Navigating literacy and learning in school librariesQUT Library, May 2015

h.hughes@qut.edu.au

Designing library learning spacesHilary Hughes

Faculty of Education, Queensland University of Technology (QUT)

Designing library learning spaces

Overview

• Values-based learning space designing• A library designing process

Charrette + Mosaic + VAST• Reimagining a school library space• Recommendations for designing a school library• Q & A• Select bibliography

Values-based (library) learning space designing

Who is valued here? Who is not valued here?

What is valued here? What is not valued here?

What learning activities are enabled by the design of this space?What learning activities are inhibited by the design of this space?

Learning environment as third teacherInter-relationships between learners, teachers and learning spaces

We value space because of its power to organize, promote pleasant relationships among people of different ages, create a handsome environment, provide changes, promote choices and activity, and its potential for sparking all kinds of social affective, and cognitive learning.

Malaguzzi (quoted by Gandini,1998, p.177)

Values-based participatory designing

Stakeholders, vernacular designers, learners …• who are they?• what are their needs, expectations, wishes?• how do they imagine their ideal learning space?

Professional designers – help realise our imaginings

who are the key stakeholders in your library?

Attending to student voice …

• Students are key stakeholders in libraries & learning spaces

• Gaps between students’ ideal and real library spaces

• TLs & teachers translate students’ imaginings to designers

Peacefulness, contentedness, adventure and technology

Drawings from: Bland, Hughes & Willis, 2013

Charrette …

a collaborative designing process for your school library

A charrette is …

• Participatory (re)designing process• Consensus about design problem and opportunities• For a conceptual design solution

A design charrette is an intensive, hands-on workshop that brings people from different disciplines and backgrounds together to explore design

options for a particular area or site … The goal of the charrette process is to capture the vision, values, and ideas of the

community … To bring citizens, decision-makers and designers together to build a new or alternative vision for an area or site through a creative process of team work and

competition … [use] When seeking to explore options for changing an area or site by tapping into both the

needs and values of those who live there and the expertise of professional designers and decision-makers.

Text: People and particpation.net (n.d.) http://www.peopleandparticipation.net/display/Methods/Design+Charrettes Photos: Courtesy of Auraria Library, Colorado University Denver

The term "charrette" is derived from the French word for "little cart." In Paris during the 19th century, professors at the Ecole de Beaux Arts circulated with little carts to collect final drawings from their students. Students would jump on the "charrette" to put finishing touches on their presentation minutes before the deadline.

[What is a charrette (n.d.) The Town Paper. http://www.tndtownpaper.com/what_is_charrette.htm]

Charrette steps

Towards consensus about the design problem and solution(s)

• Determine stakeholders’ expectations, needs and wishesFor a NEW library: Imagine using Focus groups, drawingsFor an EXISTING library: Evaluate using Mosaic + VAST

• Identify design focus or problem(s) to address

• Collaboratively develop conceptual design

Mosaic approach (Alison Clark)

Inclusive, participatory approachStudent voice – multiple stakeholders Visual methods

o Touro Mapo Meaning making

Mosaic: Tour ~ VAST heuristicValues

Whose values are reflected in the design of this space?

What values are reflected in the design of this space?

Activities

What activities are enabled by the design of this space?

Site/System(location, access, outlook, climate)

What physical attributes contribute positively to experience of this space?

Technology(building structure, climate control, layout, services)

What technical aspects contribute positively to

experience of this space?

Whose values are overlooked?

What values are

overlooked?

What activities are inhibited by the design?

What physical attributes impact negatively?

What technical aspects of the building design impact

negatively on users’ experience of this space?

Human relationships

What feelings, attitudes, beliefs or practices does

this space evoke for you?

Human activity

What processes, information sources or

support services assist your use of this space?

System to support human activityWhat features of the

site/building appeal to you and encourage

your use?

Production of the built space

What do the finishes/fittings tell you about the nature and

purpose of this space?

Adapted by Raylee Elliott Burns (2003) with permission from Heath, T. (1989). Introduction to design theory. Brisbane: Queensland University of Technology. This document may not be published elsewhere without Raylee’s permission.

After the charrette - what next?

Realise your imaginings

• Share your conceptual design with decision-makers • Use it as basis for planning with professional designers

Continue to reimagine

PublicDomainPictures COO licence http://pixabay.com/en/puzzle-colors-children-wood-14451/

Recommendations for school library designing

• identify the full range of stakeholders in business of learning and teaching; students and teachers as clients and experts

• consult all stakeholders as early, often and widely as possible

• allow time for collaborative relationships and understandings about the space to develop - before planning and contracts

• seize opportunities to learn and build on previous experience

• Enable stakeholders, to collectively imagine and reimagine the space, eg. Mosaic, charrette

• take advantage of the transition phase for community-building

(Bland, Hughes & Willis, 2013)

Select bibliography• Bland, D., Hughes, H., & Willis, J. (2013). Reimagining learning spaces: A research report

for the Queensland Council for Social Science Innovation. Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane. Retrieved October 15, 2014, from http://reimaginingspaces.edu.au/

• Clark, A. (2011). Breaking methodological boundaries? Exploring visual, participatory methods with adults and young children. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 19(3), 2011, 321-330.

• DPEarlyLearning. Environment as third teacher. https://www.pinterest.com/dpearlylearning/environment-as-third-teacher

• Gandini, L. (1998). The hundred languages of children: The Reggio Emilia approach – advanced reflections. Ablex.

• Heppel, S. Interesting learning places and spaces. https://www.pinterest.com/stephenheppell/interesting-learning-places-and-spaces/

• Howard, Z. & Somerville, M.M. (2014) A comparative study of two design charrettes: Implications for codesign and participatory action research. CoDesign: International Journal of CoCreation in Design and the Arts, 10 (1), 46-62.

• La Marca, S. (2010). Designing the learning environment. Camberwell: ACER Press.• Landscapes open window work in progress. (CD). Photos by teachers and atelieristas of

Preschools and Infant-Toddler Centres, Istituzione of the Municipality of Reggio Emilia. ISBN 978-88-87960-45-7

• Michaelsson, R.J. Library design. https://www.pinterest.com/rjmichaelson/library-design/

• Other images: Pixaby.com – CC0 licence