This document discusses trends in learning environments and the future of classrooms. It notes that while some predicted the classroom would disappear, it remains central to learning. However, classrooms are becoming more dynamic and connected spaces that support participatory and unpredictable interactions. The challenges to designing successful new learning environments include ensuring good conceptual models, feedback, addressing perceptions, and assessing effectiveness while managing costs and distractions.

1. Malcolm Brown Director, Educause Learning Initiativembrown@educause.eduOctober 2009

2. Original content © Malcolm Brown mbrown@educause.eduSide designs © Sarah Horton sarah.horton@dartmouth.edu

3. “The future of higher education lies outside the classroom.”from Chronicle of Higher Education, 1999“…the concept of the classroom as the center of learning interaction and engagement is not going away anytime soon.”Alliance for Higher Education Competitiveness, October 2005

4. ThesisOur challenge lies much more in design and less in technology

5. ThesisOur challenge lies much more in design and less in technologyfuture

6. Exploration

7. <Harry Potter illustration here>

8. Wait!!! What about all the predictions?

9. Utopian

15. Digital facelifts

17. “Even the revolutionaries can’t predict what will happen.”

18. Predictions

19. Questions?Comments?

20. HeadingBearingsa sense of directionwhere we are now

21. Bearings: StudentsDesktop down 71% to 44%Laptops up from 65% to 88%More than 90% use:library web sitepresentation softwaresocial networking sitestext messagingWithin a year 63% will have a smart phone

22. Bearings: pace

23. What’s in a second?1,157 videosuploaded7 computerssold2 new blogs520K linksclicked2.2M emailssent31K txt msgs

24. Facebook 250,000,000

25. 34,916,000,000= 10% of all minutes spent online in January 2009= minutes spent on social networking sites by U.S. users = 66,430 years

26. Bearings: the cloud

27. Bearings: higher education paradigm under pressure

28. Bearings: higher education paradigm under pressure“Undergraduate education is on the verge of a radical reordering… The business model that sustained private US colleges cannot survive.”“The typical 2030 faculty will likely be a collection of adjuncts alone in their apartments, using recycled syllabuses and administering multiple-choice tests from afar.”

30. “The whole setup would run like iTunes and sessions would be recorded for later review.”“This could happen tomorrow, the pieces are all there ready to be put together.”

32. “PBS and NPR are now posting taped interviews and videos of lectures by academics, adding to the growing number of free lectures online.”

33. Learning environments

34. Classrooms

35. Scroll ahead 70 years…

36. Smart classrooms

37. formalLearning spacesvirtualinformal

38. formalLearning spacesvirtualinformal

39. DriversTechnologyConstructivismUbiquitous Internet

40. New driversMobile technologyCloud technologyNetGensread/write Web (aka Web 2.0)

41. formalLearning spacesvirtualinformal

42. formalvirtualinformalLearning environments

43. What is an environment?

44. What is an environment?Sense of place and purposeAnywhere anytime any placeMix of planned and unplannedRange of participants, systems, forcesDynamic flux of roles

47. Personal goalsCampus culturePersonal learning stylesread/write culturePersonal contextPeer culturePersonal technologyLearning resourcesLearning practicesInternet technologyLearning spacesCampus technologyPeopleCampus orgsSupport

48. The classroom is no longer a box

49. Traditional classroomChalk boardsOverhead

50. read/writeclassroomread/writeclass

51. The classroom todayDynamicConnected:intra-connectedinter-connectedaka: read/write, import/exportParticipatoryUnpredictable in part

52. The classroom todayDynamicConnected:intra-connectedinter-connectedaka: read/write, import/exportParticipatoryUnpredictable in part• Participatory• Unpredictable

53. Questions?Comments?

54. Headings

55. What’s ahead?Trends Human factorsVerbs, not nounsCommunity infrastructureMultipurpose roomsParticipation-enabling designTech outfittingChallengesDesignPerceptionCostSupportDistractionAssessment

56. Human factorssource: Prof. Scott Pobiner, Parsons New School for Design

57. Verbs, not nounsProjectorChairsWiresPodiumsLightsComputersetc.ConnectBuildDiscussAnnotateAnalyzeDesign

58. Multipurpose roomsLectureCritiqueStudioMeetingSeminarWorkshop

59. Technology trendsPresentation captureVideo conferencingDisplay technology

60. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_LED

61. Challenges#1 Good design

63. Whenever the number of possible actions exceeds the number of controls, there is apt to be difficulty.–Don Norman

66. Norman’s criteria 1Visibility“by looking, the user can tell the state of the device and the alternatives for action”

68. Norman’s criteria 2Good conceptual model“consistency in the presentation of operations and results and a coherent, consistent system image”

70. Norman’s criteria 3Good mappings“possible to determine the relationships between actions and results”

72. Norman’s criteria 4Feedback“full and continuous feedback about the results of actions”

75. #2 Perceptions“No kindergarten classrooms!”Stanford professor

76. Support challengesGearOperationalReal time supportEffective pedagogyCommunity design, planning etc.Community of practice

77. #4 Cost challenge

78. #5 Distraction challenge

79. Distraction challenge

80. #6 Assessment: is it working?

81. “The future of higher education lies outside the classroom.”from Chronicle of Higher Education, 1999“…the concept of the classroom as the center of learning interaction and engagement is not going away anytime soon.”Alliance for Higher Education Competitiveness, October 2005

82. Thank you!mbrown@educause.edu