In an information commons, the underlying philosophy is to provide users with a seamless work environment so that they may access, manage, and produce information all at the same workstation.

Students' comfort with the Internet means it isn't "technology" to them—it may be a way of life.

Comfort with technology does not guarantee proficiency.

They choose when to pay attention—and what to attend to.

Students are quite comfortable with group work and interactions. One of the traits of the Net Generation is the ease with which they can form and re-form working groups.

The DIY attitude extends to their creation and consumption of content on the Internet. Reputation, as well as recommendations and referrals, are of paramount importance. Curiosity, debate, and consensus are all valued traits in the blogging world. Many of today's students possess these traits.

Used effectively and thoughtfully, technology in the hands of the instructors can bring new dimensions to the class.

Other spaces are outfitted with movable tables, chairs, and whiteboards so that seating can be reconfigured to suit the activity.

Spaces that catalyze social interaction, serendipitous meetings, and impromptu conversations contribute to personal and professional growth.

The emergence of learning commons provides another example of how out-of-class time is being enriched with learning opportunities

Creating spaces for spontaneous meetings is particularly important. "Think stops" are places for individuals to stop, relax, and meet others. Often marked by a chalkboard or whiteboard, these locations encourage impromptu meetings and conversations.

When considering the technologies to support, remember that students no longer just consume information, they construct it—in multiple media formats.

Learning is a social process. Often the most memorable college experiences involve connections with others, whether students or faculty.

Connections can be virtual as well, where students work with others who are not physically colocated (through videoconferencing, for example) or who are separated by time (through asynchronous communication).

This flexibility also allows customization, enhancing not only space utilization but also convenience.

Neither learning nor socializing is one-dimensional; the physical complements the virtual, and vice versa. Since learning can occur any place and at any time, there are few—if any—locations where wireless is not valuable.

Student mobility means that students, not just the institution, define the learning space.

Although students have little fear of technology, they are not necessarily proficient with technology, information retrieval, or cognitive skills—what many call information fluency

Some IT units locate technical support staff in classroom buildings. Learning commons create one-stop centers, incorporating services from the library, IT, and the writing center. Although they may look different or have a new name, help desks are probably here to stay.

A real community, however, exists only when its members interact in a meaningful way that deepens their understanding of each other and leads to learning.

in a community, the learners—including faculty—are enriched by collective meaning-making, mentorship, encouragement, and an understanding of the perspectives and unique qualities of an increasingly diverse membership.

Despite multiple theories about how people learn, they agree on one point: the critical role of interaction.

Second, learning in community will have an important role in preparing students for their work-life to come.

ndeed, because of the volume and volatility of information today, as well as the proliferation of information-sharing mechanisms,12 knowledge may be seen as vested in a distributed network across communities of practice, not in individuals.

aculty don't expect much of students so that they can concentrate on the growing demands of research, and students don't demand rigorous instruction so that they can concentrate on their social lives.

Whether due to the absence of deep engagement between students and faculty or to their desire for peer interaction, students have begun to develop student-centered communities with their peers.21 While this trend satisfies the need for community, this interaction often lacks academic learning as the focal point.

They cited research that links the physical attractiveness and lighting of a space to the motivation and task performance of those in the space.

The decor is sterile and unstimulating; the seating arrangements rarely allow for peer-to-peer exchange; and the technology does not allow individual access to information as needed.

Rather than appearing to be a co-learner, the faculty member is set apart. Similarly, computer labs that do not provide for multiple viewers of a monitor or libraries that do not permit talking convey a built pedagogy contrary to the ideas of social constructivism.

adult furniture over juvenile tablet arm desks.

Smaller places for debriefing, project work, discussion, and application of information become paramount. Outdoor spaces, lobby spaces, cafés, and residence halls all need to be considered in terms of how they can support learning.

t makes better sense to construct spaces capable of quick reconfiguration to support different kinds of activity—moveable tables and chairs, for example.

Human beings yearn for color, natural and task-appropriate lighting, and interesting room shapes.

As technology changes, smaller devices will probably travel with users, who will expect wireless environments, the capacity to network with other devices and display vehicles, and access to power. Rather than cumbersome rack systems and fixed ceiling-mounted projectors, learning spaces of the future will need more flexible plug-and-play capabilities.

Spaces should center on learning, not experts.

new advances in learning theory

that good space is not a luxury but a key determinant of good learning environments.

One thing that we have learned in our industry is that people have a lot to say. They are using the Internet to publish things at an astonishing pace. 120K blogs are created daily — most of them with an audience of one. Over half of them are created by people under the age of nineteen. In the US, nearly 40 percent of Internet users upload videos, and globally over fifteen hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. The web is very social too: about one of every six minutes that people spend online is spent in a social network of some type.

No one argues the value of free speech, but the vast majority of stuff we find on the web is useless. The clamor of junk threatens to drown out voices of quality.

When data is abundant, intelligence will win

The real potential of cloud computing lies not in taking stuff that used to live on PCs and putting it online, but in doing things online that were previously simply impossible.

Oil fueled the Industrial Revolution, but data will fuel the next generation of growth.

Now, the best technology starts with consumers, where a Darwinian market drives innovation that far surpasses traditional enterprise tools, and migrates to the workplace only after thriving with consumers.

Cloud computing levels that playing field so that the small business has access to the same systems that large businesses do. Given that small businesses generate most of the jobs in the economy, this is no small trend.

With facts, negotiations can become less about who yells louder, but about who has the stronger data.

Similarly, we manage Google with a long-term focus.