You may have been hearing the term “Learning Commons” used around the Skyline College campus lately and you may have asked yourself, “What is a Learning Commons?”
“[The Learning Commons’] strength lies in the relationships it supports, whether these are student-to-student, student-to-faculty, student-to-staff, student-to-equipment, or student-to-information. Effective learning commons are alive with the voices of students working together, establishing the kinds of connections that promote active, engaged learning.”
— from “7 Things You Should Know About the Modern Learning Commons”
The Skyline College Learning Commons will bring together the functions of the Library and the Learning Center into a unified, technology enhanced academic support space for students in Building 5. The Academic Support & Learning Technologies (ASLT) Division has been taking some of the initial steps towards realizing our Learning Commons vision over the past several months. Here are some things that we have been doing:
- During the spring 2015 semester, the ASLT monthly division meetings have been used to create a list of priorities that the team would like to see in the Learning Commons
- Monday through Friday hours of operation have been aligned between the Library and Learning Center. New hours are 8:00am – 9:00pm, Monday – Thursday and 8:00am – 4:00pm on Friday. The Library is also open from 10:00am – 2:00pm on Saturdays.
- Small, portable whiteboards have been purchased to enhance student collaborative spaces in Building 5.
- A Director of the Learning Commons has been hired and will be starting on Monday, September 21, 2015. We will introduce Dr. Pearl Ly to the campus in next week’s Skyline Shines.
Over the 2015-2016 academic year, we will continue to take steps toward realizing our Skyline College Learning Commons vision and will be gathering additional feedback from students, faculty and staff on what they would like to see in this academic support space. We will continue to update the College through Skyline Shines articles over the course of the year.
Article by Jonathan Paver
