Designing Flexible Learning Spaces for Ed Tech Integration

January 23, 2023
Elementary School Classroom: Enthusiastic Teacher Holding Tablet Computer Explains to a Brilliant Young Children How Wind Turbines Work. Kids Learning about Eco-Friendly Forms of Renewable Energy

A generation ago, a school “laptop” literally meant your lap (i.e., a convenient place to park a textbook). “Gamification” was surviving dodgeball in gym class. Not anymore. Today, the tools and terms of digital transformation in the education sector continue to redefine school curricula and design.

Foremost, schools – and the furniture within them – demand flexible learning spaces with seamless educational technology integration. Designers also need a good dose of predictive thinking that incorporates educational technology trends.

Welcome to Part Three in our three-part blog series devoted to the tsunamic effects of the K–12 digital transformations. We’re aggregating top insights on three higher-level topics related to educational technology, or ed tech:

Part One: How Ed Tech Advances are Reshaping K­–12 Education

Part Two: Leveraging Technology to Improve Student Wellbeing

Part Three: Designing Flexible Learning Spaces for Ed Tech Integration

Throughout the blogs, we’ve included helpful classroom furniture tips. After all, buying new classroom furniture can be a big assist in capitalizing on ed tech teaching and learning benefits. (See How School Classroom Furniture Can Improve Student Learning.)

Technology is Rapidly Growing in Schools

How prolific is technology in K­–12 schools? We know it varies by grade level and district. But the average number of tech products school districts access in a given month has almost tripled over the last several years, from 548 during the 2017-18 school year, to 1,417 during the 2021-22 school year. That’s according to a report recently released by LearnPlatform, which helps districts measure the effectiveness of their digital products.

Adding tech upon tech isn’t the end-all answer. Classrooms and learning spaces in K­­–12 schools must be designed and furnished to seamlessly blend educational technology into productive, healthy, inclusive physical space that create well-rounded students.

“The physical and digital spaces where education takes place have lifelong psychological impacts on students’ ability to feel safe, welcome and absorb knowledge, and how they behave, learn and relate to each other,” said design studio ThoughtMatter. “As we look to the future, we must reconsider and rebuild educational spaces to be accessible to all; to meet students where they are and easily flex to new and changing needs.”

 

Ed Tech Tools Learning Spaces Must Incorporate

Without question, technology has removed the physical barriers of classroom walls. Schools are using tech products to allow more distance and hybrid learning for students, as well as tools like SmartBoards, 3-D printers, VR headsets and more.

Beyond the rise of 1:1 and BYOD learning environments, here are some of the technology schools that are – or will be – using, based on much aggregated online research, opinion pieces and what future teachers are being taught:

  • Digital Voice Assistants - Digital voice assistants (Alexa and Siri) can provide immediate, objective feedback to students in the absence of a teacher or parent. Students can quickly check spelling, translate a foreign word, or get answers to basic geography, math and history questions.
  • Augmented and Virtual Reality - Augmented reality, virtual reality, or some combination of the two — collectively referred to as extended reality (XR) — will become integral components of K-12 education and redefine “active learning.” EdWeek reported on a 2019 survey where the education sector tied with healthcare as the most applicable for XR expansion. Students can learn spatial concepts, attend virtual field trips or compete on afterschool esports teams.
  • Digital Makerspaces - Tech-equipped studios can let students design and produce creative projects like podcasts, video games, animations, 3-D printed materials, and digital models.

Predictions for How Tech Will Change Learning Space Design

The speed and tools of the digital transformation in the educator sector have influenced school and classroom design, perhaps, more than any other variable. Steelcase predicts these changes ahead:

Spaces that are Both Physical + Digital

Learning spaces are no longer just physical spaces; they become digital and hybrid. Schools will move away from a one-size fits all model and create a greater variety of adaptive learning spaces.

Five new high schools broke ground in Minnesota in 2021. All were designed by Wold Architects + Engineers. The firm's Partner and Education Lead, Vaughn Dierks, talked about the must-haves for high schools during an interview with Building Design & Construction.

“When most people think of schools, they’re envisioning classrooms and labs on both sides of a hall ... it’s an industrialized model. It isn’t that way anymore. What we know now is everybody learns differently. We need a wider variety of spaces that are designed around [that].”

Spaces that Support Deeper Learning Experiences

As the earlier steps of learning (remembering, understanding) get pushed online, physical learning spaces will need to support higher-level learning and have the flexibility to fold-in future ed tech solutions that enable the shift.

Spaces that Support Equity in Education

Spaces are designed to make technology equally accessible to all students, teachers, and districts, regardless of location.

Patricia J. Brown is director of technology services at Ladue School District, Missouri. She commented on educational equity during a recent Education Week panel discussion on technology in classrooms.

“It’s not that more affluent schools have more technology. The major difference in equities is about how it’s used: what can students create and how can they collaborate. In urban districts, [technology] is used more for testing and rote learning.” She also emphasized the importance of providing teachers personalized professional support to make tech equity in education possible.

Spaces that Support "Human" Skills

The value of physical space shifts to support experiences that can’t be replicated in the digital world. For students, that means growing their skills in:

  • Communication
  • Collaboration
  • Social Intelligence
  • Emotional Intelligence
  • Cross-Cultural Competencies

Brown added, “Do we want students to just consume knowledge or learn the four C’s [critical thinking, collaboration, creativity and communication]?”

Buy School Furniture to Support Hyper-Flexible, Tech-Driven Classrooms

Greater classroom flexibility is one of the most common requests made by teachers. They want easily-accessible tech tools and multifunctional furniture that adapts to serve teachers’ teaching methods and students’ learning preferences.

Progressive K-12 school furniture manufacturers like Smith System are at the forefront of designing furniture that supports highly flexible learning spaces, from one classroom to entire schools, including in-between spaces. Schools designers, like Vaughn Dierks with Wold Architects + Engineers is witnessing the benefits.

“Overall, we’ve seen such a huge improvement in furnishings and technology over the last decade, and we’ll continue to see that, especially with technology. Flexibility in those environments can really change a building without modifying the architecture, in terms of what students need.”

Smith System K-12 furniture includes innovative, highly flexible pieces that help ensure devices and internet access are within reach. For example, Smith System’s new Flowform® Learn Lounge includes everything needed for ed tech learning and it empowers students to customize spaces for academic and social learning.

There’s durable soft seating (single or double) with the same dimensions of an ergonomically designed student chair. Then Smith System added various tables and ottomans – all with optional surface power – that give students comfortable work surfaces. The curves of the organically shaped Flowform® pieces work together to support more comfortable positions for working on devices and Flowform® includes partial privacy screens for extra visual and acoustical privacy.

Students, teachers and schools benefit with greater flexibility to:

  • Adapt to changing technology - Students can easily reposition around tech devices and power sources to collaborate in-person and with students learning virtually.
  • Receive fast access to technology - Students have tables and surfaces with built-in power to prevent battery drain, as well as interruptions in teaching and learning.
  • Learn with personal comfort and more options - Students have more seating options to support different work styles, postures and activities while using tech devices. If students want more traditional seating and tables, Smith System’s Numbers™ suite of chairs and tables offer support and functionality at a great value.

Don't Forget Technology Storage 

Having access to technology doesn’t mean devices should be used in every lesson. In fact, being strategic about device use makes educational technology more effective and it helps students learn healthy boundaries. Keep ed tech tools (tablets, laptops, headsets, goggles, etc.) organized and secure with Smith System’s Flowform® or Cascade® classroom storage options.

Change is Good. Smith System Furniture Enables It

Education will never return to when a mouse was something you dreaded seeing in a classroom, and “whiteboard” meant the classroom corkboard stapled with white construction paper.

The K­-12 digital transformation is about change: changing attitudes and the enabling of educators, parents and school leaders to fully realize the benefits of digital technologies. That will require designing flexible learning spaces and flexible school furniture that allows seamless ed tech integration.

Smith System is leading the way. If your school or district is preparing to buy new school furniture, request our catalog today and see how one manufacturer can provide innovative K-12 furniture solutions for multiple learning spaces.

Resources

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2020/10/12/big-ideas-to-redesign-k-12-for-the-automation-age/

https://www.edweek.org/technology/the-number-of-ed-tech-tools-school-districts-use-has-almost-tripled-thats-a-problem/2022/08

https://medium.com/thoughtmatter/what-is-the-classroom-of-the-future-229e559b50dd

https://online.ewu.edu/degrees/education/med/curriculum-and-instruction/k12-technology-trends/