Friday, March 19, 2010

What Can You Do...


...not over a long time...

but in an hour?

in two hours?

A student approached me today, beleaguered over a project.  He was to create a design for the college library.  He thought it would take him 20 years, it would take a team of designers 20 years, it would take so much discussion and research!

No!, I said, rapping my knuckles on the desk.  No.  Not 20 years.  One hour!

He looked at me in total shock.

Forget everything, I said.  Ask yourself this.  How could you design the library in an hour?  What would the most important characteristics need to be>  You have two minutes.  I gave him a piece of paper and walked out of my office.  

He made a list of characteristics.  They were pretty good.

How could you design a space so that students saw the books differently?  So that they interacted with the magazines?  So that you activate the library in such a way that it was the most exciting learning space?

How could you design a space so that students were talking and researching and writing and computing?  Whiteboards?  Post-its?  






No comments:

Post a Comment