The Virtual Learning Commons

Abstract

We are now living in a world where one can download information onto smaller laptops, notebooks, and even cell phones. This opens the school library to the wide world, and, for school librarians, it requires them to rethink their role in the lives of students. Loertscher et al in their The New Learning Commons: Where Learners Win! Reinventing School Libraries and Computer Labs describe a physical facility with a “completely flexible learning space where neither computers nor books get in the way.” (p. 11) This open, flexible space has two major functions, the Open Commons and the Experimental Learning Center. The central focus was to transform the idea of a library as a storage and retrieval space into a fresh new learning space. By opening up the space and using various movable pieces of furniture, the space could be re-arranged at any time of the school day to accommodate individuals, small groups, and large groups while balancing the need for quiet, purposeful group work, mobile technology, project-based learning, and even performance.