Teaching is a complex task in which all the factors that can affect education are involved, for example psychological, social, politic, cultural and physical factors, and now virtual factors too. Day by day the educative quality depends not only on the things that the teachers can teach, but also on the facilities that teachers can offer to the learners to find and analyse information critically. These facilities can take place if teachers are able to integrate traditional believing about education with the new ways of teaching practices, because of that, the implementation of modern learning spaces are needed in our days and that is why we need to know what that means.
Traditional classrooms are conceptualized like the room with cheers, tables and a board that the teachers used to write on, for teaching something. Thus, the learning processes took place. With the technological advances, classroom is not the only place to learn, modern learning spaces have arisen and classrooms become different, with new tools that allow teachers to improve their teaching practices. Besides, non physical tools such as virtual information, online sources and online activities are becoming essential in learning processes.
Modern Learning spaces refer to all the ways in which learners can find information, and refer specifically to the new technologies used for education, for example the internet that day by day makes things easier and faster for learners, who prefer search on the web than go to the library. Because of that, teaching practices must be directed to networked learners, giving them the tools to manipulate the information that they can find with critical thinking.
Furthermore, modern learning spaces allow a blended learning where interaction is an important technique for knowledge. The term Blended means that interaction exist not only trough technology but also with people, in this case with classmates and teachers. In that way, collaborative learning takes place and in union with the different learning spaces “it is possible to develop individual who can think for themselves, find new information, work with others toward a unified goal and use all the tools to promote learning” (Reyward, R. 2009)
Finally, nowadays connectivity trough modern learning spaces is the way to create collaborative learning where flexibility and adaptability allow learners and teachers to explore technology as a tool for integration of knowledge and integration with other people and cultures.
References:
Brown, M. (2005). Learning Spaces. In Educating the Net Generation, Chapter 12. Educause. Retrieved on March 2nd, 2010 from www.educause.edu/educatingthenet gen/
Reynard,R. (2009). Designing learning spaces for instruction , not control. Retrieved from http:// campustechnology.com/Articles/2009/04/29/Designing-Learning-Spaces-for-Instruction-not-Control.aspx
