Comments on: Classrooms of the future (and today)

By: careysargent

careysargent — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 03:58:43 +0000

I’ve been fortunate to teach my sociology seminar “media culture and society” in a computer lab, which allows students to utilize the sites and tools (google docs, facebook, wikipedia, tumblr etc.) we are discussing. Its a radically different class than it could be in a lecture hall or traditional classroom.

I also teach large lectures and find myself wondering exactly what that kind of classroom space accomplishes (especially when half the students are browsing the web instead of listening to me as a talking head). I’d be interested in participating in this discussion!

By: chella55555

chella55555 — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 00:43:42 +0000

I am also interested in discussing teaching and learning spaces for libraries. I think it would also be nice to explore how partnerships between instructors and librarians/ curators could possibly help to promote student learning. Please count me in!

By: sunnygrrl

sunnygrrl — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 22:58:54 +0000

Definitely interested, particularly in virtual spaces as well as non-classroom-based sites of learning.

By: Eric Johnson

Eric Johnson — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 05:56:40 +0000

I’ve been a part of a number of discussions along these lines in library and museum settings. There’s actually some great Progressive era thought (notably by John Cotton Dana) around the idea of lowering the distinctions between museums and libraries and schools. This is a marvelous topic–absolutely count me in please!

By: rnmitchell

rnmitchell — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 20:43:55 +0000

Definitely interested in joining this discussion! This is indeed one of the things that Caroline & I were trying to think through.

By: mebrett

mebrett — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 22:37:13 +0000

I’m interested, especially thinking about learning spaces (online and physical) for libraries and museums.

By: jeffrey mcclurken

jeffrey mcclurken — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 15:19:02 +0000

I’ve actually been a part of the redesign of classrooms in a renovated building on campus. I can talk about some of the issues we ran in to and some of the innovative classroom designs we came up with.

By: Jeremy Boggs

Jeremy Boggs — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 15:03:46 +0000

Definitely interested in talking about this. I’ve spent a bit of time drawing different kinds of spaces I think would be conducive for teaching various digital humanities courses. One of the most frustrating things about teaching my History in the Digital Age course was the set-up of the room: A typical computer lab, with rows of computers facing forward toward a screen. This kind of organization is great for about 20% of the work we did in class (workshops, how-tos) but terrible for discussion of work, critique, and collaboration.

In addition to actually talking about space, I would be interested in discussing how we can actually begin talking with university administrators about spaces we need. As I see more and more buildings go up at Mason, I wonder how often faculty are consulted about the spaces they’ll eventually be asked to use.

By: Randy Gue

Randy Gue — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 14:46:06 +0000

Jeffery, I would love to be part of this discussion.