March 12

Yesterday I watched and was inspired by some of the videos I found linked to the Vista website. These videos were about the learning commons and libraries. What resonated the most was:

• Because individuals learn differently and at different rates, a learning commons allows for responding to students’ unique needs
• I loved the way librarians were described as learning coaches and knowledge brokers. While all teachers fit this description, I think teacher-librarians do it best, as they facilitate it at a school-wide level.
• The learning commons allows people to connect to the world and their own passions, and allows students to shape their own learning.
• The learning commons facilitates an inquiry based approach to learning and to life.

I think my “default” learning style is as an independent learner, so initially I was not really sold on the concept of the learning commons. The videos I watched have shifted my thinking on this issue, however. While the videos do have a certain marketing or promotional tone (which tends to make me wary of the product), I certainly do see that there is much value in a collaborative approach, even if one sometimes just uses it for bouncing ideas around. Shaping the school library as a learning commons is a worthy mission – perhaps much more important and useful than attempting to remember specific data about specific resources found therein.