knowledgebuildingcenter/
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Knowledge comes to play
Play as a motivator for learning
– Creating an educational system that will cultivate life-long
learners calls for a novel approach. Reaching into the roots
of human evolution, play--the historic medium of learning--
emerges as a good fit in a world in constant flux.
– The learning commons provides an environment for
activities that develop student intelligence. Through playful
instructional design, learning commons promote inquiry and
information seeking through which students’ inner resources
are revealed and developed. In these ways and more, the
learning commons is a playground for the mind where
students discover and develop a love of learning that can last
a lifetime.
• CROW, S., & ROBINS, J. (2012). Play in the Library. Teacher
Librarian, 39(5), 36-43.
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A book by Loertscher, et al.
The New Learning Commons:
Where Learners Win!
– Loertscher, Koechlin, and Zwaan team
up in this book to rethink everything
about the function and role of school
libraries and computer labs. It is often a
case of 180 degree reconsideration. What
does this mean? The profession has been
on a command and control model:
If we build it, they will come.
– The turn-around suggested is to think about and construct a client-
side organization built around the idea that: If THEY build
it, THEY will use it. [Text from blurb for 1st edition]
• David V. Loertscher, Carol Koechlin and Sandi Zwaan;
ISBN: 978-1-933170-67-1; Hi Willow Research and Publishing; 2011
