Learning spaces and their uses

Learning spaces and their uses

The cave, campfire and watering hole are concepts that are about 25 years old. They have relationships at the heart of their definition. This reflection is both about the physical and the virtual.

The Cave is a reflective space, free from stimulation

It is for One to self relationship - where the learning is all internal. 

What is my opinion? What do I think about this?

Campfire, this is a one to many space. It is also a space for expertise e.g. many learning from the guru, it is a powerful space.

Watering hole, is a space for many to many. People bounce ideas from each other in a free for all, it is improvised e.g. problem solving. A space for collaboration

In virtual space a cave is a blog post, it is an internal reflection.
A virtual campfire is like blended or flipped learning which is "free to access" by students
A virtual watering holes can be any of the collaborative online apps e.g google docs

To manage avoidance or constraints - make these spaces available through out the day.

This is my reflection on G+ Community

It's tricky to think how I could use the #cave in my classroom. During tutor time (the only space thats like a normal classroom in design) the students are used to being asked to reflect and they do this regularly (usually as a reflection post they put on Linc ed). During the rest of the day some students also like to be able to find quiet spaces to work but not usually alone, this is for independent work but they usually work collaboratively via shared docs or slide with each other and teachers. Some of my students have started to go to the library although the building they are meant to be in is "meant" to be a quiet space. Having more smaller and clearly defined spaces within the larger open space may encourage students to respect the quiet space. Students have to be able to self direct or self manage in order to work in these spaces, otherwise teachers are constantly having to tell them to be quiet. I would like to encourage more individual exploration or reflection but my students need scaffolding to be able do this. The year 7-10 age group are very busy being social! #Rangiora #Christchurch #Hornby