The Learning Spaces Collaboratory (LSC) began in 2010 from a foundation of Project Kaleidoscope facilities-related work. It is based on the premise that robust learning happens as students are:

  • Actively engaged in evaluating, constructing, and reevaluating their own knowledge
  • Actively engaged in a social and supportive community
  • Encouraged to assess, reflect, and build on prior knowledge
  • Empowered to address problems that are meaningful personally and of import to the world beyond the campus.

We recognize that as robust learning empowers learners, students are becoming agents of their own learning. They are becoming adventurous, tolerant of ambiguity, eager to ask new questions; they are testing the boundaries and limits of what is known, not known. Thus, robust learning happens when it is:

  • Iterative and non-linear
  • Provisional, always in a state of flux of becoming
  • Scaffolded and transferable
  • In turn, social and solitary
  • Understood by all—student and teacher—as preparation for what comes next.

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We recognize that robust learning happens when those responsible for the physical environment for learning ask questions such as:

  • Is what is known about how learning happens from research, and from findings from the work of change agents in other settings, influencing how learning happens on our campus? If so, how and where?
  • How might such research and findings about how learning happens, within and beyond our campus, help us fulfill our responsibilities as planners more creatively, efficiently, and cost-effectively?
  • How do 21st century mental images of how learning happens differ from those held by previous generations of planners? How do mental images about learning influence our planning?
  • Beyond these findings on how learning happens, what other contextual issues must be identified and addressed in giving attention to spaces for learning on our campus, now and into the future?
  • LSC Roadmap
  • LSC Roundtables
  • LSC Community
  • LSC Archives
  • LSC Activities
  • From the Field

The LSC Guide: Planning for Assessing 21st Century Spaces for 21st Century Learners
The foundational Guide for the LSC: establishing the power of asking the right questions.

LSC Roundtables
A major LSC initiative to explore more audacious planning questions for the future.