Just as in the workplace, designing for learning environments is more complex than meets the eye. Education spaces are changing because our relationship with learning is changing. Millennials and Generation Z view learning as a perpetual state of mind – it doesn’t end after college, and they expect it to be consistently built into the workday.
Gensler’s research wing doesn’t disappoint in education markets. The firm’s ongoing research on higher education libraries provides some pretty surprising insights about how students are spending their time.
Contrary to the popular view of libraries as collaboration hubs, Gensler found that students are coming to libraries seeking quiet focus time.
“While digital and social media and ubiquitous access to the Internet call into question the need to dedicate space to rows and rows of stacks, previous Gensler research points to some aspects – both symbolic and functional – of today’s libraries that endure,” notes the study. “Today’s students prefer to study alone and seek quiet spaces to study most effectively. The library is by far the favored place for this activity, with the majority of students ranking it as the best place to study or work alone on campus.”
Gensler’s research shows that at all times of day, individual work dominates library activities; in fact, individual work outranks other activities in a 3:1 ratio.
73% of library users are focusing or working alone, 15% are working in a group of three or more, 10% are working with one other student, and 2% fall into an “other” category.
Gensler’s research in higher education libraries shows a strong majority of individual/focus work over group work, and of pen and paper use over other tools, including laptops, smartphones and books.
And in regard to learning tools, students are sticking with the basics. While in the library, 65% of students are using pen and paper, 23% are working on a computer/laptop/iPad, 10% are consulting books or magazines, and 2% are working from their smartphones.
Observation of tool and technology use throughout the day also showed a notable rhythm,” the study indicates. “While computers outpace the use of books on average, the use of books, computers, and tablets spikes in the afternoon, then drops off toward the evening as a greater percentage of students shift to pen and paper and more teambased, collaborative learning. Importantly, the overall rate of observed tool usage never goes above 50% – at any given time, half of the students in the library were using neither books nor technology.”
What does this mean for designers and architects? Gensler outline four key elements to successful library environments.
>Libraries are about more than books. “For students – yesterday’s, today’s, and tomorrow’s – the core purpose of the library is its physical and symbolic presence as a place where scholarship is supported and respected. Students, even those not looking for books, continue to seek library spaces as the place to complete their individual work.”
>Individual work should be the priority. “This doesn’t mean giving everyone an enclosed room. The utilization rates of study stations and open seating arrangements in our investigation illustrates the point – both are largely open, but study stations provide clearly defined individual work areas and are occupied at twice the rate of open seating on average.”
>You can increase capacity without increasing space. “Money and space are both at a premium – opportunities to better leverage existing resources and facilities are necessary to keep libraries relevant and performing at their best. By prioritizing the favored workspace types, you can serve more students in the same amount of space.”
>Your library has a rhythm of its own. “Understanding the rhythm and current utilization patterns of a library is an opportunity to realign spaces to best support student demands – increasing the opportunity for them to find the spaces they need by maximizing the spaces available.”
In support of its research in higher education dormitories, Gensler also has dorm furniture prototypes in the works. College dorms present a significant design challenge: how can one room fulfill so many differing functions – restorative, social, focus, collaboration. We’re excited to see what comes of this work, and what a better dormitory solution might look like.
In the K-12 market, school systems are often on tight budgets; even on the private side, designers are not usually allowed to spring for anything they want. But that doesn’t necessarily mean the available dollars aren’t spent well.
“Quality is important,” said Kimberly Hickson, principal and education practice area leader at Gensler. “Schools want to spend money on maintainability – higher quality materials and furniture so that they don’t need to replace them as often.”
Gensler produced a white paper on “ambient learning,” which integrates graphic design into school environments to make the building a more meaningful part of the educational process.
“Great schools, and the designers who help create them, use design to brighten space, promote school spirit, and inspire and engage students. But even many of the best schools are still missing an opportunity to leverage their buildings – and the walls, floors, windows within – directly in the educational process.
“We believe creative, unexpected design intervention can assist current schools that are struggling to keep students engaged, and also act as a catalyst for a new type of school environment that sets a precedent for high-performance learning facilities.”
The white paper identified a set of core educational concepts and accompanying design solutions for each:
>Show measurement at the student scale. “Use the physical environment to communicate measurement relative to other subjects or students’ own experience.”
>Connect language to physical objects. “Install words onto objects themselves, using multiple languages to provide short lessons in translation.”
>Make history personal. “Display historical individuals or items in a way that invites interaction and students placing themselves into the tableau.”
>Let structure communicate structure. “Use school buildings to highlight architectural, engineering, and sustainability concepts, processes, and ideas.”
>Integrate learning and playing. “Involve students in the creation and application of graphics, and make them interactive or changeable to keep the process going. Outdoor surfaces and playgrounds are an opportunity too.”
Ms. Hickson noted several product trends in learning spaces:
>Writable surfaces, including solutions like a simple back-painted glass wall.
>Movable products, including everything from desks to whiteboards and other tools that support collaboration and thinking outside the box. “There are a lot of three-dimensional products; nothing is static anymore.”
>Lightweight furniture that encourages reconfiguration to suit changing classroom needs. If its 150+ lbs., it doesn’t belong in a modern classroom.
>Acoustical solutions that help educators delineate space in creative ways to suit different lesson plans and activities.
She also noted the prevalence of spaces designed around the concept of flipped learning, a teaching strategy that reverses the traditional learning environment. In a “flipped” classroom, teachers disseminate and students consume all of the instructional content outside classroom time (often online) and instead use that classroom time for activities, including everything from homework problems and lab experiments to informal presentations, peer reviewing and small and large projects.
Flipped learning requires designers to provide flexible, shape-shifting classrooms that can change depending on the activity at hand. It’s not an easy task, but the benefits to do creating a successful learning environment are immeasurable.