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This alignment is important because well-designed learning spaces and enabling technologies encourage students to spend more time on campus, increasing engagement and improving retention.

They appear to prefer learning-by-doing rather than learning-by-listening and often choose to study in groups. Much to the consternation of adults acculturated to lectures, they become impatient in situations where they don't feel engaged.

While many student attributes may be important to educators, five characteristics seem particularly applicable for learning spaces: Digital Mobile Independent Social Participatory

This chapter focuses on a powerful context for learning: community. Community catalyzes deep learning and should be a critical consideration when planning physical and virtual learning spaces.

Research on learning theory, how the brain works, collaborative learning, and student engagement has taught us that people learn best in community.

The term community here refers to the social context of students and their environs. A community is a group of people with a common purpose, shared values, and agreement on goals. It has powerful qualities that shape learning. A community has the power to motivate its members to exceptional performance.

Educators must create structures that support this learning. Space can have a powerful impact on learning; we cannot overlook space in our attempts to accomplish our goals.

A room with rows of tablet arm chairs facing an instructor's desk in front of chalkboards conveys the pedagogical approach "I talk or demonstrate; you listen or observe." A room of square tables with a chair on each side conveys the importance of teamwork and interaction to learning. (See Figures 1 and 2.)

A classroom always has a front.

To innovate or wait: that is the question confronting IT managers on an almost weekly basis.

Perhaps the question instead should be how best to move in this direction yet avoid the faddish false starts that the Chronicle writer cautioned against.

In a nutshell, this theory holds that learning is strengthened, deepened, and made more effective when it is social, is engaged, provides formative assessment (as opposed to just summative), is relevant (tying content to students' concerns), and offers learners multiple paths. But perhaps the single most important component of constructivist learning theory is that learning happens best when students are active—not merely taking notes in lecture halls but writing, thinking, experimenting, creating, and devising.

videogames (arguably one of the most sophisticated forms of information technology to date)

five leading-edge thinkers in the field: James Paul Gee, J. C. Herz, Randy Hinrichs, Marc Prensky, and Ben Sawyer.

power-performanced learning

I see that one rationale for the Commons is to "get the students to the library." In our case, it has been very effective in attracting students…our gate count was 110 percent higher…so, it will attract students. But that begs the question?once they are in the building, what do we do with them? How do we engage them? The rationale for the learning commons, in my view, is that, properly designed, implemented, and operated, it will enhance student learning and scholarship. That is the real challenge, and the real goal, of the learning commons.3

Information commons have drawn students by offering environments that address their needs,4 bringing together technology, content, and services in a physical space that results in an environment different from that of a typical library.

The technology in an information commons is intentionally more pervasive than in most traditional academic libraries.

These spaces will be flexible and functional and pay greater attention to aesthetics than traditional 20th-century classrooms. This design concept extends beyond the places normally designated as "academic" such that the entire campus can become a learning space.

CAI (computer-assisted instruction) approach to education which was strictly content-based and driven by behavioral objectives.

Fifteen minutes per day on a machine should suffice for each of these programs, the machines being free for other students for the rest of each day. (It is probably because traditional methods are so inefficient that we have been led to suppose that education requires such a prodigious part of a young person's day).

A network is simply a collection of computers or similar devices that can communicate over a transmission medium.

To actually send any data from one computer to another we need to make use of a network protocol. A network protocol is a set of common rules that defines how data should be sent.

Without a common suite like TCP/IP, the internet would not be possible.

Plus, the 1 to 1 solution that Apple proposed included comprehensive professional development. We knew this would be critical to the success of our program, and would otherwise have been an additional, major expense.

They’re especially excited because they know we’re behind them all the way.”

This technology initiative provided every student with a district-owned laptop computer for use during the school year, both in the classroom and at home. In addition, all six district buildings are wireless environments.

The second phase of the program implementation included intensive and ongoing training of the faculty with the goal of integrating technology into all curricular areas. As a result of the faculty cross-curricular training, students receive instruction in the use of applications and resources in the context of the learning environment, rather than in isolation. In addition to content instruction, students simultaneously are able to expand their digital literacy, further develop curiosity and creativity, and benefit from the experience of teaming and collaboration with peers, both locally and internationally.

Community support for the initiative has been an important part of the successful implementation.

Such disappointments are the latest example of how technology is often embraced by philanthropists and political leaders as a quick fix, only to leave teachers flummoxed about how best to integrate the new gadgets into curriculums.

Last month, the United States Department of Education released a study showing no difference in academic achievement between students who used educational software programs for math and reading and those who did not.

a survey of district teachers and parents found that one-fifth of Matoaca students rarely or never used their laptops for learning.