Open space learning: Let’s talk about the elephant-in-the-(class)-room. The ABC of acoustics

Posted on April 21, 2013 by Anne Knock

I was standing in The Zone with an architect.

The hubbub of learning engagement was all around. 180 students and six teachers call this space ‘home’ at Northern Beaches Christian School. In front of us a teacher was taking a large group through a step-by-step process on a particularly technical aspect of uploading their work to the portal. This group of Year 5 and 6 students were focussed, sitting on the floor with their devices on their laps.

To our right another group were sitting at tables, their heads down, working on a pen and paper task. After a few moments this group stood as one and picked up their work to relocate for the next activity.

As we watched this happen the architect said to me, “They didn’t miss a beat, teachers tell us that open learning won’t work because the students are distracted.” He was referring to the group in front of us. While the commotion and movement of about 20 students were happening not one of them looked up or were off task.

Many people cite noise and distractions as the reasons why open learning will not work. Research on innovation and creativity reinforces that the best ideas come when we put our heads together. Open learning facilitates collaboration and team work. So if we really believe this to be the future of school, then the physical environment must be conducive to this. Not just rethinking the spaces, we also need to shift the mindset of the educators and students on what is actually productive work and how does it best occur. The acoustics matter.

Acoustic effectiveness is personal. What’s good for you, may not work for me. I have never been able to work or read when there is certain music in the background. If there is singing, I will listen and can’t focus.

I was talking with another visitor in The Zone a while back. He does work facilitating effective workplace design. He said to me that when there are less than five conversations within earshot we become distracted by them. However, once there are more than five, it becomes ‘white noise’, a more productive sound than silence.

Noise can be productive.

Perhaps the most significant obstacle is mindsets – often educators and parents. People cite the so-called ‘failure’ of the ‘open learning experiment’ of the 1970s. This is not a fair comparison, in my opinion. At the time there was very little regulated curriculum and technology and its ability to open the world of learning was not yet conceived. Culturally, the 60s and 70s were an experimental era,
with little accountability.

Today, we work differently and we learn differently. Often the complaints about the noise and the distractions come from teachers who either assume that it won’t work, or haven’t received sufficient support in changing the way the learning now needs to occur.

The ABC of good acoustics

When I walk into The Zone with visitors from other schools they are usually overwhelmed by the productive environment – 180x 10-12 year olds, actively engaged in learning. Teachers are working with groups and/or roving the space, touching base with students. I usually make the comment, “probably one of the most important elements that makes the space work is something that you don’t actually notice”. Then I point to the acoustic panels on the ceiling. When I visit schools and find that an open space is not working well, the first question I usually ask is how the sound levels are being managed.

The UK group Acoustics at Work has produced a report that simply describes the ABC of acoustic management. The focus on the office environment, but can be relevant to the open learning space.

Absorb Absorption of sound waves minimise noise reflection. The materials selected for the ceiling, the floor and the furnishings make a huge difference.

Block Temporary/movable partitions alter the sound path. This can reduce the level of sound transmitted and can facilitate individual work.

Cover Noise masking systems can artificially increase ambient noise levels to provide background (white) noise.

When I taught young children and noticed a problem with learning, my first suggestion to the parents was to check the child’s eyes and ears. It is similar with spaces we work and learn within. The key elements physical environment should be addresses first.

If we are committed to open learning, attention to the acoustic environment is essential for effectiveness of the learning and wellbeing of all.

@anneknock

If you would like to see The Zone in action visit us scil.com.au

Reference for Breakout quotes

There’s no place like home – why comfort and community matter when we work, learn, play & create

Posted on March 18, 2013 by Anne Knock

This post is my presentation at the Education Future Forum, 15 March 2013

There is no sense of ‘place’ that is greater than ‘home’.

Hugh Mackay, in What makes us tick? Ten desires that drive us says

‘My place’ is partly an anchor, partly a refuge, partly a stable point in a world that seems kaleidoscopic in the complexity of shifting patterns…we need to know where we belong; we need to feel that some physical place stands as a symbol of our uniqueness and acceptance.

The places where we spend most time are home and work. The picture of the employee in isolation is changing, as we prefer to work in community with others. Yahoo recently banned working from how, because as CEO Melissa Mayer stated, “we are one Yahoo” and community and connection is essential to culture change.

The traditional office isn’t particularly inspiring either. People often like to just hang out, work in proximity with other like-minded people. This has led to a happy medium between home and work.

Sometimes curing office doldrums is simply about a temporary change of scenery, whether that’s in a coffee shop, a co-working space or even a park bench. (Link)

Over the last couple of decades there has been a shift in the way people work and learn, breaking down barriers, enabling choice and recognising that ownership of time space and very work itself is a huge motivating factor. The term ‘third place’ was coined by Ray Oldenburg an urban sociologist. In his book The Great Good Place he writes about the importance of informal public gathering spaces. “Third places” are essential to community vitality.

The $8bn Green Square project in inner Sydney is an urban development will eventually be the home for more than 40,000 people by 2030. A young architectural team came up with the winning plan for the library at Green Square:

The below-ground vision will include garden storytelling, rolling hills and a sunken garden for reading and relaxing. It features an amphitheatre, water play area and music rooms where residents can practise on their instruments without disturbing neighbours.

Did anyone mention books?

Today, the library is a third place where people come to meet, read, work and belong. The word ‘library’ was once only synonymous with the word ‘book’. Now it is a ‘place’. The architects described this library as the ‘community living room’, a third place where people can be comfortable and productive at the same time. The library that feels like home.

The Hub ”Where change goes to work” is a non-profit communal movement across the globe that is recreating the work environment.

HUBs are uniquely designed spaces that provide a creative environment as well as a professional infrastructure to work, meet, learn and connect. Individuals rent spaces to work with other entrepreneurs or project space with their team. The spaces are comfortable, with a variety of furnishings, a cafe and a kitchen.

We believe physical spaces are key to our impact - for work, collaboration, inspiration, community, vibrant spaces, tools, connection, innovation. Why work from home when you can co-locate with other like-minded people at The Hub?

Another example of the third space is The Design Factory at Aalto University in Helsinki. This is a cross-disciplinary project space furnished in the same way as the hub, catering for different ways of working and placing shipping containers to create a variety of working areas – spaces within spaces.

Importantly, the kitchen provides a focal point and an opportunity for “planned coincidences”. It houses the only coffee machine in the building, so people must come to the kitchen to connect.

So what happens when school feels like home?

For generations, educationally, we’ve been polishing the chrome on the Holden Kingswood (or Edsel or Cortina), without seeing the need to reinvent in the hybrid-vehicle era. For generations the physical place of school has remained the same, when all around people are working and learning in markedly different ways. Think about the hospital/medical services, the way we communicate, how we access music and purchase goods – yet there is a constancy to the way schools look – for decades.

The physical environment does matter. This was identified by a pilot study by the University of Salford and architects, Nightingale Associates. This study found that the classroom environment can affect a child’s academic progress over a year by as much as 25%.

Schools we have visited in Scandinavia, and in particular Denmark and Sweden, the design definitely feels like home. There are communal living rooms with soft furnishings and kitchens within the learning space, especially for primary and middle years.

There are, of course, other spaces for instructional sessions, but there were no rigid rows, but coworking tables. These spaces are generally kept small, because they aren’t spaces to stay in all day.

I witnessed a ‘school feels like home’ moment last year.

The teacher brought the young boy over to the kitchen, took a plate, put some crackers with cheese together for him and then sat at the ‘kitchen table’ to work with him on his maths problems.

Kunskapsskolan is a system of more than 30 free schools across Sweden. The schools have a specific replicable design that is evident at each site.

A new Kunskapsskolan school is not built on fresh greenfield site, but a disused factory, warehouse, shop or hospital that can accommodate the design and way of working – one characterised by light, visibility and flexibility.

Every space is a learning space.

The starting point for design is to think of the entire space available as a potential learning area, not defaulting to “dividing space into static classrooms with connecting corridors”

Most areas have multiple functions …the cafeteria doubles up as a space for collaboration.

Visitors to Kunskapsskolan often remark that our schools look more like the site of a modern, creative knowledge industry, rather than a traditional school.

How do we make school feel like home?

Test every assumption about school - just because we have always have classrooms, desks, chairs and a teacher at the front, it doesn’t mean they are the necessary elements.

Identify what is actually necessary – begin with the end in mind.

Observe the times – how do your students connect, learn and communicate?

Ditch those things that don’t matter any more – how much of what we do is due to what has always been done?

Focus on relationships – at all levels, and at every nexus.

…And be brave.

@anneknock

The global Hub movement: How the ‘Third Place’ creates a working, social and communal space with purpose #scilvision12

Posted on October 14, 2012 by Anne Knock

The Third Place refers to a coworking space that creates a rich community of creative businesses, non-profits and start-ups. They generally have a unique culture where opportunity and idea sharing takes place. The concept of the Third Place emerged from a combination of the home office, flexible hours and results oriented work.

The concept of ‘working from home’, with its freedom and flexibility has morphed into the need for people to be co-located with other like-minded individuals. They have moved on from just taking up a table at the local cafe, to purpose-designed spaces where entrepreneurs and independent workers seek to be part of a community.

We visited the Westminster Hub, part of the global HUB network. Tim, one of the co-founders was kind enough to invite us in and show us around. Walking around we saw people working individually, in pairs and in groups. There is a place for gathering groups together – cave, campfire and watering hole.

The following week we were in Helsinki and found the local HUB community. A newer operation, but the principles and philosophy was the same.

We set out to create spaces that combine the best of a trusted community, innovation lab, business incubator and the comforts of home.

Community

Collaboration

Creativity

Co-locating

Comfortable

There are parallels with the design and fit out that can be translated to the design, fit out and use of open learning spaces.

Community: Is the space inviting and encourages people to connect?

Collaboration: How does the furniture and arrangement of the space facilitate connection and collaboration?

Creativity: Can ideas incubate?

Co-locating: Does each user need to be on the same task, working on the same outcome? They don’t have to be.

Comfortable: How do you like to work? Tables, sofas, open-spaces, closed spaces – provide choice

When people are passionate about what they do and motivated to achieve outcomes, no one is needed to ‘crack the whip’.

Kids just need space. Room to move, to play and explore.

Posted on September 4, 2012 by Anne Knock

I attended a great school site visit today and it struck me, that all kids need their schools to have space and freedom to move. All kids.

Giant Steps is a school in Sydney for high needs children and young people with autism. It is located in heritage listed buildings on the former asylum on the Parramatta River. Site has beautiful sandstone buildings, not actually purpose built for a school, of any type. The staff and students work in defined spaces with thick sandstone walls, with little possibility for opening them up, due to heritage listing and the sheer cost.

The campus, on the Gladesville Psychiatric Hospital, and the site has grown from a single, redundant building to a collection of spaces that educate and support young people from 3 – 18 years of age.

Giant Steps was founded to help educate children and families experiencing autism, to alleviate associated stress and to guide in the achievement of measurable results.

We saw a short video of Charlie and how he processed the elements of the end of the day. His exit from the school day included a deviation to jump on the trampoline, because he could. He had freedom to be himself.

An independent school, Giant Steps doesn’t charge fees, it receives government funding for about half of the running costs and relies on donations and fundraising for the remaining operational funds. There is a strong community feel, with families pitching in to get the work done.

Traditionally special needs schools have been relegated to ‘left over’ space – space that has been gratefully utilised but is often a long way from a purposefully designed environment for high needs students. We heard from the staff about how the design and elements of the physical space impacts on the learning, social and emotional needs of a young person with autism.

The purpose of our visit was to see Markaling House, a modest building which was funded through the Building Education Revolution program, the 2009 GFC stimulus program by the Australian Government. This building has been the recipient of a number of architectural awards. The space is a direct result of a true collaboration between the schools staff, parents and architects. Markaling House is a demonstration of how a considered building can become an educative tool.

Its use of natural light and indirect light reflecting off the bright yellow walls and ceiling was surprisingly calming.

I chatted to Kerrie, the principal, about the learning space for kids with autism, and asked:

If you could design a school from scratch for your kids, what would it look like?

Her answer? Space, for movement, for play, for kids to be kids, openness and freedom. Wide and broad spaces for play and breakout spaces when needed. It would have pods for learning in different ways. Her answer wasn’t much different from any other teacher I might ask.

It’s the same for all kids. The floor plate for schools, for all kids, needs to be broad and wide. Resetting the default position from corralling kids and teachers into manageable boxes to supporting freedom, choice and openness.

We may just get a calmer, happier schools and interested and engaged students.

“We shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us.” (Churchill) Rethinking spaces to learn & work

Posted on August 20, 2012 by Anne Knock

Churchill was well-known for his classic quotes at a time of crisis:

“We shall fight them on the beaches”

“Never Give In”

His humorous retorts:

Lady Astor: “If I were married to you, I’d put poison in your coffee.”

Churchill: “If I were married to you, I’d drink it.”

On the rebuilding of the House of Commons after the war he said:

“We shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us.”

The traditional school building was originally shaped to meet the employment expectations of the first half of the 20st century. These buildings still seem to shape schools today, despite changes in the way we work.

So from time to time we must look up, look around and decide if this ‘shape’ still fits us and fulfils our purpose. The traditional construct of the school has shaped how we teach. Even when there is the opportunity to build a new school, the notional ‘shape of our buildings’, continues to define the activity that takes place within a school. We replicate the old shape.

Many workplaces, especially those with the means to resource best practice models, are providing places and opportunities for collaboration and connection. School education needs respond to this prevailing trend. Both at school and work, traditional spaces, for working and learning are the enemy of collaboration – encouraging people keep to themselves.

Collaborative workplaces are characterised by openness, deliberately providing opportunities for sharing information and generating ideas, in a context where staff feel engaged, included and motivated. In designing these spaces the open floor area is an expanse to be designed with traffic flow systems considered. There are spaces developed for different working styles and activities along with colour and design to create individuality and character.

A number of corporate workplaces are now designing their spaces their new spaces around the concept of ‘Activity Based Work’ (ABW). Emerging from the corporate sector in the Netherlands, it is an approach to work that has increased productivity and collaboration:

We work in parallel
We do things collaboratively
We can work anywhere

ABW environments are becoming ‘device agnostic’ and encourage and enable the traditional departmental silos to talk to each other. Staff are completely mobile, offices in use 24/7, there are no assigned spaces and personal belongings are kept in lockers. Collaboration and interactivity has been found to increase with ABW.

The tri-foci of ABW is:

human resources
technology
physical space

It is no different for schools. Tri-foci of reshaping schools

1. Human resources (staff and students):

How do we support staff to work in new ways?
When building new spaces, what work is undertaken prior to occupancy to help change mindsets?
How does the activity of learning need to change?

2. Technology:

Who is making technology decisions in your school?
Does the infrastructure enable movement, flexibility and productivity?
Is ICT seamlessly and almost invisible, or is it still about ‘whistles and bells’?

3. Physical space

What do the learning spaces say about your culture and values?
Are there walls and structures that can be eliminated?
Does the furniture and the spaces cater for different working styles and activities, for collaboration and for physically appealing environment?

We need a commitment to continually shape and reshape spaces for working and learning. In our work at SCIL, we are regularly contacted by architects who want to inspire educators to change, or educators who want their architects to think differently about what a school looks like today.

@anneknock

Inspiration for this post came from:
Indesign: The future of the Workplace
Issue 50. 2012

Anne Knock

Learning | Vision | Leading | Change

Category Archives: Space and design for learning

Open space learning: Let’s talk about the elephant-in-the-(class)-room. The ABC of acoustics

There’s no place like home – why comfort and community matter when we work, learn, play & create

The global Hub movement: How the ‘Third Place’ creates a working, social and communal space with purpose #scilvision12

Kids just need space. Room to move, to play and explore.

“We shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us.” (Churchill) Rethinking spaces to learn & work

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