IMAGINING IT. BUILDING IT. LIVING IT.
A new model for flexible learning environments
Karen J. Head, Georgia Institute of Technology
Rebecca E. Burnett, Georgia Institute of Technology
Introduction
Imagining It
Building It
Living It
Conclusion
We still consider ourselves denizens of a new land. We continue to discover challenges and possibilities about politics, proximity, and design related to ways we live and the ways we might live in this exceptional new space. We recognize that as the space becomes less new and more established, some of the initial problems we faced likely will fade into a history that few people will remember.
But the history is important—important enough to remember and share, which accounts for our recognition of the national trend in creative learning spaces (highlighted, for example in the Learning Space Spotlight in every issue of the Journal of Learning Spaces.)13
For the foreseeable future, our undergraduate learning commons and our Communication Center within Clough Commons create a new common culture recognized by everyone who uses the spaces. We continue to evaluate, reflect, and reconfigure our space—something we will never stop doing. Soon enough, we will face the challenges of a used space—for example, we will be replacing what will become outdated equipment and broken furniture. For now, despite the challenges, we maintain a level of excitement made possible by the newness and a sense of possibility as yet untapped.