At this year’s annual conference for CEFPI (the Council of Educational Facility Planners International), challenge and change were topics that came up, over and over again. With a theme of “Learning in a Flat World,” the event spurred keynotes, workshops, breakout sessions, and roundtable discussions, centered on the learning experience of today and tomorrow and what environments were conducive to this changing learning climate.
For our session, we delved into Social Media for Learning, a fascinating topic considering the “digital natives” we design educational spaces for.
According to the Pew Research Center, digital natives are “the first generation in human history who regard behaviors like tweeting and texting, along with websites like Facebook, YouTube, Google and Wikipedia, not as astonishing innovations of the digital era, but as everyday parts of their social lives and their search for understanding."
As keynote speaker, Robert Scoble, shared, “Kids today are learning management skills from World of Warcraft … whereas I was reviewed at Microsoft every six months, World of Warcraft kids are getting reviewed every five minutes. They are getting praised and derided based on what they do. And they are getting taught on how to do it better, in real time, as they do it. It’s what the kids are expecting today.”
Imagine a classroom where each student has a Smartphone, and they can fact check the teacher at any moment, Scoble continues. This is a peek into the learning experience of the future. He challenged K-12 school designers to create atmospheres for innovation - easier said than done, he admits.
Our session provided educators, educational planners, school designers and builders, with a crash course on the Socialmediasphere. Attendees learned about Professional Learning Networks (PLN's), the Geosocial Universe, Interest labs, interactive and collaborative platforms for students, and more.
To relive the magic, watch the video, tour the Prezi, or visit the Resource Glog and Twitter accounts of the presenters below.
Social Media for Learning Prezi: http://bit.ly/CEFPIprezi
Social Media for Learning Video: http://bit.ly/SMforLearning
Social Media for Learning Resource Glog: http://ow.ly/2KH0R
Presenter, Kim Coffeen’s Twitter account: http://twitter.com/KimCoffeen
Presenter, Rochelle Veturis’ Twitter account: http://twitter.com/RochelleVeturis
Kimberly Coffeen is a Senior Educational Facility Planner at LPA Inc. She has personally managed eight district-wide Facility Master Planning processes and recently completed a yearlong graduate level course with a designation of Recognized Educational Facility Planner (REFP), through the Council of Educational Facility Planners International (CEFPI). She is a Registered California Architect, active member of CEFPI, and Chair of the Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) Green Product Database. In 2009, she co-authored "Green School Primer: Lessons in Sustainability."
Rochelle Veturis Coles is the Media and Public Relations Director for LPA Inc. Since working at LPA, the company has received five times as many news (clips per month), with an estimated ad value in excess of $3.75 million in 2009. This year, Veturis was featured as February’s Twitter Powerhouse in the Huffington Post. Through her involvement with social media she has supported the Children’s Hospital of Orange County, Cameron Siemers Foundation, Irvine Public Schools Foundation, Compassion International, and HomeAid Orange County.