WANT TEACHERS
Book No. 2
SYMPOSIUM
IMMERSIVE LEARNING
PREFACE
As we proceed into the Learning Revolution Age, how are we to provide environments that address the evolving methods by which students acquire knowledge? And how are we to design those spaces to effectively support a changing paradigm? In today’s hyper-connected, high-speed, customizable and knowledge-driven society, what are the roles of education and education spaces? Preparing students for the complex future world which we are yet to comprehend requires transcendental solutions that intertwine a 21st century curriculum, state-of-the-art technologies and immersive learning spaces.
We are increasingly learning about how the brain receives and retains information, how different individuals learn best, how changing technologies are facilitating new approaches for teaching and learning, and how our increasingly complex global challenges will require equally complex solutions. Given this new knowledge, our research focuses on a pattern language for designing immersive learning environments that address a new paradigm of learning, teaching and working. Immersive environments support technology-infused, active and collaborative learning, facilitate inter-disciplinary learning, address multiple typologies of learning, and work in conjunction with student management tools that enable changing developments in academic, scheduling, testing and assessment initiatives.
We are exploring today’s challenges and opportunities to educate in tomorrow’s educational environments. We’ve discovered new technologies and methodologies for learning that are being used throughout the world, and the impact of those changes to the design of future learning environments.
PROCESS
We decided to engage those at the forefront of student success – teachers – to develop a better understanding of what works in the classroom, what challenges teachers face and what the ideal learning environments might be. In March of 2017, we held a Symposium at Workscapes in Orlando, Florida that included teachers, former teachers, administrators and Deans, and was organized around group discussions, case studies and open brainstorming.
The goal was to gather information from the teachers’ actual experiences around the following topics:
1) 2) 3)
LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS (some key topics
below)
• Does the physical environment in which you teach help or hinder your ability to educate your students?
• What would you change about your classroom?
• How does the connection to outdoors affect your classroom/teaching?
• What spaces are underutilized in your school?
• What is your ideal teaching environment?
TEACHING METHODOLOGY (some key topics below)
• How do you best teach?
• What might improve your ability to teach effectively?
• Do you feel equipped and prepared to teach and prepare students for the needs of tomorrow?
• Do you co-plan or co-teach with others?
• What is your greatest challenge in teaching?
• Do you feel you have adequate, professional development opportunities?
• How do you utilize technology?
STUDENT PERSPECTIVE (some key topics below)
• When you were a student, in what types of spaces did you learn best?
• What places did you feel were poor learning environments?
• How engaged are your students?
• When and how do your students seem to learn best?
• How is learning impacted by technology?
LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS
1. DOES THE PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT IN WHICH YOU TEACH HELP OR HINDER YOUR ABILITY TO TEACH? IN WHAT WAYS DOES IT HELP OR HINDER?
• Mobility, Flexibility and Technology
• The physical environment helps because my classroom is spacious and allows for easy monitoring of my students and activities that help engage them
• Older facilities make it a challenge to adopt technology
• Space limitations hinder my ability to teach; flexible seating options help alleviate this issue
• Desks allow students to have their own space for work and storage
• Environment can be conducive to learning, supports collaborative structures and also would be helpful to print rich, clear traffic patterns, resources and anchor charts
• Overcrowding in classrooms, kids need to move and teachers do too!
• Light, outdoors and indoors brought together, Multipurpose space with easy access between outside and inside
• Physical environment is a major part of classroom management. Having space, flow and organization in a room allow children to know what to do and where to go without constant instruction
• Yes! But more than that, it effects the student’s abilities to engage fully with the material and, therefore, effects their learning
• Size and storage hinder ability to teach
2. IF YOU COULD CHANGE ONE THING ABOUT YOUR CLASSROOM WHAT WOULD IT BE? WHAT MIGHT BE DONE TO ACCOMMODATE THIS?
• Adjustable ease of transition
• Opportunities for choice and movement
• Ability to create special spaces
• I wish there was a way to have the space for each area of a room to have a unique section
• Change the ability to form groups throughout a grade level, classroom or multi-grade levels
• Size, would like to eliminate traditional desks and replace with tables + cubbies
• If I could change something about my classroom it would be updating the technology and some of the furniture
• I would like to provide different seating options for my students
• Outdoor access
• I would have more storage space, this will help the classroom’s organization and flow
• Open space, nothing fixed and alternatives to desks
• Wi-Fi throughout with no hard wire required
3. STUDIES SHOW THAT A CONNECTION TO THE OUTDOORS IS IMPORTANT IN LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS? HOW DO YOU INTEGRATE THE OUTDOORS INTO YOUR DAILY TEACHING METHODOLOGIES?
• Limited, universities need to better prepare teachers to handle the diverse needs of all students
• Outdoor courtyard with picnic tables to teach lessons and options for creative productivity
• My 5th grade team has created a butterfly garden as an outdoor learning space. We hope to continue to add other grades as time goes by.
• Outdoor space/green space = good; but noise pollution = bad
• Some classrooms I have worked in have a “backyard”
• Only at recess
• Personally, when I need to learn something new I always go outside
• Front porch or picnic blanket or I set up a comfy spot on the couch
• Light and Large windows like the ones we are in right now!
• Taking students to illustrate what we are discussing
4. WHAT SPACES ARE CURRENTLY PROVIDED IN SCHOOLS THAT ARE UNDERUTILIZED OR UNNECESSARY?
• Re-Purpose, Re-Design OCPS Facilities/Classrooms to match incoming jobs and industry
• In Higher Ed, we are seeing a trend of underutilized computer labs due to personal technology (students are bringing their own technology and just seeking spaces to use it)
• Playgrounds/outdoors spaces, fields, sports court and libraries are underutilized
• Dedicated spaces by FL Laws could be better utilized ( Lunchrooms, Stage, and Halls Spaces)
• Underutilized media centers, class and school library, courtyards, and gardens
• Underutilized halls, open areas, conference rooms and gardens
• Independent work zones for students working for an extended time with teacher led instructions
5. WHAT TYPES OF SPACES ARE NOT CURRENTLY DEPLOYED IN YOUR SCHOOLS THAT SHOULD BE?
• Re-Purpose, Re-Design OCPS Facilities/Classrooms to match incoming jobs and industry
• Independent work zones for students working for an extended time without teacher led instructions
• Areas that encourage collaboration between students and teachers
• I wish we had a personal space outside the class (like a locker) to allow for more in-class space
• I prefer “pod” style classrooms rather than isolated classrooms. This could increase better flow between students
• More hands-on learning alternatives (laboratories)
LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS TEACHING METHODOLOGY
6. WHAT ARE SOME THINGS THAT MIGHT NEED TO CHANGE TO ALLOW FOR THIS?
• Inclusion of virtual and augmented reality into classrooms
• Money
• Modular interiors, flexibility for growth, universal technology
• Better connections between spaces; connection to bathrooms would be a plus
• Greenery needs to be introduced; classrooms need to feel more open
• Furniture needs to allow for flexibility
• Time, ability to differentiate instructors to meet the needs of the students
• Ability to diagnose student needs
7. DESCRIBE THE BEST PHYSICAL PLACE YOU’VE EVER TAUGHT IN.
• A classroom that I got to design. I had the necessary materials to enact my vision, the right number of desks, bookcases, etc.
• Tons of space on the floor in the room and work spaces! Even in 5th grade, floor space is key
• I taught in a “workshop” classroom. Students were provided with a variety of spaces within my classroom that matched their style and preference
• I never taught in one, but art rooms were always spaces wanted to teach in.
• The class room I taught in has a back “porch”
• Best classroom space was in Kenya, where there were open air classrooms that allow the outdoor to sort of come into the interior.
• I enjoyed teaching in a space where there were four classrooms joined by a common planning room
• Pod style with shared spaces and bathrooms. Also, quiet space for students who require it
• Natural light, comfortable spaces and the necessary tools
• I best teach in an environment that is conducive to collaboration.
• I think I teach best in an environment where there is a lot of care and collaboration, which also means that it needs to be, in a way, a “safe space”.
8. DO YOUR NEEDS CHANGE FROM YEAR TO YEAR? HOW MIGHT YOUR SPACE BETTER SUPPORT THESE CHANGES?
• Depends on population and the student’s specific needs
• Needs change often; flexible storage and seating options are highly needed
• Student’s ability to be organized, ability to work independently and level of support academically and emotionally
• It has been changing because of technological accommodations, so a flex/multi-use classroom would be ideal
1. HOW DO YOU BEST TEACH?
• By being interactive
• By allowing for more student + teacher discourse/collaboration
• Small groups, facilitate partnerships/group projects
• Small groups and one-to-one sessions
• Learning through doing
• Extending the authentic learning moment experience
• High/low ropes course
2. HOW DO YOU FEEL YOUR OWN LEARNING EXPERIENCE THROUGH COLLEGE PREPARED YOU FOR TEACHING TODAY? WHAT DID YOU FIND THAT YOU WEREN’T PREPARED FOR?
• Needed more life skills such as cooking, independent work study, and technology
• Internship was helpful as well as hands-on opportunities. I was not prepared for things like IEPs, EPs, and varieties of self-employed accommodations
• Most impactful college lessons were chances to present, share opinions and develop confidence.
• Grad school taught me more about how we learn and undergrad was a lot on how to manage it
• Experience in other countries during college prepared and inspired me to bring some of those strategies to my classroom
3. DO YOU FEEL EQUIPPED AND PREPARED TO TEACH AND PREPARE STUDENTS FOR THE NEEDS OF TOMORROW? TO TEACH 21ST CENTURY SKILLS?
• With the speed of technology we need regular teacher education to stay up-to-date
• Our teachers can’t be experts in all future tech so we need to bring that into the classroom physically or virtually
• Lack of training in technology and education
TEACHING METHODOLOGY
4. DO YOU CO-PLAN WITH OTHER TEACHERS? PLEASE DESCRIBE WAYS IN WHICH YOU DO AND/OR WHY YOU DO NOT.
• Co-planning is always ideal, we just need more time
• Teachers participate in common planning to deepen their understanding of the standards, create lessons and plan activities aligned to the rigor of the standards
• co-plan with my team at least a couple of times per week to make sure all students are properly placed (we switch groups/teachers based on data)
5. WHAT IS THE GREATEST CHALLENGE YOU FACE IN TRYING TO TEACH EFFECTIVELY?
• Lack of training
• Time to get in curriculum for all students, seems like kids who are quick can get what they need, but with kids who struggle it’s a choice between “all” content and deep content
6. DO YOU BELIEVE THERE IS ADEQUATE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR ACTIVE TEACHERS?
• No, many professional development opportunities I receive focus more on Marzano strategies and how to engage students. It is often the same every year. I would like more PD’s on technology use in the classroom and innovative changes that are occurring and work for students
• There are plenty of PD opportunities, however, many are boring and uninspiring
• No, would love to see more research based and vendor based
• There is never enough PD
7. ARE YOU BEING MENTORED OR DO YOU HAVE AN ACTIVE MENTOR ROLE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF OTHER TEACHERS? WOULD YOU LIKE TO?
• was mentored my first and second years in several ways and it was phenomenal in my development as a teacher. I would love to mentor other teachers to help in their development.
8. DO YOU FEEL THAT YOU HAVE ENOUGH ACCESS/INTERACTION WITH OTHER TEACHERS THROUGHOUT THE TEACHING DAY?
• Teachers plan with team members weekly; however, they rarely are provided the opportunity to observe their peers
• No, very individual not conducive to group planning
TEACHING METHODOLOGY
9. WHAT GIVES YOU THE MOST ANXIETY AS IT RELATES TO TEACHING?
• Anxiety comes from thinking there is a student I haven’t reached
• Time! There is never enough time
10. WHAT IS THE MOST REWARDING THING ABOUT TEACHING?
• Changing lives
• Watching students growth from day one to the end
11. DO YOU LIKE TO BE CHALLENGED REGARDING YOUR TEACHING METHODOLOGY?
• Yes, learning happens at those times
• Yes, I think it is the best way to grow
12. HOW DO YOU USE TECHNOLOGY TODAY? WHAT IS THE MOST IMPACTFUL USE OF TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION?
• Technology is often ineffective due to lack of know-how or upkeep
• Choices for different learning styles
• Being able to get immediate feedback to progress
13. HOW MUCH OF YOUR CLASS TIME IS; CLASS LECTURE, GROUP WORK OR INDIVIDUALIZED LEARNING?
• Half of the time I do small groups and the other half I do large groups
14. DO YOU CURRENTLY PRACTICE “FLIPPING THE CLASSROOM” IN YOUR TEACHING METHODOLOGIES?
• Yes
15. DESCRIBE YOUR IDEAL TEACHING SCENARIO. WHAT MIGHT TWO HOURS OR EVEN A HALF DAY INCLUDE IN THIS IDEAL SCENARIO?
• Experience-based learning, hands on interactive experience, processing what students saw and learned –pulling that together in core learning and applying learning
• Discussions, student engagement, asking questions and creating product based on what is learned
16. DO YOU THINK THE ROLE OF THE TEACHER IS CHANGING? SHOULD IT? WHY/WHY NOT?
• Orchestrator of learning
VISUALIZATION SESSION
The group selected these images as most meaningful or inspiring to them during the visualization exercise.
“Create” Spaces: focus on teamwork learning. These spaces can be arranged in multiple configurations allowing for flexibility of engagement and multiplicity of programming, as well as interactive learning in small to medium size groups.
VISUALIZATION SESSION
The group selected these images as most meaningful or inspiring to them during the visualization exercise.
“Discover” Spaces: this ‘workshop’ environment is set up for testing, hands-on and exploration, which allows for larger group meetings where equipment is necessary. These environments will encourage arts and sciences to cocreate and invent via fabrication, testing, deconstruction, reconstruction, production and design.
VISUALIZATION SESSION
The group selected these images as most meaningful or inspiring to them during the visualization exercise.
“Exchange” Spaces: inspired by the potential of social learning. Paralleling that of academic learning, this space becomes communal space, an environment shared between students, guests and citizens alike.
VISUALIZATION SESSION
The group selected these images as most meaningful or inspiring to them during the visualization exercise.
“Impart” Spaces: rendered more as a typical classroom. These spaces accommodate larger group gatherings, but feature break-out zones for smaller team areas and operable partitions to combine two classrooms for very large gatherings.
VISUALIZATION SESSION
The group selected these images as most meaningful or inspiring to them during the visualization exercise.
“Think” Spaces: based on the concept that learning also occurs at the individual level. Small intimate spaces allow for the time and environment to analyze and investigate, think and digest information.
VISUALIZATION SESSION
The group selected these images as most meaningful or inspiring to them during the visualization exercise.
Furniture That Enhances Learning
VISUALIZATION SESSION
The group selected these images as most meaningful or inspiring to them during the visualization exercise.
Outdoor Connection
VISUALIZATION SESSION
The group selected these images as most meaningful or inspiring to them during the visualization exercise.
Outdoor Learning & Play
FINDING COMMON THEMES
i. All responded very positively to the importance of natural light
ii. All responded positively to openness as long as there are also spaces for quiet time to concentrate
iii. Why not use every space for learning?
iv. Important to have connection to outdoors
v. Create outdoor spaces that can be used, but are safe (like courtyards)
vi. Outdoor spaces need to be designed right and away from noise
vii. Operable windows
viii. The right furniture to support teaching and learning
1. Chairs that move and are comfortable
2. Tables on casters that can be separate or connect
ix. Love color to bring joy
x. Want spaces that inspire (and draw students in)
xi. Concerns about open pod concept but most thought the teaming was worth the challenges
xii. Teaching to tests has harmed interdisciplinary learning though evidence shows that interdisciplinary learning is better.
1. All agree that integrating disciplines would be better but difficult due to mandates from the state of uninterrupted 90 minute intervals focused on one discipline.
xiii. Teachers need a variety of scales of rooms or spaces for different activities
1. Think (private)
2. Small huddle rooms
3. Place for grades to come together
4. Place for entire school to come together
5. Teachers need spaces to natural connect and collaborate
6. Teachers need rooms where things can get messy
xiv. Though technology has changed things, a lot is still done with paper particularly in elementary school and so we need places to store materials
1. One teacher brought images of how she stores things in her room.
xv. All participants reacted very negatively to lecture style classrooms with rows of seating.
xvi. All felt classrooms need to be large enough to create a variety of space for different activities to occur within them.
xvii. Some suggested a bathroom attached to the classrooms would help alleviate disruptions for teachers and students.
WHY THE IMMERSIVE LEARNINGSCAPE...
Education has become one of the most stressed topics of attention in the last few years. Various indicators have accelerated this attention: from the awareness of a global competitive world in which we now live, to the exorbitantly rising cost of higher education (1120% since 1978) to the explosion of digital tools for learning (over 500 educational technology companies ranging from hardware to software and everything in between), to the understanding of the urgency to improve to be competitive globally – it is a national security issue as we are in the midst of a rapidly evolving Learning Revolution Age.
Ten factors supporting this Revolution:
1. THE SKYROCKETING DEMAND AND SUPPLY FOR TECHNOLOGY IN LEARNING
In the 2013 FETC conference, the showroom highlighted hundreds of booths of technology companies that are involved in education, but most importantly, the tremendous change that is coming to education over the next few years. One-to-one tools, haptic screens, share technologies, collaborative software, student management systems, real-time assessment tools, adaptive instruction software, classroom management systems and countless other technologies are transforming the learning process as we know it.
2. THE QUICKLY EVOLVING RESEARCH AND LEARNING ABOUT THE BRAIN
“Scientists have learned more about the brain in the last 10 years than in all previous centuries because of the accelerating pace of research in neurological and behavioral science and the development of new research techniques.”
1 Our learning methodologies finally take into serious consideration what we have known for many years: that no two students learn alike.
3. CUSTOMIZATION OF EDUCATION
The combination of understanding our brains better and having the available technologies is allowing us to differentiate education based on the child’s best learning methodology and their pace: the power of one.
4. ACTIVE LEARNING
Learning by doing rather than learning by listening is becoming more and more the norm in schools. This is being accentuated by the rise of STEM (and STEAM) education, which requires a more hands-on approach to learning by tinkering and creating.
5. INDUSTRIAL AGE VS. CONCEPTUAL AGE
If education in the 20th Century highlighted mechanization & sequentiality, in the 21st Century it is being characterized by instant access to information and simultaneity of thinking. As we enter the ‘Conceptual Age” as proposed by Daniel Pink in his book ‘A Whole New Mind’ 2, how are we to rethink our education to raise creative, problem-solving, critical thinkers? What changes need to occur in curriculum design and scheduling, and methodology of teaching and learning, to prepare students for an uncertain future?
WHY THE IMMERSIVE LEARNINGSCAPE... ....AND WHY NOW
6. INTERDISCIPLINARY LEARNING
If the 20th Century education could be described as Linear Learning Methodology (one isolated discipline per hour), learning in the future has to shift to a Transdisciplinary Learning (multiple disciplines simultaneously). In “The Transdisciplinary Evolution of Learning”, Nicolescu argues that we should provide our students with the time, the space and the methods to understand our world transdisciplinarily3. That requires rethinking the curriculum and the class schedule.
7. RELEVANCE
It is imperative that we approach learning as a philosophy of “Learn here, apply there.”. Learning ought to be experiential, or as Ben Johnson stated, “The problem solving process cannot be taught; it has to be experienced.”4. Application of knowledge and what to do with the knowledge is the differentiator as acquisition of knowledge will no longer be the challenge for the 7+ billion inhabitants in the world.
8. THE REDEFINITION OF THE ROLE OF THE TEACHER… AND THE STUDENT
Lack of engagement has been cited by both teachers5 and students6 as the major reason for giving up learning for boredom and irrelevance. There is a huge disconnect between how teaching happens in the classroom and how students would like learning to happen in the classroom. Increased engagement has to be one of the priorities in the reshaping of our educational system.
9. THE REDESIGN OF THE CURRICULUM
If we are to lead in a world where the best ideas flourish and the complex global challenges of our future can be solved, a holistic approach to thinking, learning and problem solving has to be adapted at schools, and visualizing the future has to be part of the equation. Are we learning for the past, or should we be learning for the future? If we look at the following two articles, “10 jobs that did not exist 10 years ago”7 and “8 New Jobs People Will Have In 2025”8, it quickly becomes evident that teaching knowledge (when it is so readily available and at your fingertips anytime, anywhere) may be an inadequate use of our students’ time, and that teaching thinking, doing, creativity, collaboration, communication skills, finding, summarizing, and editing information, and learning processes, may be a much more effective way of preparing our students for an uncertain future.
10. THE REDEFINITION OF THE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
Planners, designers, architects and educators are trying to rethink what the learning environment should be like to address learning in this new revolution. The physical environment has the potential to inspire, encourage and facilitate the learning process, or on the other hand, hinder learning. The Immersive Learningscape is an attempt to answer that question.
WE WOULD LIKE TO THANK THE FOLLOWING ORGANIZATIONS FOR THEIR PARTICIPATION:
THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING EDUCATORS, ADMINISTRATION AND STAFF MEMBERS WHO PARTICIPATED IN THE SYMPOSIUM:
2 Daniel Pink. A Whole New Mind.
3 Basarab Nicolescu. “The Transdisciplinary Evolution of Learning”. (http://www.learndev.org/dl/nicolescu_f.pdf)
Orange County Public Schools
Teach For America
Cypress Park Elementary School
Galileo Gifted School
A Gift for Teaching
University of Central Florida
Florida Virtual School Workscapes
Susan Abbe
Richard “Parker” Antoine
Amanda Bajgier
Tashanda Brown-Cannon
Pamela Carroll
Lauren Chianese
Stacey Collins
Arianna Finnane
Clary Kirts
Brian Little
Dana Murphy
Mary Palmer, Ed.D
Katherine Phillps
Lee-Anne Spalding
Sarah Sprinkel
Cynthia Walters National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). (http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/brain_basics/know_your_brain.htm)
Herman Miller
4 Ben Johnson. (http://www.edutopia.org/teacher-role-redefined)
5 Scholastic Magazine. Primary Sources: Survey of 40,000 teachers. (http://www.scholastic.com/primarysources/pdfs/Scholastic_Gates_0310.pdf)
6 Marc Prensky. The 21st-Century Digital Learner. (http://www.edutopia.org/ikids)
7 Meghan Casserly. (http://www.forbes.com/sites/meghancasserly/2012/05/11/10-jobs-that-didnt-exist-10-years-ago/)
8 Ben Schiller. (http://www.fastcoexist.com/3015652/futurist-forum/8-new-jobs-people-will-have-in-2025)
Jana Spitalnick
Shaneall Flowers
Christie Hill
littleonline.com