(Photo courtesy Mr. Thompson)
By Anish Sikhinam – Staff Reporter
Recently, a group of teachers and administrators from the Milford School District and Jonathan Law planned to renovate the Law Media Center into a whole new space named the Teaching and Learning Commons.
The Teaching and Learning Commons, more simply known as the Learning Commons, plans to remake the media center, and creating a more open space for students to work, read, create, collaborate, present, use technology, and get help and support more easily all in a single area.
“I think we have an obligation as adults to provide the space for the students, and to give them the highest quality, most technologically relevant space for them to do anything they want to do in terms of learning,” Law principal Mr. Thompson said. “So whether it’s quiet study space, whether it’s collaboration, whether it’s a creative space, whether it’s a podcast, or whether it’s working with your teachers and peers, I think we have an obligation to provide that.”
The idea of a complete renewal of the Media Center first began during the beginning of this school year. Architects, teachers, and even some students from CAD classes were invited to join the committee to plan out the Learning Commons.
There were many ideas that the students, teachers, architects, and the administrators came up with, and finally – although not concrete – a general plan was laid out by the committee. The renovations are scheduled to begin this summer, and although the whole project will be completed over a span of three years, the Learning Commons will be fully functional and operational by the start of school in August.
“We’re going to start renovations over the summer, so when the students come back in the fall, there will already by changes made,” librarian Ms. Briggs said. “The changes will be mostly cosmetic, not architectural yet, and there will be more rearranging done during the summer.”
The furniture currently in use at the Media Center will be replaced by next year, as well as most of the computers, both in the main area, as well as in the “lab” near the main area.
This won’t serve to be much of a problem, the librarians say, as the district will be implementing its 1:1 Chromebook initiative next year, and every student will have a Chromebook. However, for the students that need to use programs that are only available on PCs and Macs, there still will be small clusters of computers where students can use them.
“I think there will be small banks of computers, but we’re not going to need the labs, because everyone is going to come with their own equipment,” librarian Ms. Borer said. “And the furniture’s going to have more charging stations, there will be tables with wheels so students can work together in groups or separately, there will be couches, chairs, and more comfortable settings.”
The lab near the main area of the current Media Center is planned to be remade into a small presentation space, where students and guest speakers can present to a class in a more intimate way.
In addition, there will be a video production and Eagle Eye News area with Mac computers in the classroom behind the front desk of the current Media Center, where there will be a large glass pane for students to watch the news being conducted.
“We are very excited that the Teaching and Learning Commons is going to be the new home of Eagle Eye News and even more excited that students who are interested in video can have spaces for editing, recording podcasts, and using the Macs for projects,” Broadcast Journalism teacher Mr. Kulenych said. “The new studio will help Eagle Eye News continue to evolve and involve more and more students.”
Math teacher and member of the Learning Commons Committee Mr. Ruzbarsky said the new space will expose students to classes and technology they normally might not have known about.
“A lot of the biggest things that teachers push for, other than newer furniture, is just having enough stuff there for kids to get into different ideas,” Ruzbarsky said. “A lot of teachers like kids to be exposed to other things. For instance, not a lot of kids know that Mr. K’s out there, and they could do video production, so one of our ideas was to move him there.”
There will be support staff at the Learning Commons for most subjects, as well as technology support available. 3D printers and Maker Spaces will also be available for students to use for their projects and other work.
Although there will be new bookshelves, and the books will be arranged, there will be no new books that will be ordered as a result of the Learning Commons renovations.
“There will be probably about the same amount of books, but there’s definitely going to be more flexible spaces where students can do whatever they want, whether it’s a quiet place to work or a large space for students to collaborate,” Briggs said.
Thompson pledges that after the Learning Commons is functional in the fall, the Media Center will never be closed during school again.
The student body has also provided input on the whole project, through a Student Survey sent electronically.
“We had a big student survey, and we had almost a quarter of the school respond,” Ruzbarsky said. “There were a lot of strong opinions to a lot of areas – some students were very strong about having quiet areas, a lot of students were asking for a lounge area to eat food, and other students were strong about having services in the Learning Commons for support.”
Although students seem to be skeptical about the feasibility of different aspects of the Learning Commons, they do seem to like the idea of the Media Center being renovated into the Learning Commons and the new developments that will be occurring overall.
“I think these changes are good, except for the fact that the Media Center is supposed to be a quiet place where people can study, and this may take that away,” sophomore Athena Homorodean said. “But other than that I think it’s good.”
Others say that the renovation of the Media Center will cause distraction but will be beneficial in the long run.
“During construction there will be a lot of commotion but after everything is done, for the new students, it’s going to be very beneficial for them,” sophomore Sevval Cinar said.
And many students students seem to be unsure of the benefits the Learning Commons will provide, compared to the current Media and Support Centers.
“I cannot say anything positive or negative about it until I compare it with our Media Center we have currently,” sophomore Sanskar Shah said. “But it’s good there is some type of development.”
All in all though, the students, teachers, and administrators are excited about the change that the renovation of the Media Center is going to bring.
“Overall, we are reimagining the Media Center to make a modern learning space for students to be able to create,” Thompson said. “I’m excited for it.”
By Morgan Taylor – Editor-In-Chief
The Advocate Online 