Learner Led Design

Freemans Bay School is recognised as a Microsoft Showcase School and is a Global Schools Alliance founding member. Late last year we made a video to support our application to continue being a  Microsoft Showcase School. This short video clip shows the development of our school build and how the learner led design is reflected in both pedagogy and learning spaces. Our learner led design has a lens on digital technology, ELearning and developing a future focused curriculum. 

We also had an article published in Learning Spaces magazine. This magazine is published by Association of Learning Spaces and pulls together the views of designers, educators, architects and those interested in promoting modern curriculum through spaces and pedagogy.  The magazine is well worth subscribing to. The article, also shows our thinking around the learner led design at Freemans Bay School,

Visit to IPACA Academy

The first schools that Terry White took me to in UK was the Isle of Portland Aldridge Community Academy (IPACA) opened in September 2012, bringing together five Portland schools, the Grove, Brackenbury and Underhill, Southwell and Royal Manor Arts College. The new primary school is a converted leisure centre. The school is co-educational state school providing for students aged 4 – 16, together with Foundation Stage units including nursery and reception age children.

IPACA is sponsored by educational charity The Aldridge Foundation, which has strong links to the community forging employment opportunities for school graduates. This thinking is considered critical as most school leavers stay in the area – the school has a commitment to   building  networks with commercial and manufacturing organisations in the district and incorporating opportunities for students in their teaching and learning.

IPACA is led by Head teacher Alison Appleyard and its Governing Body. This body includes Sponsor Governors, Staff Governors, Local Authority Governors, Parent Governors and co-opted governors selected by the Academy Trust

Professor Stephen Heppell,  is the patron of IPACA. Stephen is recognised internationally as a leader in education. As a Heppell.net school the staff  here have the advantage of working directly with Stephen Heppell who influences the direction of the school.

Gary Spracklen is the Director of Digital Learning and Innovation across all campus of IPACA. His role is to drive the vision around digital learning and innovation. As an early adaptor and enthusiast for digital and future focused learning, Gary is exploring different ways he can work with the leadership team to make sure that the thinking and culture around digital learning and innovation is consistent across all five campus with ideas being explored at all levels of the school.  His blog can be explored at www.digitalipaca.blogspot.co.uk

Is an ”all through school” focused on ”stage not age” Currently 5 years to 9 years, but new build will take students to 18 years. The students work in house groups, across two year groups.  Each space can accommodate 90 students with 3 teachers, plus two teaching assistants. Most learning support happens in the classroom. A typical lesson has one teacher leading 1 supporting and 1 stretching more able students. Every learner has a chrome book from Yr 7 up. 

Key educational elements of  the design include:

·        spaces within spaces

·        flexibility

·        personalising learning

·        Why before the How and What

·        mixed age learning

·        digital learning

The flexible environment is achieved by a range of different furniture including high backed sofas and utilising furniture to make withdrawal spaces. These spaces were observed being used flexibly in the junior areas of the school

Gary  explained that in UK there is huge pressure to teach to the SATS which schools and teachers are judged on nationally. Personalising learning is considered to be a risk because there are tests to pass and jobs and careers can be lost if the student achievement results take a dive. IPACAs SAT results are impressive. Gary is working with staff across all campus to have confidence in letting go didactic approaches and to have the belief that the fantastic student achievement results will just get better with the open and team teaching approach in the modern learning environment that IPACA is committed to.

We had a brief visit to the Royal Manor campus where the senior students are currently located and met with principal Alison Appleyard where we discussed the proposed  new campus at Southwell Park. This exciting project is an old Navy base that is currently a commercial centre.

It will cater for students between 3 and 16 years old, with the main school buildings divided into houses or “schools within schools”, and a separate section for early years children from Nursery to Year 3, with its own entrance and play areas. 

The plans or Southwell Park  include:

·        a performing arts theatre

·        heated swimming pool

·        a new sports hall

·        specialist sports, art, drama, music, science and environmental science facilities

·        cutting-edge computer facilities and new technology to support learning

·        a dedicated zone to support enterprise for students and the community.

TheSouthwell Park campus would offer a range of after-school activities and facilities will be available for after school and community programmes as part of the commitment to linking to the local community.

--- SEE GARY'S GOOGLE ATMOSPHERE PRESENTATION BY CLICKING HERE ---

My take outs from the IPACA schools include:

• ·        The collaborative teaching model of one teacher leading the lesson, 1 supporting and 1 stretching students, plus 1 or 2 teacher assistants for three teachers with 60 students.
• ·        The importance of the school structures supporting the vision of the school – eg exploring leadership and team structures in relation to the school vision around teaching and learning.
• ·        Teacher development around the vision and reflecting the vision/ way of working needs to be a priority. If we want staff to be developing a programme of personalised learning / learner led design – then they need to be involved in such a programme for their professional learning.

 I    I was impressed with the work in schools in UK where new schools were being created utilising commercial buildings - in this case both a leisure centre and naval base. This is a great way to respond to roll growth accommodation needs and get good bang for buck. The concept of several schools or campus in an Academy was new to me.   I wonder how head teachers can keep in touch with staff and learners across so many campus. The current New Zealand Government policy direction is to create communities of schools informed I think from the academy concept. While I am sure there are advantages the concern for me is that Government policy makers may consider this a way to drive right wing policy around testing through a top down hierarchy rather than developing curriculum that is future focused and relevant to learners future lives.

CONNECTIONS BETWEEN THINKING ABOUT LEARNING AND DESIGN OF NEW SCHOOLS

CONNECTIONS BETWEEN THINKING ABOUT LEARNING AND DESIGN OF NEW SCHOOLS

In 2010 we demolished a large subsiding classroom block at Freemans Bay School and built new learning hubs in a two story building. This building design was scoped to develop flexible spaces to enable teachers to teach and students to learn in a variety of ways.  

The remaining school buildings since have been identified as either leaky or past their use by date. We are now in the Ministry of Education’s new schools building project.

 

The challenge of totally rebuilding Freemans Bay School sparked my interest in thinking deeper about how spaces are designed and used to engage learners.

Visits to schools, universities, libraries and co-corporate organisations in New Zealand and Australis  have  played a significant role in shaping my thinking around design and pedagogy. I have had many rich conversations with; educational, Ministry of Education, architects and business leaders with a passion for exploring change and innovation in their own contexts. 

I am fortunate to be a recipient for the Auckland Primary Principal Association and ASB Bank Travel Fellowship for one school term in 2014.  This is an opportunity to visit schools in UK and Scandinavia to explore school design.

I am interested in how the physical design can drive thinking around teaching and learning.  

Specifically the following key questions are what I am looking at.

Pedagogical

·     What are the beliefs and thinking about learning evident in new schools visited across different countries?

o      the schools key beliefs about learning

o      why they believe it and what does it look like in practice

What does teaching and learning look like in these new design classrooms?

o      role of teachers

o      role of students

o      role of e-learning

How have the new designs enabled new teaching and learning practices to emerge?

o    the processes and preparation for teachers that was required to transition to the new spaces

o     the innovative pedagogies that have emerged due to  new design

o     the types of practices that have emerged in the new spaces (e.g. collaboration, groups, team teaching, social interactions, flexible learning, personalised learning) and how these have changed over time

o     the culture,  leadership and the organisation that facilitate (or impede) innovation pedagogies in design

o     changes of job functions of staff that have emerged to match thinking about pedagogy  within the design

Physical Design

·         How are the school beliefs about learning reflected in space design?

o      ways the learning spaces support the schools thinking about learning

o      the relationships between and significance for learning in particular spaces

o      the relationships between indoor and outdoor spaces and flows and their role in learning

o      changes the school would like to make and why

·         What impact has new school designs had on?

o      students perception  

o      teachers

o      school community

E-learning

·         How has the new physical design supported e-learning?

o    the ways that personalised learning through technologies is supported by the design

o    the types of e-learning practices that have emerged in the new spaces

o    relationships between virtual and built environments

·         What changes have been made to embrace new technologies?

o    how design facilitates  e-learning

o    ways the learning space has enabled evolving forms of pedagogy

 I am very excited to be doing this research and will use this blog to share my findings as I go.

I am also interested in any research on the topic - so if you have any to share please let me know via the comments on the blog.

Swedish school uses innovative design for learning

I am fortunate to be the recipient of the Auckland Principal Association / ASB Principal Travel Fellowship, 2014.
My travel to Europe and Scandinavia will enable me  to explore how modern school designs reflect; the changing nature of learning, influence changes in the ways that teachers teach, engage diverse learners and meet current and future educational needs. My travel fellowship will enable me to explore recent trends in thinking about learning and design in new schools and what this looks like in practice. 

I plan to be in Scandinavia in June this year where I will be looking at the relationship between school design and pedagogy. 
I hope that I will be able to visit  this Vittra  school in Stockholm, Sweden. These students learn in a open learning environment with latest computer technology.

I am very lucky to have some great contacts to put me in contact with innovative schools in Scandinavia (Lene Jensby Lange, Autens, Denmark) and UK (Terry White, CEFPI, London)

 I wonder how the learning happens in the new environments  that I will view.

-How does the physical design support e-learning 
-What ways is personalising learning through e-learning supported by the physical design
-What are the types of teaching and learning have emerged in the new spaces
-What are the relationships between the virtual and built environments.

I hope that my learning from the travel fellowship will influence our future building design at Freemans Bay School. 

·         

Mark Treadwell presented this Prezi Learning to Learn as the opening Keynote at the CEFPI conference in Auckland last week.




Mark provoked us to stop using the term - preparing for 21 century learning - after all we are in the second decade of the 21 century so we just need to get on with it!

He discussed how learning happens! An important prerequisite for anyone involved with learning including businesses and corporate organisations, Imperative information for educationalists who need to know how the brain works and how we actually can rewire the brain to make learning happen!

Mark then linked brain / learning theory on what should happen int school building design - where students should have the opportunity to:

• Have different spaces to do different things
• Have spaces to collaborate, work in groups and work in teams
• Have quiet places to work on your own and to loose yourself 
• Have spaces that can be reinvented - that are flexible
• Have spaces that meet the needs of individuals differences
• Have interesting views and outlooks
• Natural light
• Great acoustics
• Explore concepts and ideas when learning

I recently ready Noreazena Abu Samah, Noraffandy Yahaya and Mohamad Bilal Ali,  paper called,  "Individual Differences in Online Personalized learning Environment,"  which has some correlations.

They conclude:

" In order to develop a learning environment, individual differences need to be taken into consideration to ensure the impact on students' achievements and satisfactions. Therefore, the learning environment must be suitable for their differences, to include their learning styles, learning orientations, preferences and needs in learning. In addition , there is a need for instructional design  to include new conditions of learning, such as; new information, context for learning and practice, feedback, transfer, organizers and attention devices. For this reason, the integration of interactivity functions in the learning environment could ensure that those external conditions of learning are provided to students."

We need to think about the types of teaching and learning practices that school design enables and the way design and teaching pedagogy can support the way the brain works and the ways we learn in both physical and digital environments. 

What is your thinking about linking how the brain works and school design for learning?

Enabling Teachers to Change Pedagogy through School Design

Last week I enjoyed the Australasia Region Conference of Council of Educational Facility Planners International. (CEFPI) here in Auckland.

Stephen Harris gave a thought provoking presentation called "Factories no More: The Key Role design and furniture has in enabling Teachers to Change Pedagogy"

Stephen Harris is principal of Northern Beaches Christian School in Sydney. On the  school website you can view information about the school, Stephen's blog and their professional development arm activities and related research called scil.

Stephen contends that schools that think about their vision for learning that prepares students for 2035 and beyond, that have modern open learning environments that promote flexibility, collaboration and personalised learning will disrupt old thinking and cause learning to happen that is fit for purpose.

I had a look on our Ministry of Education website examples of recent remodeled learning environments.Sadly they do look like classrooms that I experienced as a student in the 1960s.
They are currently  promoting examples of single celled classrooms with adjacent cloakbays.

Stephen was exploring the notion that the design of a school, that drives where education needs to go can cause teachers to shift from old last century thinking and learning to happen at a different level.

He provoked thinking around: What are we prepared to change in order to shape a positive, resilient learning culture?  Promote what you expect to happen in teaching and learning in the design of the building.

Use design to cause learning to happen otherwise we might end up with graduates like this one - who says - " I choose C!"

What are you prepared to design into the fabric of a  building for learnng?  How does this link with your thinking about learning, preparing students for 2030 and why?