Back to a Better Normal
A revolution is upon us when it comes to education. The pandemic showed us that students and teachers need social interaction. It is a basic evolutionary instinct for almost all living things. It provides the framework for better mental health and delivers stronger learning outcomes. The pandemic also proved to us that strengthening our participation in a worldwide market relies on providing effective, technologically agile solutions for students to remain connected.
The learning environment is in a push-pull state; so, how do we reflect and move quickly to respond to the current and changing needs of learners and educators?
The Environment Matters
The University of Salford study (undertaken well before the pandemic) explored the relationship between the built environment and learning. The study showcased that the built environment had a 16% effect on overall learning outcomes. Given this research, we show that the built environment certainly has some form of a direct correlation to student learning. If we can achieve a 16% increase in student performance through the arrangement of furniture, what kind of increase might we achieve through the intentional design of a new school?
Technology is a Necessity
In PK-12 learning, it could be argued that classroom technology experienced quicker adoption rate in the last three years then it has since the invention of the web. Access to funding and critical cyber infrastructure, tend to be contributing factors to technology usage within and outside of schools. By ensuring internet access outside of school, investing in professional development for teachers and using data to focus on measurable factors beyond test scores, Digital Promise argues that schools can use technology to create equitable personalized learning experiences for students. ?
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Creating Space for Innovation
CRPE and the Barr Foundation, created a thought-provoking report on “The Promise and Challenges of Pandemic Innovation in High Schools.” Some of the key facts stated that while educators pivoted in real time to make change, the changes were highly individualistic and caused sincere teaching fatigue. This brings up the valued question: how do we create a reliable, scalable, and controlled approach to innovation system-wide?
In the rush to return to school normalcy this year, did we lose our pandemic spark in pushing boundaries and cutting red tape?
?If crisis breeds innovation, does a need for stability stifle it?
It is possible to return to a ‘better normal’ as we enter the next school year. The challenge is for designers, administrators, and educators, alike, to develop solutions that leverage the progress created by the pandemic, while overcoming the negative impacts it had on our collective social-emotional well-being.
The built environment does matter. So, let’s carefully craft a flexible space to support educators in building strong learning communities that breed critical thinkers. Leaving space for invention, it is time to invest in flexible curriculum and learning management systems for school districts seeking resiliency in uncertain times. Let’s learn from those that innovated in the pandemic and create hybrid models of learning that eliminate obstacles for students needing more from our institutions. Let’s build a new model of innovation in schools —a model that supports our educators to do what they do best: teach the next generation.?
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2 年Michael, ??
Principal | Education Practice Group Manager | U.S. East | Arcadis
2 年Excellent summary, Michael. As I live mostly in the world of Higher Education for IBI Group, I'd like to add a relevant prologue to your thought worthy post on the correlation of the PK-12 education and the built environment. Architects and designers are at work long before the new teacher arrives on their first day in their classroom. In the setting of Higher Education, teachers learn not only what to teach, but how to teach. In so doing, and when commissioned to do so by Colleges and Universities, we are the change agents that must see what the next classroom looks like and what the specific program needs to continually adapt the learning environments of teachers. Designing, outfitting and delivering the latest in technology, systems and physical space for innovative teaching techniques is an end product of what we do as thought leaders in teacher education. Simply put, before we design the buildings, our most important responsibility is to do our homework to have the clear vision of what it takes to Teach Teachers to Teach, now and in the future.