Is your school ready for the future? Part 6/12

Building Condition Assessment

Education Readiness Review

 A readiness assessment is required to determine what is needed to create facilities that meet the perceived needs of future educational challenges.  Dr. Darren Cannell will be providing twelve review criteria that can and should be used to reviewing your facilities.  This exercise will  make sure your facilities will be ready for the future educational challenges as predicted by the latest educational research and teaching.

The concern of such an educational review is that it will support future challenges but will not dictate the direction of the educational changes.  The design and approach need to be such that it supports current practices but is versatile enough to accommodate the possible future changes and trends.  To effectively assess the readiness it becomes necessary to review the perceived future trends in educational technology and educational pedagogy and theory.   This review of the trends will have direct ramifications on the facilities and will require certain designs to accommodate these trends.

Dr. Darren Cannell is a consultant who does building assessments and staff training.  He can be contacted at 

dcannell5@gmail.com

The sixth of the 12 trends is as follows:

Emphasis and De-emphasis

Research has shown that much of the learning that occurs in schools happens outside the classroom.  Some research states that less than 25% of the learning happens within the formal classroom.  This research emphasizes the development of less formal learning space in the modern school.  Informal learning occurs in the flexible nontraditional learning space found in a school.  The creation of these spaces can and should be considered when developing the modern day facilities for learning.  The de-emphasis of the formal classroom requires the development of self-learning and collaborative workspaces.  Spaces need not be furnished with the formal class desks in rows but with more creative, flexible workstations.  Many traditionalist educators find this trend challenging as it requires a change from the lecture style of teaching.  A supportive training program for teachers will help in the effective use of new spaces, nooks, and corners.