Strategic Design of a Learning Commons at Luleå University of Technology

2005:19 TECHNICAL REPORT

Peter Lundkvist, Robert Sundlöf Seppo Tanskanen, Markus Tiburzi

Luleå University of Technology Technical Report

Department of Business Administration and Social Sciences Division of Systems Sciences

2005:19 - ISSN: 1402-1536 - ISRN: LTU-TR--05/19--SE

STRATEGIC DESIGN OF A LEARNING COMMONS AT LULEÅ UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

- 2005 -

BY PITEPOJKARNA

Supervisor: Marita Holst Members: Peter Lundkvist Robert Sundlöf Seppo Tanskanen Markus Tiburzi

Project - Learning Commons

ABSTRACT There is a desire of changing libraries and librarians work procedures with the purpose to create a learning and knowledge creative environment for students. This environment is called The Learning Commons (LC). The idea is to enable students to manage their own learning within an environment designed to both prompt and facilitate the use of the full range of library resources assembled to support learning within colleges and universities. Therefore, a LC must be designed to handle these things.

In this report we provide a design strategy for both the physical and virtual knowledge environment. Our research shows, among other things, that in the physical LC a café is important as it draws people to the LC and that within the virtual LC everything should be gathered in one place. Hence, you only log-in to one place. Another important finding is that roles and work procedures will change in many ways for the people involved in a LC.

Peter Lundkvist, Robert Sundlöf, Seppo Tanskanen & Markus Tiburzi Project - Learning Commons

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It has been great to have participated in this project and it has given us new knowledge both in project working and learning communities.

First of all we want to thank our supervisor Marita Holst for her guidance throughout the whole project. We also want to thank Anita Mirijamdotter and Mary Somerville for their support and advice during this whole process. In addi- tion we want to thank all our respondents whose time and response made this project possible.

Finally we express our gratitude to all personal and student at Cal Poly and San Jose State University that has been involved in this project, for their reflections, work and support in order to complete this project.

Piteå 2005-09-12

______Peter Lundkvist Robert Sundlöf

______Seppo Tanskanen Markus Tiburzi

Peter Lundkvist, Robert Sundlöf, Seppo Tanskanen & Markus Tiburzi Project - Learning Commons

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 INTRODUCTION ...... 1 1.1 PURPOSE...... 2 1.2 METHOD ...... 2 1.3 LIMITATION...... 2 1.4 GOAL ...... 2 1.5 STRUCTURE OF THE REPORT...... 2 2 METHOD ...... 3 2.1 NEEDFINDING ...... 3 2.1.1 Our use of Needfinding...... 4 2.2 DATA COLLECTION ...... 5 2.3 LITERATURE...... 6 2.4 SELECTION OF RESPONDENTS ...... 6 2.5 ANALYSIS...... 7 2.6 METHOD REFLECTION...... 7 3 PRESENTATION OF THE RESPONDENTS ...... 9 3.1 STUDENTS...... 9 3.1.1 Distance students ...... 9 3.1.2 Sociology students...... 9 3.1.3 Students with special needs...... 9 3.1.4 Students from School of Music in Piteå...... 9 3.2 OTHER RESPONDENTS...... 9 3.2.1 A-torget ...... 9 3.2.2 Library staff ...... 10 3.2.3 Teacher – computer and systems sciences...... 10 3.2.4 Teacher – human work science...... 10 3.2.5 Arena...... 10 3.2.6 Web designer at Rotor Interactive...... 10 3.2.7 IT- Manager at LTU ...... 10 4 PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT...... 12 4.1 INTERVIEW RESULTS FOR THE PHYSICAL PART OF A LC...... 12 4.1.1 Conditions for a successful learning environment ...... 12 4.1.2 Physical environment...... 15 4.1.3 Further suggestions and opinions...... 17 4.2 ANALYSIS...... 20 4.3 DESIGN OF PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT...... 22 4.3.1 Design of the Learning Café...... 22 4.3.2 Design of the Learning Center...... 23 4.3.3 Learning Community ...... 24 4.3.4 Design of the Learning Commons ...... 25

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5 VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT ...... 27 5.1 INTERVIEW RESULTS FOR THE VIRTUAL PART OF A LC...... 27 5.2 ANALYSIS...... 33 5.2.1 Content of the virtual portal ...... 34 5.3 DESIGN OF THE VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT ...... 37 5.3.1 Presentation of the Lunarstorm Community...... 37 5.3.2 University virtual portal ...... 43 6 ROLES AND WORK PROCEDURES...... 47 6.1 THE UNIVERSITY...... 47 6.1.1 Management...... 47 6.1.2 Teachers...... 47 6.1.3 Librarians ...... 48 6.1.4 Students...... 48 6.2 UNIVERSITY SURROUNDINGS ...... 49 6.2.1 Companies ...... 49 6.2.2 Graduated students...... 49 7 REFLECTIONS AND SUMMARY...... 50 7.1 THE DESIGN OF THE PHYSICAL LC ...... 50 7.2 THE DESIGN OF THE VIRTUAL LC ...... 50 7.3 NEW ROLES AND WORK PROCEDURES IN A LC...... 51 7.4 SUMMARY...... 52 7.5 REFLECTION...... 52 REFERENCE LITERATURE ...... 53 BIBLIOGRAPHY...... 53 APPENDIX A APPENDIX B APPENDIX C APPENDIX D

Peter Lundkvist, Robert Sundlöf, Seppo Tanskanen & Markus Tiburzi Project - Learning Commons

1 INTRODUCTION Lately some libraries in USA and also in other countries have created “information commons” equipped with technology and staffed by information specialists. Such developments have nevertheless continued to support the traditional goal of enabling the manipulation and mastery of information (Bennett, 2003). This has grown into a desire of changing the libraries and librarians’ work procedures with the purpose to create a learning and knowledge creative environment for students. These creative environments are called Learning Commons (LC) and represents a significant departure from information commons. The idea is to enable students to manage their own learning through a design which both prompt and facilitate the use of the full range of library resources that colleges and universities assemble to support learning. Bennet (2003) means that the goal of libraries today might more appropriately be described as “supporting collaborative learning by which students turn information into knowledge and sometimes into wisdom.” The LC is thus a resource centre for the students and should provide place, space, strategies and resources for addressing the problem at hand. The student should be able to ask questions and to start a dialogue with people knowledgeable in the field, find related material, evaluate the information, and thus manage the assignment suc- cessfully and in due time. An important thing to keep in mind is that a LC should be “owned” by learners, not by teachers, whether faculty or librarians. This is the greatest challenge in designing a LC. A LC must accommodate frequently changing learning tasks that students define for themselves, not information- management tasks defined and taught by library or academic computing staff (Bennett, 2003). Further, Bennett declares that such a space might possibly be located elsewhere, but we find that a great advantage of a library location is that only there can the LC be surrounded by a rich, complete environment of print, electronic, and human information resources. Since the function of a LC is to enable students to manage their own learning, it should be designed both to prompt and facilitate the use of the full range of library resources that colleges and universities assemble to support learning.

The creation of a Learning Commons at California Polytechnic State University has led to the Cal Poly Learning Commons project which is an international collaboration between the Information Systems Sciences Division at Luleå Univer- sity of Technology, the Robert E. Kennedy Library at California Polytechnic State University on the Central Coast of California, USA, and the School of Library and Information Science at San Jose State University in Silicon Valley, California. The purpose of the Cal Poly Learning Commons project is to contribute to the creation of a “Learning Commons” – a concept which involves both a “space” and a “place” that promotes collaborative learning for the purpose of boundary- crossing knowledge creation.

The aim of the Cal Poly Learning Commons project is that students, through their expertise and individual experiences, contribute to outlining a planning process for implementing a learning commons. The students do this by finding out about

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and co-designing “spaces”, “places”, and processes that rely on new, and innova- tive, uses of digital technology. Further the students should experience information exchange and evaluation in an international setting, exploring new relations between library resources and academic programs and taking part in establishing international relations and collaboration between students and faculty from three universities. Our project role within the Cal Poly Learning Commons Planning Process is to create a strategic design for the Learning Commons physical and digital environments from a student perspective. This leads to the purpose for this project.

1.1 Purpose The purpose with our project is to provide a design strategy for both the physical and virtual knowledge environment.

1.2 Method The strategy is based on both our own experiences as students and experiences of other students, teachers and librarians. To collect data for our study we have made focus group interviews and one-to-one interviews with respondents from various groups.

1.3 Limitation Since there are differences in both approach and culture between the involved countries it is of interest for all involved universities to see what findings our study in Luleå will reveal.

1.4 Goal The goal with this project is to contribute to the creation of a LC – a concept which includes both a physical and virtual learning environment, encourage social exchange and collaboration. Virtual functionalities that realize new possibilities for cyber based teaching and learning are important parts of a LC. The outcome of the project is a report which describes a design strategy for the physical and virtual knowledge environment at the library of Luleå University of Technology.

1.5 Structure of the report In chapter 2 we present methods used for this study and also a short reflection of our methods. Chapter 3 gives a short presentation of our respondents. The physical environment is the theme for chapter 4 and includes results from the interviews, and analysis and design of the physical Learning Commons (LC). In chapter 5 we present the virtual LC in the same structure as the physical LC. In chapter 6 we discuss how roles and work procedures should be changed for various participants at the university if a LC is implemented. Finally in chapter 7 we reflect on and summarize our study of an implementation of a LC at the university.

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2 METHOD In this chapter we illustrate how data has been collected and motivate the selection of respondents. Further we present how we have analyzed our interviews and finally we discuss experiences made from the data collection.

2.1 Needfinding Needs can be difficult to detect, uncovering needs reliably requires an organized research effort (Patniak & Becker, 1999). Thirty years ago, a designer named Ro- bert McKim, who was then head of Stanford University’s product design program, was searching for a way to help designers get closer to end users. McKim noticed that the leaders in any organization were people who found important new problems to work on; they were not necessarily the ones who ultimately solved the problems. From this, he hypothesized that designers who wanted to have the greatest impact on product development needed to be involved at the earliest stages of product definition. As a response, McKim began synthesizing a qualitative research approach for studying people in order to identify their unmet needs. He termed this approach Needfinding. Some of the philosophies behind Needfinding are:

• Looking for needs rather than specific solutions. This means keeping all possible solutions open for consideration and avoid prematurely limit- ing possibilities. • Make research and design seamless. Needfinding researchers are often designers trained in research methods or researchers taught in how to con- ceptualize design. This approach allows for a seamless transition between research and design. Translation between the research and design stages of a project is greatly reduced, and both phases of the project are more effective, knowing the requirements of the other phase. • Make findings tangible and prescriptive. Written descriptions alone often don’t make the customer’s needs real to those who haven’t been involved in the research. The needs are better understood when supplemented with drawings, photos, audio recordings, and/or video. Because Needfinding leads to design, researchers also recommend what might be done to satisfy the customer’s requirements. Providing the results in a prescriptive, tangible form allows for a smoother transition between studying people’s needs and creating new ways to meet them.

Needfinding is a four-stage process used to study and interview people. These four stages are:

• Frame and prepare. At this stage, determine the research goals, the customer group being researched, and the specific sites to visit. Preparation before going to the customer’s environment helps researchers to know what questions to ask and what information to look for.

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• Watch and record. People are often so accustomed to certain problems in their lives that they become oblivious to them. When asked about the situations in which these latent problems occur, they frequently fail to recog- nize that the problems exist at all. As mentioned earlier, needs are better understood when supplemented with drawings, photos, audio recordings, and/or video. • Ask and record. To better understand these motivating factors, interview- ing people to understand the context is the next stage. Answers to questions and further discussions can give researchers insight into why a person acted in a certain way and what he or she felt during the observed situation. This is crucial information for determining people’s needs. • Interpret and reframe. Once data is collected, the final stage of the Ne- edfinding process is to interpret the findings and revise the research questions. Because Needfinding is about studying people, always frame inter- pretations in terms of what problems need to be solved to improve the customer’s situation.

2.1.1 Our use of Needfinding We have found that the foundational thoughts of this method are very much in line with the thoughts from our education in Social Informatics. The education in Social Informatics is much about participative design and seamless transition between research and design. Our education has also taught us to consider the whole instead of just the parts. This complies with the ideas in Needfinding where the researcher puts a need into a context before trying to address a problem.

We will use Needfinding as a framework for structuring our work and to gain reli- ability in the process of collecting, analyzing and presenting data. In the frame and prepare stage we will read literature on collaborative learning and learning environments, in order to create knowledge and understanding in ways of learning and learning environments. We will also read literature about Learning Commons. This will help us prepare interviews and what questions to ask. Since Needfinding is about, as the name suggests, finding needs, we will have that in mind when in- terviewing our respondents. In the ask and record stage we will try to lead the interviews to resemble a discussion of what needs there are for learning and learning environments instead of asking questions of what solutions the respondents want. This will hopefully give a discussion of not only what problems (needs) they have but also what problems they have had but are accustomed to. This means that the primary research assignment of this study is to collect needs, requirements and wishes around a Learning Commons, and keep all possible solutions open. In the stage interpret and reframe we will analyze our interviews. When analyzing we will have students needs as the starting point and create the design to meet these needs. From other respondents we seek further needs that influence our design.

We have decided not to use the Needfinding stage watch and record, since this requires the use of observation and video recording. Moreover, our decision is

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based on the fact that a Learning Commons is much more than just a library or a study room and such a place doesn’t exist on our campus. Hence, we cannot do a study of that kind which is a disadvantage – people that are observed often changes his/her behavior when observed in some way. We could make hidden ob- servations but that would not be ethically correct against those observed.

2.2 Data collection Data for this report has been assembled from documents that have been given to us mainly from professor Mary Somerville at Cal Poly describing what has been done so far in the Cal Poly Learning Commons project. It has provided us with background information about why this project was started and what goals and visions that there is with the Cal Poly Learning Commons project. We have also searched the Internet for similar projects and concepts to get more information on possibilities, problems and thoughts around collaborative learning and learning environments. However, no student-generated design Commons projects were found. Rather, Commons appear to be designed and developed exclusively by 'ex- pert' librarians, teachers, information technology or instructional design staff, etc. Our approach, therefore, is a distinctive departure from 'the way it has been done elsewhere'. In this project, students initiate and guide the design process.

Since this projects purpose was to provide a design strategy for both the physical and virtual knowledge environment on the basis of students, librarians and teachers at LTU, these groups were included in the study. Hence, the data collection was done trough interviews with students, librarians, teachers and other persons that can contribute to our project. Based in our Scandinavian perspective on systems development we include those who are, or will be, end users. Hence, the creation of a LC without opinions and participation from those concerned is not ac- ceptable from our perspective.

The reason for using interviews as method is that we were interested in thoughts, needs and requirements from the different stakeholders, indicating a qualitative approach rather than quantitative. Since a Learning Commons is an unknown concept for most of our respondents we explained the ideas behind this concept. This gave us the possibility to discuss and clarify what we were interested in obtaining with the interviews. Hence, interviews were considered to be the best method for collecting data.

Interviews in focus groups are recommended when you want to create lines of communication. The advantage of focus groups as a method for creating communication becomes most obvious within the group itself, where there is continual communication between the moderator and the participants and between the participants themselves (Morgan, D L, 1998). Another reason for choosing to do interviews in focus groups is to save time (Greenbaum, T L, 1998). One-to-one interviews is recommended when the researcher is interested in one particular person’s experience and thoughts (Trost 1997).

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We wanted to create an open and creative discussion where the participants could reconnect and get immediate feedback on each others thoughts and ideas. To get an open and creative discussion it is recommended that the participants in the focus group know each other (Bloor, M., Frankland, J., Thomas, M., Robson, K, 2001). We made interviews in focus groups with students and with librarians at LTU. One to one interviews have been used with participants with experiences that could contribute to our study, for instance teachers, project managers of other similar projects, and people who have knowledge in the technical aspects of a future Learning Commons.

2.3 Literature As part of the study we have studied literature on project management and research methods to get structure in our work e.g. to perform different activities needed within the project. It has mainly been literature concerned with working in projects, project management, research with interviews (focus groups and one-to- one) as a basis for data collection and methods for analysis. Also literature of collaborative learning and learning environments has been a subject for our literature study, in order to create knowledge and understanding of different ways of learning and learning environments.

2.4 Selection of respondents Here we will describe how the selection of our respondents has been done. Brief presentations of our respondents are given in the next chapter. In order to select respondents for our study we asked students from different disciplines if they were interested and would allow us to interview them. If the student was interested we asked if she/he could create a focus group amongst the student’s friends within hers/his discipline.

We also made a focus group interview with the librarians since they will be an important and essential group in the LC. In this case we contacted the head of the LTU library, who created a focus group from the library. Thereafter we made one- to-one interviews with two teachers, inquiring which ideas and experiences they had on students collaborative learning and learning environments. When selecting teachers we asked students for names of teachers that they thought could have many ideas and visions on students learning. We consider students to be aware of knowledgeable teachers with ideas and visions about students learning.

We got the opportunity to interview the project manager and one project member from A-torget. In this project a place for students to meet and study was created. We were interested in what experiences and reflections they had. In particular we were interested in what they had learnt is important in creating an interesting and attractive meeting place for students. The interview with two project members from Arena was made for the same reason as the interview with the A-torget but focused on their experiences from creating learning environments and cross disciplinary learning.

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These interviews gave us input for both the physical and the virtual part of the LC. In order to get some specific data for the virtual part, we did additional interviews with two respondents. One was with a web designer from whom we wanted to get more information about creating web sites for large organizations. Moreover we were interested in his ideas on virtual learning environment, since he also teaches in web design at the School of Music in Piteå. The second respondent was the IT- manager at LTU. Here we were interested in how he, as responsible for the IT environment, thinks that the future IT environment at the university should be structured and managed. We also wanted to learn his opinion on our ideas for a virtual portal, regarding structure, open environment and technology, for example.

2.5 Analysis To analyze the interviews we first listened to the recorded (MP3 player) material and made notes of time and topic of what was discussed. The topics of interest for our study were transcribed. This was the first step of our analysis which is based on a method of analysis called “entirety analysis”. This method is described by Holme & Solvang (1997) and focuses on the researcher studying the entirety of the collected material and places the specific answers in a context. Some of the themes (in our case: needs and requirements) and problem areas were selected for further analysis.

For the analysis we first worked with each interview separately to find and determine the needs and requirements that students had and then compiled their needs and requirements. Then we analyzed what opinions and experience the other respondents had for the LC. Next phase was to put together and compare students’ needs and requirements with opinions and experience from other respondents, in order to identify mutual and also specific requirements. Moreover we analyzed what basic conditions our respondents’ means has to exist in order to achieve a successful creation and implementation of an LC. All respondents had thoughts and suggestions that were, in our opinion, neither needs or basic conditions and these thoughts and suggestions are summarized in a section of its own. The total analysis constitute the basis to create a strategic design of a LC.

2.6 Method reflection In our education in Social Informatics at LTU, some of the more important aspects for our learning are reflection and documentation. Reflect upon what has been done and what result has been achieved is part of the learning process for those involved in the project. Moreover, documentation helps us to create reliabil- ity and credibility to the work and result, in the way, that readers can follow the work process and how conclusions have been drawn from the study.

We have found that interviews in focus groups have given us a rich and compre- hensive material. Since the concept of a Learning Commons (LC) was unknown for the respondents, there was a need for explanations of the foundational thoughts of a LC. Using interviews gave us the possibility to begin with a briefing of this project and its purpose along with an explanation of the LC. Our focus

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groups consisted of three to ten respondents and took 1 to 1½ hour to complete. After making the interviews we learned that an optimal focus group should consist of four to six respondents. That would give each respondent at least ten minutes of talking time. Having small groups can make it difficult to achieve a lively and creative discussion if one of the respondents is more taciturn. Having larger groups can make the interview mildly chaotic and gives each student too little time for responding and talking.

We were for the most part two moderators at the interviews but on two occasions there were only one of us. Our experience from this project is that it can be difficult to be only one moderator, especially with focus group interviews, keeping track of what has been said and leading the interview in the right direction while making notes and checking the recording device. Here we see an advantage in being two moderators, one head moderator that leads the interview and one assistant moderator that take notes, checks the recording device and contributes to the discussion.

Using recording device is essential to retrieve most of the interview. One group did not accept recording and that made it more difficult for the moderators to get the right “flow” during the interview –one moderator was busy writing down what was said during the interview. We know it can be uncomfortable for respondents with a recording device, but we think that if explaining the importance of recording most respondents will agree to recording the interview. However, we believe we failed to give weighty reasons in this case. Another thing we could have done otherwise was that we should have had a picture of what a LC could look like, to show the respondents, in order to give them an image to start discussing around. The reason why we didn’t have a picture was that we didn’t want to lead them in some direction and risk losing new ideas and thoughts. But it would have been helpful in some groups to get them to understand what we meant with a LC early on in the interview. Moreover, using the word “environment” instead of the word “room” is recommended since “room” seemed to have a constraining effect on our respondents.

One interview, with a teacher, was made by telephone but all the other interviews were made face-to-face. For this type of study with this kind of topic we learned that face-to-face interviews are of most importance. It is not only preferred but also an important way of creating the dynamic discussion that we wanted. It gives the moderator the ability to show, illustrate and interact with the respondents. Something else that we have found to be of importance is that the study is conducted by students. It gives two major advantages; firstly we think that students find it easier to discuss all kind of matters concerning the LC in special and the education in general with moderators that themselves are students. Secondly, it shows both students and others that students are engaged in this project and that the outcome is a work of students and not only by some “experts”.

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3 PRESENTATION OF THE RESPONDENTS In this chapter we give a short presentation of our respondents that have contrib- uted to this project. First we present the students we interviewed, followed by a presentation of other people that we found important to interview.

3.1 Students This section gives the reader a short presentation of the students interviewed in this study.

3.1.1 Distance students The six distance students we interviewed are studying to become dispensers and were studying on their second semester. They do all of their studies together as a group at a study center in the town Piteå, 50 kilometers south of Luleå university of technology. The students were of different age, but the main part of them is around their twenties. The students get reading directions for every week, and at the end of each course they take a written exam.

3.1.2 Sociology students We did interviews with seven sociology students studying on their sixth semester. A sociologist studies the society and tries to understand the society from a scien- tific point of view, using conceptions, theories and methods.

3.1.3 Students with special needs The students with special needs all had a different background and represented many different educations in the university. The group consisted of ten students. The most part of the students had studied three or four semesters. All in the group had the diagnosis dyslexia.

3.1.4 Students from School of Music in Piteå The three students from the school of music all studied media. They were studying on their second semester. Before their third semester they will choose direction for their education. They can choose, for example, to become journalists or media producers.

3.2 Other respondents This section gives a presentation of people, which are not students, interviewed in the study. They represent various stakeholders important for this project,.

3.2.1 A-torget This interview was made with two persons, the project manager and a project member. A-torget is a meeting place for students at the departments that are housed in the A building. It consists of a large study room, group rooms, computer labs, coffee machine and an administration helpdesk in a meeting square. This meeting place resembles a LC, but is a smaller and “simpler” version in re-

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gard to functions and technology. From these persons we wanted thoughts and experiences of development of A-torget.

3.2.2 Library staff The interview was conducted at the library of Luleå University of Technology. The group interviewed at the library consisted of the person in charge of the whole library, the persons in charge of the information technology of the library, and a librarian. Here we wanted their views on the future role for the library and the librarians and their thoughts on the LC.

3.2.3 Teacher – computer and systems sciences From this teacher in computer and systems sciences at Luleå University of Tech- nology we aimed for achieving experiences and thoughts about learning and learning environments.

3.2.4 Teacher – human work science The teacher from human work science works at Luleå University of Technology in the division of gender and technology. As from the teacher from computer and systems sciences we wanted to learn about her experiences on learning and learning environment.

3.2.5 Arena This interview was made with two persons from the management group for the Arena concept at Luleå University of Technology. These two were participating in the whole process from planning to implementation of the Arenas. Arena is a concept where students study in a certain area of interest, for example, Arena “Music Media and Technology”. The students read a basic year with some specific courses in this area of interest and then they choose a direction for their degree. Arena is meant to support cross disciplinary learning. Here we were interested in their thoughts on learning and cross disciplinary learning in particular. We were also interested in their thoughts of how a LC would look like and their thoughts and experiences of the development work of the Arenas that we can transfer to the LC concept.

3.2.6 Web designer at Rotor Interactive This interview was made with a web designer/project manager who is working at a web design company. He also handles courses at the School of Music in Piteå. From this person we wanted thoughts on designing web pages for companies and organizations. Since he teaches in web design we also asked about his experience in teaching and communicating with students, how it works and how it could be improved.

3.2.7 IT- Manager at LTU We also interviewed the IT-Manager at Luleå University of Technology. From him we were interested to learn his opinion of our vision for a virtual Learning Commons. We were also interested in his thoughts and professional opinion of a

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virtual Learning Commons and if it is possible to implement our visions and ideas.

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4 PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT This chapter is about the physical environment for the Learning Commons (LC). First the results from the interviews for the physical environment are presented. This is followed by an analysis of our interviews. For the analysis we first worked with each interview separately to find and determine the needs and requirements that students had and then compiled their needs and requirements. Then we analyzed what opinions and experience the other respondents had for the LC. Next phase was to put together and compare students’ needs and requirements with opinions and experience from other respondents in order to achieve mutual and also specific requirements. Finally we present the design of the physical part of a LC

4.1 Interview results for the physical part of a LC In this section we present the results from our interviews which also represent a first analysis of the interviews. Our focus is on what students at LTU think about a learning environment such as a LC, but we also show other respondents thoughts. To start with we present the conditions, what the students at LTU consider are important things, for such a learning environment to be successful. We also present what other respondents have said about conditions for a successful learning environment. After that we present thoughts about the physical environment based on students’ views and other respondents’ within the project. Further we present suggestions and opinions that emerged in the interviews and present them from both students’ views and also from others respondents’ views.

4.1.1 Conditions for a successful learning environment When we are talking about conditions we mean things that are necessary for a successful learning environment. We start with students’ opinions and followed by opinions from other respondents that are of interest for this project.

Distance students • If a learning environment, such as a LC, is to be successful (cooperation between students and so on) people have to give and take. This means that if students want help from other students they must be ready to help students themselves.

Sociology students • Availability is of great importance. • In the early stages of the education or course it is good to have lectures on the LC to get a general idea of what’s happening. • It is important to create a meeting place where people want to go, by their own will, and also that everybody is connected to the same system. • Teachers and librarians should be available and show students respect. • Usability and forcibility is absolutely necessary and information and marketing about all activities and services is very important.

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Students with special needs • The librarians must be in the right place at the right time and become more integrated in the education of the students. • Teachers’ participation is very important.

Students from School of Music in Piteå • The school has to change its present form when it comes to education of students in a learning environment such as a LC. They also got to get the students to really want to go to school. There has got to be something/someone to do that. • There has got to be a driving force, for example, understandable and clear goals for the education. • Cooperation between universities is one condition. • Teachers work procedures is going to change. Today we have become more individual and the teachers’ role will be to act as the person who is getting us together. Also, teachers have to socialize to a great extent. • It is important that students stay when they have come into the building. That is why the café is the first place they are entering. Between the café and the “learning section” there should be glass; the students should be able to see between the sections.

A-torget • It is important to define the purpose of a learning environment and whom it should be created for. It’s also important to create an interest for those who are supposed to be in this environment. • Need of changing attitudes and thinking around ways of working is highly important and also regulations and demands have to be taken into consideration. • The university has to change their point of view and give time and resources for those who are going to use this room. • The learning environment also has to be integrated early in the education where the students – already from the start – are meant to communicate with each other, how to search for information and how to create knowledge. • It has to be an understanding for a learning environment such as a LC and the climate needs to be dynamically interesting. • It also has to be a mutual feeling for wanting to help each other creating knowledge.

Library staff • Think that it’s necessary to change the university in some way; start to think at the university in a very different way. • It is important to acknowledge the competence and the resources available at the whole of the university.

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• Want to change the conception of librarians and get them integrated into the education earlier and in a more legible way where their competence needs to be acknowledged as a greater resource. • They believe there has to be a mutual understanding, even though it will look different according to the particular education programs if this is going to be successful. • Accessibility and flexibility is of great importance as well as simplicity on the technical aspects.

Teachers • Simplicity is very important. It should be easy to get in contact with others, in both physical and virtual environments. • To get people to use the learning environment, universities have to make large commitments. • It is very important to integrate the physical and the virtual room. In the physical room you should have “the entire world”. • To achieve a long term learning this kind of learning environment has to be more integrated in the courses at the university and it also have to have a specific purpose in these courses. • To create knowledge it is important that people with different frames of references meet. • Librarians have a great potential in such an environment but it requires that they step outside their traditional role and think of how they can contribute to the student’s long term learning. • Courses should be more of the problem solving kind and in project form where the teachers meet students respectful of their knowledge and experiences. • This kind of environment has to be integrated in the university, as a part of the whole. • Parts of the education need to be held in this environment so they achieve a purpose and it has to be done in the early stages of the education. • The learning environment, such as a LC, must be formed within the cultural and social context of its surroundings which can be different from place to place. • It is important that information of ones knowledge is gathered in one particular place and that this place is very easy accessed. Arena • Cross disciplinary meetings is very important in order to create knowledge. • Good marketing and information is crucial when implementing something new. • There has to be an open mind for new ways of learning and studying from everyone involved. • It is important that the university supports cross boundary wishes, thoughts and attempts to collaborate, cooperate and communicate.

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• This kind of learning environment has to be dynamic and never static and it has to be something happening all the time. • It has to be focus on knowledge creation instead of traditional ways of learning.

4.1.2 Physical environment When we did the interviews, we were interested in what needs students have for their learning and also other respondents thoughts about the physical room in a learning environment. These needs are analyzed and transformed into a list of items which is presented below.

Distance students • No open-plan offices. If there are a lot of people in the room it is very difficult to work because of the loud talking. Traditional classrooms, rooms for groups, quiet rooms and conditions for good ergonomic work situation. • If it is necessary with open-plan offices it should be in the centre and other type of rooms would be around it. There should also be an opportunity, for those who wishes, to sit in a more quiet part in the room. • There is a need for people availability (students, librarians, teachers and others) that have relevant and appropriate knowledge for whatever problems students have.

Sociology students • A room in every department where students can drink coffee offers a great opportunity for learning to know other students. • There should also be a small reference library close to this room. • The library should not only be for borrowing books but also an environment for learning, meeting and discussing. • There should also be group rooms, more tables and more computers in the library. Maybe be able to borrow a laptop.

Students with special needs • Students have different kinds of conditions. For example there should be opportunities to stand and work; there should be enough space for a wheelchair and so on. • There must be quiet rooms available. • A coffee room is something that should be situated nearby this kind of place. • Light design should be possible to change not everywhere but in some areas or rooms. • The learning environment should be built for its specific purpose. • It’s important that all kinds of rooms are represented in the learning environment as group rooms, individual rooms and large spaces with lot of people around for those who wants that.

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Students from School of Music in Piteå • Online communication with other universities. A big widescreen TV where you can see what they are doing at the other university (in their learning environment, maybe). • A large area can be divided in smaller sections. Every education unit can have their own section. • A round library with several floors and an open space in the centre. On each floor there is a room for a specific group of students. For example, on the bottom floor there can be students who have a common interest in communication. • To create conditions for communication there has got to be a café. That is the place to communicate. In the café there should be a stage where, for example, local music bands can play, there can be evenings for poetry and so on. • Other important things are colours, lights, flowers etc. in order to create a interesting and pleasant environment. • In the café, there should be a corner where it is calmer and not so noisy.

A-torget • The thought with the large meeting room was to create an open space with wireless connection for laptops. But there should also be computers for students without laptops as well. • Digital notice board with information about the university in general, but also schedules for lectures and other information. That means reconnection and feedback. • A café and by very simple means be able to communicate with other students. An interdisciplinary meeting place is positive and group rooms as well. • There should also be some possibilities for entertainment. • Open spaces with vegetation are preferred. Round tables that groups may sit around with one or two computers. • In such a space teachers, older students, librarians and student counselors walk around or offer help in a help desk. • This place should be available around the clock. • There should also be digital notice boards with information about other students that offers or seek help. • All available technique is to be in this place. • An open place where students can meet other people or companies is helpful for creating a dynamic environment for learning and knowledge creation.

Library staff • The library has to change from the way it looks today to become a learning environment such as a LC, i.e. has to change into this kind of meeting place for learning.

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• Think that the physical books of today have to become a lesser part of the library. • Students should be able to use the help desk regardless if it’s a technical or informational problem – the resources are available. • Taking the library further is to offer students other ways of working that may appeal to them. • The furnishing should be flexible.

Teachers • Divide large classrooms into smaller rooms. Keep a few larger rooms for lectures (he draws a picture of how the future classrooms would look like in his opinion). • Thoughts around a learning environment are to create workplaces where students can work as teams. • There should be tables that render possibilities to group work and also supply the technology that’s necessary. This is all depending on which classes the students take and in which context the education is. • A place people regularly walk through and a place where students just seek information is not a good solution – like today’s library. In such a place there isn’t learning or knowledge creation. • For some forms of communication technology works well, for instance video conferences, chatting, and so forth.

Arena • This place could be a combined café/computer lab. • A café used as a meeting place for people at the university. The café is important as a means for getting people to meet over boundaries and always leaving the LC with something. If not knowledge so maybe new contacts or just with a cup of coffee which hopefully will make people interested in coming back. • A large place that is open and full of energy. It has to be dynamic in form of environment, activities and people so that it never feels empty and sterile. • Computers for schoolwork and communication must be placed in this area. • The LC can be divided in different areas of interest in order to give some structure and help for orientation in the LC.

4.1.3 Further suggestions and opinions Except the thoughts of conditions and the physical environment, the students in our interviews had other suggestions and opinions that could be important in the project. The other respondents also had some suggestions and ideas that could be important for us. Here we present these suggestions and opinions.

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Distance students • Have contact with students who have read the same course the year before (we can help students who comes after us). But the feeling is that we don’t have enough time. • In an earlier course some of the respondents had “older” students helping them and at the same time the “older” students were able to practice their knowledge when helping. This was very good for both parts. • Forms of learning have to change, from traditional forms with lectures and a hard focus on written exams to teamwork and study groups and a different form of exam.

Sociology students • Working in groups or teams is a good way of learning. But they think mix- ing theory, lectures and group works are preferred. • Everything should be gathered in one place. • Feels it is difficult to get feedback when studying on distance. • Exchange experiences between batches within the same program are very useful. • Integrate the library and librarians more and earlier in courses. Interdisci- plinary is instructive. Important to work with, so called, real world projects. • Believes the library needs to improve in sending information.

Students with special needs • Students who read the same course the year before can help present students in that course. • Experts in study techniques should be available in this environment. • Integrate course students from different age groups. For example place their classrooms close to each other. • When students come out of their classrooms they should meet other students in a common meeting place. • Available personnel who can help students with PowerPoint presentations and so on. • Easy to print out from a computer.

Students from School of Music in Piteå • A common education. Communication between different education units. • If you isolate a group of people they have to cooperate to progress. • An employee who’s assignment is to activate students in the learning environment. • A large, broad project results in that students learn implicitly. This is good for the knowledge creation.

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A-torget • Something surprising should happen occasionally in such a meeting place to attract students to the learning environment. For instance live music, ra- dio shows, demonstrations of various products and educations and so on. • This should mainly be performed by older students if possible. • It could maybe be possible to let personnel from different organizations share their experience in this room.

Library staff • Realizes this is of great importance for the librarian’s traditional role and thinks that it’s a waste of resources that the librarians just lend books and supplies information. • A different kind of support should be available within the library, for example counseling. • The teachers should also be available in a different way than today. Thinks that teachers are key persons and this is where to begin, which means that the students become engaged in a natural way. • A learning environment is to be used as an advanced tool for the students as a complement to the teachers, who can not be replaced because of their specific subject knowledge. • They want to offer help in the learning itself, not only when technical or information problems occur. • They think they can contribute a lot with their competence and give some new influences in learning. • The library today is a meeting place for students but that it should involve more categories than just students and that it becomes natural to meet students in this learning environment. • They mean that the teachers have a unique competence concerning the specific subject. • Librarians can provide a lot to this, especially in problem based learning. • Other things students could get help doing in this learning environment is making, for example, very good presentation or creating a website. It has to be in a simple and easy accessible way. • Teachers need to find different ways of working and another important aspect is the different ways of learning that needs to be considered. • One of the most important priorities for the librarian’s role is to make everything available in a pedagogical way. • They want a close cooperation between teachers, librarians and computer personnel in terms of planning courses for the student.

Teachers • No large classrooms. Divide them into smaller rooms for groups. • The entire university should use problem based learning. • Learn from students who have read the same course the year before. • Learning is a process within a group.

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• To help others with their learning process is a way to contribute to your own learning. • E-books are the future. • The smaller rooms should be free to use (but there should be a booking system). • No large classes. Groups of 5-10 persons are more suitable. • The learning process should be in form of projects and an external person (not a person within the university) should have the requirements on the project. • No written examinations (tests). • The physical room is important for the social interaction. • A changeover to problem based learning could be hard for teachers. They have a structured education plan within the courses which some of the teachers probably don’t want to change. • Humans want to contribute with information. • One option with the LC idea is to start in one unit and start to have collaborative learning and then expand. • Students should have resources that enable them to create and keep contact with older students, teachers, librarians, industry and business organizations, including other organizations outside the university. • Librarians are professional in searching for information, find information and suggest information. • The teacher’s role also needs to be changed. External resources need purpose and structure as incentives for becoming a part of the learning environment.

Arena • Cross disciplinary work enrich knowledge creation for both students and teachers. • The Arena concept with cross disciplinary education and research was shown great interest from companies as they considered it to be more like working in real life. The companies mean that they can get more out of projects that involve different kinds of knowledge and that make it more interesting for participation. • It has to be clarified that this kind of meeting place/learning environment is for everyone from students to university management. External recourses must also be given opportunities to participate. • Easy ways to search for people with certain knowledge and communicate with them.

4.2 Analysis In this section we analyze our interviews for the physical Learning Commons (LC) which will be our specification for the next step in this project which is the strategic design for the physical LC.

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When compiling and analyzing our interviews we see that a LC should constitute a place with a diversity of rooms with different functions. These rooms would give students a variety of possibilities in which to conduct their studies and create a learning environment. The location for the LC should be in close connection with the library so that students and other participants can use the Library as a resource.

From both students and others there are suggestions that the first room you enter, at the Learning Commons (LC), is a combined café, recreation and entertainment room. In this room there has to be possibilities to buy food and beverage. Accord- ing to some student groups, from those working in A-torget and in the Arena project this room should also include a small stage where there can be performance from students and artists. This stage can also be used for other forms of shows, debates and performances. The main reason for the stage is to attract students and others to this environment with something special, funny and surprising. So that students wants to meet in this place and start communicating. The café should have tables (all respondents have said round tables) both for sitting and standing around, colors and vegetation. There should also be some workstations with computers for the students so they can access Internet, e-mail and write some notes. It is also suggested from students that there has to be a more quiet part in the café for those who wants that. Digital notice boards with announcements from the university and video screens that can show what happens in other universities or LC:s is something that shall be in the café.

After the café you enter the next part of the LC which is a large learning environment, which in this study is called the Learning Center. This space should be large, open and not sterile but dynamic. There should be vegetation in this space and it should also be colorful and glass walls surrounding it. There should also be a large stage that can be used during conferences, company days and parties of all kinds. The Learning Center can be on different floors, consisting of workstations for groups and individuals, both sitting and standing. There should also be enough space between the workstations, tools and support for people with special needs. Workstations for groups should be round tables with some computers and possibilities to connect students own computers. A number of stations with electronic resources for printing, faxing and copying shall be placed in this room. According to student groups there should also be a reference library located in this area. The Learning Center can be totally open or be divided in different areas of interest or departments or other specialties. These suggestions have both its advantages and disadvantages which will be discussed in the design chapter. There has to be a helpdesk where students can ask for information, support and help with whatever questions they have about the whole Learning Commons and digital notice boards as in the café. In this space or connected to it there should be smaller rooms for teamwork and own work for those who wants more quiet surroundings. There should also be rooms for smaller class lectures and meetings. All these smaller rooms should contain available technology for communication and studying. Some rooms should also contain technology for digital meetings.

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4.3 Design of physical environment In this section we present the result of our analysis for the physical design of the Learning Commons. We present some figures of how it could look like in the Learning Commons but it is important to remember that the figures just illustrate how it could be and not how it should be. The same goes for the numbers of all kinds of objects. We have divided the physical learning commons in three parts; the learning café, the learning center and the learning community. Together they form the learning commons.

4.3.1 Design of the Learning Café Our study has revealed that there should be a café in the Learning Commons and it will work as a place where people meet and socialize. This means that the café is a central part of the Learning Commons and there should be activities that draw people to the café. From the café it should be easy to enter the Learning Center (section 4.3.2) and the Learning Community (section 4.3.3). A strategic design of the Learning Café, as we call it, is shown in Figure 4.1 below. The important thing is what kind of objects that are in the café and not where the objects are located or the numbers of each object.

Stage Computer Calm corner corner

G la ss

To Learning Center k s e d

fee of = Table to C stand Digital notice boards = Table to sit

Figure 4.1 Strategic design of the Learning Café

In the café there should be tables that have a round shape which makes it easier to make contact with each other. There should also be some tables for standing around, since it is easier for people that arrive to make contact by approaching other people who stand around a table. A secluded corner where it is a little bit calmer is one requirement that this study has revealed is of importance. Com- puters (for searching and similarly things) and digital notice boards in the café are another requirement that occurred when we made our interviews. The digital no-

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tice boards could be presenting information from the university, other universities, students, teachers, librarians, companies, and so on.

On the stage there should be different kinds of activities. For example, there could be music, poetry, debates and there could also be students that practice their skills within their education. The important thing with the café is that people really want to come back there. In that way, an interest in the Learning Center may occur. This is the idea with the Learning Café by having it next to the Learning Center.

4.3.2 Design of the Learning Center The Learning Center is the place where most of the work in a Learning Commons is done. Our study has revealed that in this place there should be different kinds of work stations, different kinds of rooms for groups to work in, rooms to have video conference or lectures in, digital notice boards, a reference library and a Helpdesk. There should also be computers for searching (close to helpdesk) and in the rooms for groups and at the work stations there should be even more powerful computers. With these computers it should be possible to use web cams, microphones and programs which demands powerful computers. In Figure 4.2 below we show a strategic design of the Learning Center. Notice that there is just one way into the Learning Center and that is from the Learning Café. That is because people shall pass the café and hopefully socialize with others and after that they can enter the Learning Center with a lot of new ideas and thoughts. Hopefully they have improved their knowledge or curiosity some way and by that knowledge creation has begun.

The objects we mentioned earlier, about work stations, group rooms and so on are things that should be in a Learning Center but how many of each kind we do not state. That depends, among other things, on the physical conditions and how many people that are expected to use the Learning Commons. The same goes for where the objects will be located.

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Digital Notice boards Video Conference, Video Conference, lectures etc. lectures etc.

From Helpdesk Learning Café Learning Community

Library of reference Different kind of group rooms

Figure 4.2 Strategic design of the Learning Center

When you enter the Learning Center the first thing you see is the Helpdesk where you can get the help needed. Close to Helpdesk there are computers where people can search for books, search the Internet and so on. There are digital notice boards that present updated information from the university or from a learning commons at another university. Maybe a company shows the projects that they are working with at the moment. At the work stations there should be computers and at some work stations it should be possible to stand up and work and at other work stations you can sit down while working. In some group rooms you work about 1-3 persons and there are also rooms for larger groups and in every room there are powerful computers. All the computers in the Learning Center have web cams and microphones so that people can communicate with others on the net.

4.3.3 Learning Community Near the Learning Center there should be a place which we call the Learning Community (shown in Figures 4.2 and 4.3). We have found that it is important that students (and others) in an easy way can establish contact with people in a cross disciplinary education, since this will improve their education. Our respondents, as well as we ourselves, believe that in the future there will be increasingly more cross disciplinary projects in university education because that is how it is in professional work life.

In the Learning Community there are several rooms where departments, Arena (LTU) or even companies can have their own activities. The idea of this is that people can get answers on their questions in an easy way, since there are, for ex-

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ample, students, teachers, and supervisors with skills and knowledge for specific areas. The special education areas, or the companies, all have their own room in this Learning Community and for that reason they are easy to find and establish contact with. Hence, it is important that the Learning Community has closeness, not only to the Learning Center but also to the Learning Café.

4.3.4 Design of the Learning Commons These three LC:s together, creates a fourth LC; the Learning Commons. Learning Café + Learning Center + Learning Community → Learning Commons and all this is, in our vision, called 4LC. Below (Figure 4.3), you can see our strategic design of the physical environment of the Learning Commons.

s m o Learning Center o r p u ro G f o d in k t n e r fe if Helpdesk D

Learning community Stage

Learning Café

Figure 4 3. Strategic Design of the Learning Commons

We have chosen a round shape of the Learning Café because it is the centre, the heart, of the Learning Commons. It should make people to really want to come here and in that way people should be drawn to the whole Learning Commons so it will be used in its entire capacity.

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In our vision of the Learning Commons, the Learning Community with all its rooms is placed around the Learning Café so that there is closeness to people for information from the different disciplines that are in the rooms. In this way it becomes easy to establish contact with these disciplines. It should also be easy to reach the Learning Center from the Café and they should be physically connected to each other. From the café you can see the entrance to the Learning Center and you can see people walking in and out from it. The library part should be on the floor above the Learning Center and the books should be placed around and in the periphery of the library floor. In this way it makes a large free space above, and in the middle of, the Learning Center. If it is a large library it also could be above the Learning Café and the Learning Community in the same way as above the Learn- ing Center.

Appendix (A) shows our vision of the Learning Commons integrated with other buildings at the university. The vision is mainly an image for how we would build a new university. The Learning Commons in the middle and we want the teachers’ rooms to be close to the Learning Community. This makes the teachers easily available for people who want to contact them and the teachers have closeness to the Learning Community.

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5 VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT In this chapter we continue with a presentation of the results. Now we focus on participants’ needs and ideas for the virtual learning environment in the LC. Thereafter the analysis regarding virtual requirements for the Learning Commons is presented. Finally we illustrate the strategic design for the virtual LC.

5.1 Interview results for the virtual part of a LC During our interviews we collected ideas and requirements concerning the virtual environment of the learning environment. Here we present these ideas and requirements from students and others.

Distance students • We use e-mail to communicate with each other. • We have doubts about remote assistance but if it really works it sounds like a good idea. • A file on Internet with tasks or lessons is a good thing. • It should be possible to search for and contact former students and also teachers. • Since we work as a group and can meet each other face-to-face we don’t see the need for digital meetings. If we would have group members that are located on remote places then it would be a benefit to use digital media for meetings. • We use both the library and Internet to search for information. • We have a CD as course material; it is convenient as we can go back and forth on the CD. The same function on Internet for recorded lectures and lecture notes would be very useful. • The technology must be easy-to-use and reliable. • Having everything on one place is recommended

Sociology students • Discuss with teachers via MSN for example, instead of just answering questions trough e-mail. But e-mail is also a needed function. • Forums for specific subjects could be a good place to find answers. • Everything should be in one place, for instance information from the university and student unions, essays that’s corrected and counseling of various matters. It should all be found in one virtual portal. • Maybe also be able to upload private material (funny stuff and party pictures etc) to this portal, as it was possible in the ARENA portal “Decen- dum” which some respondents had good experience of. • A community is definitely desirable as a framework since it has all ingredients at the same place. • In this community one should be able to contact persons who have knowledge about things I’m interested in. The feeling of being anonymous is important to promote communication.

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• When logging on to the community one should be able to see information from pre chosen settings of one’s interests. • Good design is of great importance, for example easy to navigate, easy to use and so on. • Some kind of mentorship in this community, for example, graduated students could retain access to the community for some time. • A virtual place where students are able to see ongoing projects they are interested in, for learning and maybe also for contributing. • A virtual place where companies can be involved. • A course or education for this virtual portal is needed.

Students with special needs • Record lessons and make them available on the Web. • The search for a book should also result in a description of where the specific book is. • Everything (books, news, tests etc) should be available for the students to hear. • In the virtual world it’s important that students can hear all kinds of things. The virtual world should be a “speaking” world. • It would be best if all information is gathered in one place • Links should be easy to find and understand.

Students from School of Music in Piteå • A community where students can talk to each other. A little bit private and then some sub communities for the education part. • In the sub community’s start page there should be a presentation of what the community is and what students can do within it. The students should fill in who they are, what they are studying, what their skills are and so on. • News should be presented on the start page. • Communication should be possible with a webcam and a microphone. • Sharing files in the community or via chat. • Not one more place to login to, create a larger portal for everything.

A-torget • The virtual meeting place is interesting because young people of today often grab new technology very easy. • A virtual meeting place where interaction with student’s from other universities, departments and campuses is possible. • By very simple means be able to see what’s happening on other meeting places and create affinity. • This virtual room should have influences from internet communities. Stu- dent’s give information about them selves to create contact by these communities.

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Library staff • Believe it’s easier for persons off campus to participate in the education with today’s technology, irrespective of where you are, everybody has the same opportunities. • All needs have to be considered in the virtual part of a LC. • Librarians should be available around the clock in a chat room and it should be possible to see each other while chatting to get the best possible learning. • The structure and layout that are used by the library today is considered to be a good basis for the virtual library. • To improve the future virtual library it has to be “googlefied” meaning that the search engine can be modified to emulate Google in its functions and search results. This is wanted since the librarians see that most students use and prefer the Google search engine when they search for information.

Teachers • The site should be divided in two with a personal part. • CV’s should be able to seek. • A form of MSN for schools is a good idea. • There should be a standard for key-words. • Data bases searches must be described in a much better way. • There should be standards for the virtual room. • Create a portal where students can meet companies. • It’s important to see the person you’re having a chat with. • Show the time around the world in the virtual room. • Marratech is a good program for people to interact and collaborate. • Newsgroups on the Internet work. • Lunarstorm is a very popular community in Sweden and it’s really good and well edified. • A virtual LC gives good opportunities for knowledge creation where participant’s can look for others who have the wanted knowledge and start to communicate with this person. • In this virtual room everything should be gathered at one place and it must be extremely easy to use. • It should contain different opportunities, for example chat, voice, video, and virtual meetings to communicate with each other, everything within the individuals needs and wishes. • Also there should be possibilities to see recorded lectures and possibilities to record one self.

Arena • In a Learning Commons the virtual meeting is very important, but it should not be experienced as a virtual meeting, it should feel like you are in the same room. For instance tables that continues into the wall into other places.

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• The meeting should not only be for students but also for teachers, professors and others, the spontaneous meeting is important. • This environment should be open and allowing and when you leave you should have created some new knowledge, regardless of what. • This environment should stimulate creativity and give time to reflect. • This environment should also give energy and it should be fun being there and should provide information closeness. • The technology to find information must be easy to use, the technology itself may be complicated but it must be very easy to use. • Be able to search for specific students, teachers and others are important. • You should be able to make settings if you want to be a participant for questions from others, for example if your good in technology people may ask you questions about that. • A community could be a good thing to look into when building a university virtual portal. In a community it’s easier to communicate with others. Young people are experienced in using chat and communities.

Web Designer Rotor Interactive • As a teacher in web design the best way of having lectures is to use a computer connected to a projector to demonstrate for the students, who simultaneously have access to own computers. • Communication with the students was mainly done by e-mail, sometimes by phone. Teachers should be able to see every students work, anytime during the course. • Virtual support from the teacher has to be easy to use, otherwise it will not be used. • Communication today is most conveniently managed by e-mail. E-mail is good because messages can be saved and it’s also easy to see when you’ve had a specific mail. In this way you also have a time connection. • However, explaining things to students using mail is worthless. For such situations the remote desktop function is preferred. • Videoconferences could be difficult because you lose eye contact with students and then it’s hard to know if the students tag along. This means it’s hard to keep a dynamic discussion amongst the participants. • Another problem with virtual worlds is the equipment. You can’t expect that everybody has a web camera, a microphone or enough bandwidth. • Student helping companies with their projects is a very good idea and it’s remarkable that this is not done more frequently. It’s an interesting idea to have different kinds of competence in a project group constituted of students. • When you are creating a virtual environment it is important to decide in advanced what this should contain. Depending on the target group a website should look in a certain way, for example younger people assemble large amounts of information at the same time more easily than older people.

Peter Lundkvist, Robert Sundlöf, 30 Seppo Tanskanen & Markus Tiburzi Project - Learning Commons

• It is important to attract people to remain at the site. Lunarstorm, for instance, has succeeded. Young people talk to anybody to a larger extent then older people do. • The graphics should be good whoever the target group is. • One single site for everything is preferable, one should be able to continue from this site to the one wanted with as few click as possible. • Usability is extremely important, especially if it’s a large site that can become hard to navigate within. • It should contain information about everything that is useful for a student, for example information from the student union, bus schedules or menus from various restaurants. • If a site is difficult to work with or if the information is presented poorly, then people may not use that site. Simple means can make a site much better. • One thing that a virtual environment should contain is a lot of storage ca- pability for the users, yet there must be awareness for copyright protected material. • A risk with communities is that school and private time get mixed up too much at the expense of school work. • Searchable personal CV’s is a very good idea. • It’s crucial that there are many users of the system. In practice, forums work very well when people have an interest in the subject itself. • It’s vital that a community continuously get updated with new objects and never become static.

IT – Manager at Luleå University of Technology • As a part of the university strategic IT-plan, online learning communities are something that we work with. Internet learning in community form is “hot” now, so that’s an important part. • The spontaneous meeting is good, not controlled by anyone. • Another thing that is good is to be able to search for persons who share a common ground to make a dynamic meeting and create something out of it. One example of this is the open source wave on internet. • It is interesting to discuss how to apply this to the university and find tools that make it uncomplicated and accessible. • Easy-to-use tools that anyone can manage are essential to make such a concept successful. • I think instant messaging, like MSN, is something that’s going to become more and more common, also in the business world. It is important that people go there, not because they must but because they want to and also that everything is gathered in one place. • We are striving to gather everything in one place, availability to information is what IT is really all about, to find and share information in an easy way. Also to create and update information without asking anyone for help, which is a big problem for us today.

Peter Lundkvist, Robert Sundlöf, 31 Seppo Tanskanen & Markus Tiburzi Project - Learning Commons

• Right now the information is separated like “islands” on different technical platforms which makes this extremely complicated. • From a user point of view it is preferred to have a type of portal where one might collect all the information that is needed to cope with the studies or work. To create such a portal should be the long term goal for the university. • Make a system that’s more self-serviced like the 24-hour authority, but in a university environment. • By doing this I see effectiveness in administration, increased availability and lower cost’s. As it looks right now the service is fairly limited and also a bit costly. With the portal mentioned all this is achievable. • This kind of portal also generates high-quality collaboration between individuals as I’m a believer in openness and spontaneity to stimulate new meetings. • The youth is using this kind of communities almost on a daily basis so this is not going to be anything new for them, but it will put demands on the university to handle this in the future. • It also means a competitive advantage against other universities if it’s available. • This kind of openness makes it possible for people outside the university, for instance companies, to take part of this too, of course within limita- tions, to create the dynamics. • Another thing that’s fascinating in this is that it is spontaneous, there’s no money involved, no constraints, and people do this by their free will, by joy of creation which gives it a great force. That’s why it’s important to make it as open as possible. • There is a trend now to cooperate between universities which lead to requirements to integrate systems between universities, both nationally and internationally. This is technically complicated and needs great efforts. • Another aspect is the unfamiliarity to work in a virtual environment gener- ally in the university. • Younger people, in general, is not going to have a problem to adapt to this but for older people this might cause a problem that need to be considered in the planning. • There is also an economic aspect to this, it must be profitable to introduce this and this means there has to be a strategy when a virtual environment is to be implemented. • Simplicity and standardization is important to make people use the site, at least in the beginning. • The system should be useable for people with modest experience of computers. • I also think the university management must be precursors of using this. • One channel for entrance for everyone is something I believe in. Every- thing must feel like one homogeneous environment only with different views depending on what you have access to.

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• It’s technically complicated, it’s going to take time structuring the information but it’s fully doable. • An environment like this should never become static, there must be something going on at all times to make it interesting.

5.2 Analysis First we analyzed each interview separately to find and determine the needs and requirements our respondents had on the virtual part of a LC. We compiled all needs and requirements with each other and then analyzed all compiled data in order to achieve mutual and specific requirements for the virtual LC. Something that most students have a need for in the virtual Learning Commons (LC) is to have everything gathered on one place. Today the student must work their way trough a various number of web sites in order to fulfill their needs in information search, school work and also more informal needs as communication and social interaction. To have everything concerning your school work and also a possibility to include some personal material is highly recommended from the students.

Another subject is to make a portal of this kind very self-serviced, a lot like the 24-hour authority. This would mean a more effective administration, increased availability and lower costs. Adding to that, a possibility to communicate and interact with the world outside the university would, according to the students, make this “portal” a complete virtual world for students needs. This “portal” requires a more open environment than maybe most student portals, at least at LTU. Some part of the portal must be available for everybody to access, while some parts and functions are only for the registered user. Using different views, depending on who the user is, is one way of structuring this portal. Belonging to a certain view gives the user access to specific parts and functions. Another thing that students with special needs discussed was that this world should be a “speaking world”. This was said mostly in regard of the library part but we don’t see that it has to stop there. Having as much as possible on audio files would give these students a better opportunity to keep themselves updated of what’s going on.

This virtual portal can have the most sophisticated technology but it must be easy- to-use. This is a requirement of all respondents. Since students computer experience and interest is on different levels the whole system needs to be user friendly and easy to use. Navigation between parts has to be done with only a few clicks and it has to be easy to use whatever tools there are within the portal. When beginning to design a virtual environment for the LC we have found that Internet communities are very useful as a framework. This is based on that most students and other respondents have expressed that Internet communities are a lot like how they would imagine a virtual environment for the LC. In Sweden some communities have a high percentage of young users. Lunarstorm (www.lunarstorm.se) which is one community has 84 % of every Swedish citizen between fifteen and twenty years as visitors at least once a week. Therefore, to have the communities as a base and then add those parts that are needed for a university environment is how we will continue our strategic design work for the virtual LC.

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5.2.1 Content of the virtual portal We move on to what contents a virtual LC should have. First of all there should be a start page from where the user with only a few clicks can access all parts of the portal. When entering the start page the user should receive all kinds of information from pre-chosen settings of one’s interests. This information can be new e- mails, exam results, university news, and personal stuff and so on. It can be shown with flashing icons or animations or otherwise after the users’ wishes. On this start page there are folders with different parts that the virtual portal consists of. Important to mention is that there can be other parts added to this portal, we just show what we have learned from our study. There should be:

• A University part. • A Library part with all its functions. • A Student unions part • A Part with school work. • A Part with e-mail. • A LC part • A Personal part with private stuff. • A Company part where companies can advertise and interact with students and others at the university.

We give a short presentation of each part but not that much in detail since we consider a strategic design to more show the overall structure of something rather than going into details. However in some parts our study and our experience have helped us to see some details as more important.

University part Here you will find information about the university in general, as it is viewed today at for example LTU:s home page. Our study has not been focused on and has thus not revealed much on this part of the virtual LC. What we have experienced from LTU:s home page is that it should be easier to find and navigate within. This can, as we see it, be done by using a structure and layout with folders which will be more explained later in the design section. However there is one thing that we consider important in this part and that is a discussion forum for the university in common. In this forum people from outside the university can ask and discuss, with people within the university, questions that concern the university and everything around it.

Library part Most respondents are satisfied with the structure and layout of the LTU Library home page. Students with special needs had however a few suggestions that are interesting and can improve the library part. One suggestion is that when users search after literature, they should be able to see on the screen where it’s located in the library. For instance searching after a certain book the user sees an illus- trated image over the whole library and something pointing on the bookshelf where the book is placed. The same students also want as much as possible on au-

Peter Lundkvist, Robert Sundlöf, 34 Seppo Tanskanen & Markus Tiburzi Project - Learning Commons

dio files to make it easier for them. In the project group we think this is something that the library should strive towards. The library group suggested that the library web page could be more “googlefied” meaning that the search engine can be modified to emulate Google in its functions and search results. How this would be done is not within the scope of our project and has therefore not been an issue for us.

Student union part Student unions are an important part for students and campus. Therefore they should have their own part of the portal. Respondents did not discuss content and functions for this part. Hence, the content is a decision for every union although it should be structured after the folder principle.

School work part Details on what exact content this part should consist of must be further researched on, as for all parts in the virtual portal. But, there are a lot of things that must fit into this part, for example spaces for your saved schoolwork, ongoing courses or projects, study results, grades and so on. Some kind of shared work space for group work is recommended. During this project we have used MS Sharepoint Server attached to MS office which has been most useful when working on the same paper and sharing documents. There is however one space that we, based on our study, has found as important for a future virtual LC. There should be a space with all university courses, where students could contribute with own material from the course, and reflections on various things about the course. This would give both a source of knowledge and evaluation in all courses. Students that are taking a course can see what earlier students have done in this course and their reflections about the course. For teachers it will be a valuable re- course in validating the course and information for improvement on the course.

E-mail part For this part there is not much said from the respondents but our experience is that MS Outlook can be a useful application to look upon to set a framework for this part. Having e-mail, schedule, and contacts in this part is one way of structuring it. With possibilities to, in an easy way, integrate your private and school schedule at the same place makes it easier for students to manage their studies. Also adding to that an easy way for teachers to notify changes in the schedule, either by sending out changes that go directly into the students own schedule or making changes in one source and having automatic updates sent to students in that course. But even if MS Outlook is used as a framework for inspiration the whole system should be web based and not an application installed on the computer.

Learning Commons part The LC part is an important part in the virtual portal. Here the user should find out what’s going on in the whole LC, both the physical and the virtual Learning Commons. You can see what students are working on, and make contributions to their works, if students so wish. Ongoing projects within the LC and news from

Peter Lundkvist, Robert Sundlöf, 35 Seppo Tanskanen & Markus Tiburzi Project - Learning Commons

collaboration partners to the university LC. Also a variety of forums is recommended, for discussions in different areas of interest. One important piece in this part is the search function. The idea is that one should be able to search after persons with specific knowledge. If you want to find a person/student with knowledge in economics you just write some search terms and press the button. In order to make this work, participants in the LC will have to show their Knowledge assets. This together with a picture and presentation of the participant would create a living and dynamic foundation for knowledge search. This part should also hold the different ways of on-line communication with digital technology. During this project we have tried MSN and Marratech which we consider useful tools for online communication. Using these tools along with web cameras and microphones the participants would get a functioning communication tool.

Personal part In this part the student can have some private stuff as pictures, blogs, guest book, and so on. The purpose with this part is to add a personal touch to the LC. It’s a way of making the portal more interesting for young students and to make them feel more as members of a university community for both learning and socializa- tion. Our study has revealed that this part is considered to be a very important part by students.

Company part Here companies and other organizations have a possibility to be more involved in the university. They can give information about their companies, advertise for employees, participate in surveys of future needed competence and skills and also search for specific competence in students CV’s. Another thing that is of interest is that if a LC is used as a concept for future learning environment that opens a lot of opportunities. For instance companies can send in projects that requires different kinds of disciplinary competence. Students from different disciplines can then be given possibilities to attend courses that take on these projects. The place for working with these projects would be the LC since there will be a variety of knowledge that can help the students with their work.

This analysis will be our basis for designing the virtual environment in the next section.

Peter Lundkvist, Robert Sundlöf, 36 Seppo Tanskanen & Markus Tiburzi Project - Learning Commons

5.3 Design of the virtual environment From the beginning our purpose partially was to create a strategic design for the virtual Learning Commons. We intended to create a small virtual part for a learning environment connected to the physical Learning Commons. However, during our interviews we came to the understanding that students and other respondents did not want yet another small virtual part. They all thought that there were enough different virtual portals and sites at the university as it is today. Instead most respondents suggested that it would be better if everything they needed for studying and working at the university was situated in one place. This made us change focus from creating yet another small part, to create a strategic design for the whole university’s virtual appearance of which the Learning Commons become a part. Therefore we did not go so deep into details for a virtual Learning Commons. We also consider a virtual Learning Commons easier to integrate with the university as a whole. Such a virtual portal must be an open environment for those parts that are not personal and specific for the user. Recommended is that there is only one login for the whole virtual portal. However some parts can be public if the user so wants. This is mainly concerned with the personal part with its content and also schoolwork that the owner wants to make public. What users can see and do can be solved by the use of views. Depending on who the user is gives different views and functions.

When we analyzed our interviews we found that both students and others referred to Internet communities as an interesting phenomenon for meetings and communication, among young people today. Students also considered a community to be easy to navigate in, and that it has everything gathered in one place. Some of the respondents meant that future students will have demands on how a virtual portal should look like and it is therefore important that universities can meet these demands. This would also give an advantage in recruiting new students for those universities that have a virtual portal that attracts students. From our study and own experience we decided to use an Internet community as a framework for the virtual portal. In the next section we illustrate an Internet community that is popular in Sweden.

5.3.1 Presentation of the Lunarstorm Community This section begins with a presentation of the Swedish community which is called Lunarstorm. Lunarstorm is used by 84% of the Swedish population, in ages between 15 and 20, on a weekly basis. It is therefore a popular and widely used site amongst youth in Sweden today. They use it to communicate and meet with each other around the clock. As Lunarstorm is so appealing to so many young people it’s important to find out that generates the attraction. In 5.3.2, we will show a few screenshots of the community to demonstrate the basic design and show some popular functions that we think will be useful in the virtual university portal.

Peter Lundkvist, Robert Sundlöf, 37 Seppo Tanskanen & Markus Tiburzi Project - Learning Commons

Figure 5.1. Start page at www.lunarstorm.se

Figure 5.1 illustrates the first page when entering Lunarstorm. It’s mostly filled with news and links to different members who has made some sort of contribution during the day. At the left upper corner (1) you find six icons which represent In- stant messages, guestbook, mail, discussion forum, friends, and news. For example, if someone has written in your guestbook, the icon for the guestbook will animate and blink to call for your attention. Lunarstorm uses a clever menu system (2) that allows you to access every menu without reloading the page. Now the “Start” – menu is active and you can choose from nine different submenus. This allows you to access every main page on the community with just two mouse clicks, which is a very user-friendly structure to consider in a virtual portal. A daily voting (3) is also present. About 120 000 members vote every day and it’s used to examine young peoples’ attitude in different questions.

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Figure 5.2. A member presentation at www.lunarstorm.se

Every member has their own presentation page (figure 5.2) where they can describe themselves. The presentation page is constructed in a special presentation page constructor. The constructor is easy to use and even people with a low computer experience can construct an appealing presentation. On the presentation page it’s also possible to see when the member last logged in (1), and how many times the members have logged in. You can also choose to publish some basic facts about yourself (2), for example if you are single or what kind of music you listen to.

In a virtual Learning Community, all these features can be applied. For example, if you try to contact a specific person, it can be very useful to see when and how often a person logs in to estimate how soon you can expect an answer. The personal presentation also helps to make the community more informal, witch is important if you want people to communicate spontaneously.

Peter Lundkvist, Robert Sundlöf, 39 Seppo Tanskanen & Markus Tiburzi Project - Learning Commons

Figure 5.3. Guestbook at www.lunarstorm.se

The guestbook (figure 5.3) plays a central role at Lunarstorm and it’s the first choice of communication between the members. Every member can write in another member’s guestbook and as soon as someone has made a contribution to your guestbook the guestbook icon starts to blink (1). It’s easy to see who made the contribution, where he/she is from, what time it was written, and if you an- swered it or not (not visible at this picture) (2). In this page you can also find information of local (in your city) events (3).

A guestbook would play a central role in a virtual learning community since it’s the easiest and most informal way to communicate with another member. Local events (3) can be a very effective way to handle the internal advertising on a university.

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Figure 5.4. Friend page at www.lunarstorm.se

Lunarstorm has an appealing way of handling the community friends (figure 5.4). The friend function is used to find your friends without having to remember their usernames. Many users appreciate the small comments that you can write about your friends. Everyone’s friend page is viewable to any other member. Any member can also apply for friendship with another member. Once you have become friends you have the opportunity to put the new friend in a self defined category. Once a member apply for friendship, or terminate it, the friend icon at the top (the heart) will animate and blink. It’s also possible to present the friend list in different ways (1). For example, you can sort your friends after their birthdays.

All this can be applied on a learning community to make it more appealing and informal.

Peter Lundkvist, Robert Sundlöf, 41 Seppo Tanskanen & Markus Tiburzi Project - Learning Commons

Figure 5.5. Diary page at www.lunarstorm.se

Every member has the opportunity to write a diary (figure 5.5). It is a very popular function and a main part of the members use it. What people write about varies a lot. Some write as in a traditional diary while others write novels or other shorter stories. When you write in your diary, you can choose if it should be public or only availably for pre selected friends. You can also choose if you want it published on a special diary page where the latest written diaries from members are published. For every diary page you write, it’s possible to see which other members that have read it.

A diary or a blog is a good way to create interest around a user’s personal page. A diary can be very entertaining and it makes the personal page more dynamic. This in combination with a page that contains personal pictures would attract the visitors in a Learning Community.

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5.3.2 University virtual portal This section describes how we mixed our results from the interviews with the community framework, in order to create a virtual portal for universities. The interviews revealed what needs our respondents had for a virtual environment and also some functions that they considered important for this portal. Most of all our interviews gave us an important understanding – our respondents did not need yet another small virtual part with yet another login. Instead they much rather wanted to see a whole solution for the university’s virtual appearance. Hence, we took our work from designing just one small part, to a strategic design for how the virtual Learning Commons would be integrated within the rest of the virtual university. From the community idea of Lunarstorm we have taken the overall layout and structure as a basis for the portal as shown in Figure 5.6 (a larger picture can be seen in Appendix B). Important to mention is that this is just a suggestion for the content in a portal. It is a decision for every university what content a virtual portal finally should consist of. We illustrate how we think that a virtual portal, based on our interviews and experience, should look like and what content it should have.

Mail Forum GuestbookFriends News Files Calender Meeting Notes Courses Results InfoInfo

Learning Student University Library School commons Private union My Shortcuts Home About LTU Education Internal Institutions Order Research Search Campus News Luleå Forum Internal News Studying at LTU

Figure 5.6. Virtual portal for the university

At the top left corner there is a notification field, with icons that represent various things as for example e-mail and news. The icons flash when something new has been added under these parts. You can then move your pointer over it and see what news there are and when clicking on the icon you will go to that part. This field is to be static and the same for every student. Next top field in the middle is the same kind of field but it is only shortcuts to chosen parts. Moreover, here each

Peter Lundkvist, Robert Sundlöf, 43 Seppo Tanskanen & Markus Tiburzi Project - Learning Commons

user can decide what shortcuts it will contain. Under the top fields there are flaps consisting of all major virtual parts. What parts there should be is a decision for every university. But the parts that our study has revealed as important should be found here. If you click on one part you enter the first page for this part. However in order to get a fast and easy way to navigate there should be dropdown menus. When moving your pointer over the flap menus, the dropdown menus appear, as shown under the University part in Figure 5.6. This gives the user a better over- view of the content and an easy way to access the preferred page. One way of creating communication is by forums where participants can discuss interesting topics. One forum is for discussion about Studying at LTU. Such a forum gives people on the outside an opportunity to ask questions about the university and studies at the university as shown in Figure 5.7 (larger picture in Appendix C).

Mail Forum Guestbook Friends News Files Calender Meeting Notes Courses Results InfoInfo

Learning Student University Library School commons Private union My Shortcuts

Figure 5.7. University Forum

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The use of forums gives a huge possibility for participants to communicate, share information and create network around topics of interest. It is also a way of marketing the university as an open and dynamic university. There should be forums in all the specific parts of the virtual community. Forums where some are open for everyone inside and outside of the university and some are for users with login.

This makes it possible to share information with others than just those attending the university. Something else that students wanted was a private/personal area in the virtual university. In this part they can add pictures and other fun stuff but also some other private stuff. Objects on this personal space can be private or they can be public for selected friends or everyone, all after the owners’ decision. This we think would add a lot of interest and interaction on this virtual portal. Another important part is the Learning Commons (LC). Here the idea is to make a virtual environment for information sharing and knowledge creation. This will be an extension for the physical LC. In this part the user will be able to se what’s going on in the Learning Commons, read LC news, look into projects within the LC, discuss in different forums, se what partners (other LC:s, companies, organisations) are up to and search for people with some needed knowledge. In order to search for persons there has to be something to search after. Here we consider that one of the most important things in the LC part is the presentation as seen in Figure 5.8 (larger picture in Appendix D).

Mail Forum Guestbook Friends News Files Calender Meeting Notes Courses Results InfoInfo

Learning Student University Library School commons Private union My Shortcuts

Presentation Guestbook Blog Pictures Projects Courses Meeting CV Logins =| Short |= System Engineering May Term 8 Today, 11.34 Hi, my name is Markus Tiburzi, and Today, 07.12 i´m studying System Engineering. Yesterday, 20.45 This is my 4th year here at LTU Yesterday, 14.51

Total logins: 281 =| Feel free to ask me about |= Current courses Fitness IED 343 Nutrition Project in system construction Discgolf Video Editing Power Point Presentation Current Projects Computer Problems Learning Commons Project IED343

[email protected]

Personal site info Personal Info Shortcuts Blogs: 65 Pictures: 24 Age: Favorite Music: Civil Status: Send mail 24 years Pop Music Single Friends: 53 Hometown Special Interest: Favorite food: Become friends Piteå Discgolf Pasta Book meeting

Figure 5.8. Presentation in the learning commons part

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When searching for a person with knowledge in Power Point presentations, using the search function in the Learning Commons part, the user gets a result. From this result hi/she can click on a name and get a short presentation of someone with the searched criteria. In this case you found Markus who knows about Power Point Presentations. You get some personal information about Markus and also a picture on him. There is a text frame where Markus has written what others can ask him to help them within, both topics concerning school (blue dots) and non school topics (red dots). This presentation along with the CV gives this persons knowledge assets that you can search after. In this presentation there is a login frame where you can se how often this person logs into this portal. That gives a way to estimate how soon you can expect an answer. You can also se what courses and projects this person is taking. If the person, in this case Markus, sounds interesting for your problem there are functions for taking contact or booking a meeting with him. You can write in his guestbook or read his blog, which is a virtual diary. These are much the same functions as in the private folder but here everything is public.

We think that by using our design as a framework for the university’s virtual appearance, it will attract and hopefully satisfy future student’s needs. More study is needed for every part in this virtual portal and also what technology to be used, this is especially important for the LC part where information sharing and knowledge creation mostly will happen. We hope that we have given a picture for what is important for a university’s virtual appearance. From this design we move on to the next chapter where we will discuss roles and work procedures.

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6 ROLES AND WORK PROCEDURES In this chapter we describe how the work will change for people involved in a Learning Commons (LC) when implementing a Learning Commons. It includes people from management groups to students. Most people have to change their work procedures in some way and for some people their professional roles will also change. Finally, important aspects to consider for a successful implementation of the Learning Commons are presented.

6.1 The university First we describe how employees at the university have to change their way of working, things to do and how their professional roles will change.

6.1.1 Management One of the most important things for the management at the university, mostly before and in the initial phase of implementing a Learning Commons, is to get a broad participation and make people optimistic and positive to the LC and the ideas around it. If the people involved do not approve with the idea of a LC it will become very hard to make a LC successful.

Another significant aspect is to have good marketing of the LC, let people know about the LC and what they can do within the LC. It is also important to make the benefits of using a LC clear and understandable for all participants. Establish contact with companies and get them involved in the Learning Commons is also an important thing to do for the management of the university. The companies are required in course projects to create a realistic context for learning. It is therefore important to establish contact and good cooperation with companies and organizations.

From the university management there must be clear strategies for how to implement the LC-concept within the courses. In some courses there will be a lot of work in the LC while in other courses there is less work in the LC. Some courses will completely be held in the LC. For all what’s said above, the university management has to produce some guidelines so the LC-concept is accepted and estab- lished. There is also a matter of economic recourses which has to be clarified before a LC-project is to be launched.

6.1.2 Teachers In the “new” university, teachers must change their way of working, establish a different role. There will be different kind of courses, with more or less work in the Learning Commons, meaning that the teachers’ work practices will vary. For example, based on our study, the traditional way of teaching is going to change rather considerably depending on how a LC is implemented. Something to aim for is projects, hopefully real-life projects involving business and organizations, in the education. If this is the way to work in the future, teachers will be more like su-

Peter Lundkvist, Robert Sundlöf, 47 Seppo Tanskanen & Markus Tiburzi Project - Learning Commons

pervisors and they will not have the traditional role as teachers. Instead they will see to that students get the information needed and that the conditions for students own knowledge creation is fulfilled. This means that there has to be more cross disciplinary communication and collaboration between teachers in order to design, run and supervise some of the courses in the LC.

Teachers should be available for students, both in the physical and virtual environment in the LC, for guidance and help. For many teachers this will be a greater part of their new role in education but for some teachers there will not be changes that affect them to a large extent. An important thing to remember is that teachers have specific knowledge in their discipline and subject area and they will continue to teach and educate students. The LC is to be seen more as an extension in the students’ education and a way of building new knowledge and also creating a network for future use in their work.

6.1.3 Librarians The librarians’ role in the future university will change and they will participate in students’ education to a larger extent than today. They will help the students with different kinds of things, especially at the beginning of the education, such as becoming familiar with the environment, study technique, to search for information, handle information, present information and so on. They will also hold a course to teach students to take advantage of the possibilities that comes with a Learning Commons. This course could preferably contain projects where students work in the LC and in that way become familiar with the LC. We strongly recommend that this course is taken as the first course for students attending the university. However they should not only hold courses for students, but also teachers, researchers and others who are interested in using a LC.

Like the teachers, librarians should be available in the LC, both in the physical and virtual part of the LC. Librarians should walk around in the LC and assist students or be seated near a computer ready to help students in the virtual LC. They should also do some of the traditional work within librarians’ profession but that part will not be as large as before.

6.1.4 Students The students need to become more active in their own learning and their knowledge creation. In the future they will not be served different kinds of information in the same way as now. A great part of the idea with a Learning Commons is that students are to be more active and really participate in their education to a larger extent. This means that students should be much more responsible when it comes to their own learning. This is important so that they can use all the advantages which come with a Learning Commons. Students should have tried searching for information and knowledge in different ways, having on-line communication and meetings with other participants. They should also have tried all electronic recourses and digital technology and then finally write and present their work.

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These important aspects can be realized by taking the course at the very beginning of the education.

Another important aspect is that senior students can be mentors for first year students. Mentorship should be a part of senior student courses and this will help, not just the first year students, but also the senior students in the way that they will reflect on what they have learnt in their education. In that way the senior students will develop and increase their knowledge, and they will use their knowledge in a meaningful way.

6.2 University surroundings There are also other people involved in a Learning Commons, for example companies and graduated students. We will describe in what ways they could participate in the LC.

6.2.1 Companies The companies could present how it is to work as professionals so that the students can make their own picture of their future profession. The students should also be able to ask questions to the companies in the virtual Learning Commons, and hopefully also in the physical Learning Commons. In the physical LC they can have a place where they can inform students or other people who has questions about their profession. They can also have all kinds of presentations in both the physical and the virtual Learning Commons of things about their profession that they think are important for people to have knowledge about.

But, the most important part of company participation is to involve students in their real-life projects and in that way make it possible for students to participate in cross disciplinary projects. This is a very good way of learning. The assign- ments could be “real” in the meaning that if the project comes out with something useful, the company can use it in their ongoing work. But it should not be projects that are crucial for the company.

6.2.2 Graduated students Work from graduated students should be available in the LC for some time so that present and future students may take part of this information for their own knowledge creation. They could also keep their login, if they want to, for some time so that present students would be able to contact them. But the difficult thing is; how can we make them participate in some other ways after they have graduated? Maybe, if they leave the university with a lot of positive experiences from the LC, some of them can participate a while after they have graduated.

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7 REFLECTIONS AND SUMMARY The final chapter is where we put everything together when it comes to our lessons learned about ideas of implementation of a Learning Commons at a university. We present conclusions from our work in this project.

7.1 The design of the physical LC The Learning Café is the heart in the Learning Commons and is the place which should make people really want to come to the Learning Commons, it should draw them here. This is what our study has revealed. Therefore, the café should be in a central place and both the Learning Center and the Learning Community should be near the Learning Café. The idea is that the café makes people want to stay and from the café it should be easy to reach both the Learning Center and the Learning Community. We have described what this study has revealed as important things that should be in a Learning Commons but not how many of each kind, for example group rooms, work stations, and so on. Neither have we presented a final solution of where these should be placed in view of the fact that this depends of the shape of the rooms, the physical conditions, and so on.

One reflection is that it probably will be first and second year students that will use the Learning Commons to a large extent. We also think that there should be a course for all students in how to work in the Learning Commons. In this course the librarians will participate to a large extent. They should help the students to improve their skills in study technique, information handling and presentation, and so on. One idea that we have is that the students could work in a project within the course. This course should be designed so that the students have to use “the whole” Learning Commons and in that way try everything and hopefully learn a lot about the Learning Commons.

In our vision of a Learning Commons we show how the different parts come together as a complete Learning Commons. We also show how a Learning Com- mons together with other buildings creates the entire university. Apart from the design of a Learning Commons we think that teachers should have their rooms close to the Learning Community. In that way they will be easy to contact and the closeness also makes it easy for them to go into the Learning Commons and be available for those who need help or information.

7.2 The design of the virtual LC One of the main conclusions that came out of the study concerning the virtual part of a Learning Commons is that everything has to be gathered in one place. No one of the respondents had an interest of one more part to the existing systems of today. Early in this study we had to change our focus from adding another system to the university, to completely integrate everything to one site. From this point of view we therefore have had our focus to design a virtual community, much like the Swedish community Lunarstorm.

Peter Lundkvist, Robert Sundlöf, 50 Seppo Tanskanen & Markus Tiburzi Project - Learning Commons

The reason for using Lunarstorm as a raw model is mainly because of two reasons. First of all this community is used by approximately 84 % of the Swedish people in the age between 15-20 years on a weekly basis. The second reason is because we find this kind of structure user friendly and easy to navigate in, since you only need two button clicks to enter all menus.

7.3 New roles and work procedures in a LC In this study we have found that there is a great interest at Luleå University of Technology (LTU), when it comes to the ideas to create a Learning Commons. This interest reaches from people in management positions to students. But we know that there are people at the university that do not accept this kind of ideas. Therefore, one important condition to make a Learning Commons successful is to get a broad participation in the development of a Learning Commons and to make people to accept the “new way” of thinking concerning knowledge creation. There have been attempts at LTU to integrate some ideas that are similar to the ones for the Learning Commons (Arena, A-torget and Student portalen). These have fully succeeded for different kind of reasons. At this very moment, the Library at LTU works with something called LRC – Learning Resource Center and this is also a concept with similar ideas as in a Learning Commons.

These changes cost a lot of money and take a lot of time and therefore another essential condition is that the management at the university has to allocate money and time resources for this development. Otherwise, it is hard to make a Learning Commons successful. The management should also work to coordinate initiatives within the university that are similar to the Learning Commons idea.

Another important condition is that all the people involved have to change their way of working in some way. The courses have to change to take advantage of the possibilities that a Learning Commons brings, the teachers have to change their way of teaching, librarians must change their way of working and participate to a larger extent in student education and students have to be prepared to help other students. Also, students should take an active part in their own learning and in that way take part of their own knowledge creation.

Companies also have an important role in a Learning Commons. Based on this study, we believe that the future Learning Commons may offer an increased number of real-life projects in education. Therefore, it is of great importance that companies are involved and that universities establish contact with these companies so that the education has relevance to the companies’ desires when it comes to what the students should learn in their courses. This would also give opportunity for students and companies to establish contact with each other and hopefully students can get employed and companies can recruit people with accurate competence.

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7.4 Summary During the work with this project we have seen that there is a great interest for an improved learning environment and also that similar projects exist within the university. The library is beginning to change their way of working. The arena project is an ongoing project and A-torget was a project with ideas of creating a meeting place for learning. However there is no connection between these projects and we think that it’s necessary to coordinate them and to take a holistic view, to create a whole, to get the full potential out of it.

Since we have made a strategic design for the Learning Commons no details for an implementation are presented. For example, technology and exactly how the virtual community should look like are not clearly defined. Instead we suggest a frame of ideas for designing the Learning Commons. We are convinced that a LC is something that is needed for a future university and that it should include both a physical and a virtual part; one is depended on the other.

The Learning Commons at the university should, according to our study, consist of both a physical and a virtual Learning Commons. In the physical part there should be a café (Learning Café), a study center (Learning Center) and areas of interest (Learning Communities). For the virtual part of the Learning Commons it should be integrated within a portal. Most important is to understand and work towards a total implementation of both the physical and the virtual Learning Commons, since these are depending on each other and as a whole gives the best conditions for learning and knowledge creation.

7.5 Reflection We see similarities to the part of our education that took part in Piteå, at Piteå Studiecentrum (PSC). PSC is like a small Learning Commons with almost all the ingredients needed for LC. It consisted of a shared kitchen, two larger classrooms with possibilities to videoconferences, a computer lab and a lot of smaller group rooms, each with at least one computer in it. There was not a cross disciplinary environment but there were senior students within the same program, that were extremely helpful. Having that environment for our studies meant a lot for our knowledge creation and in the end also for our study results.

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Bergmark, K. & Hed, H.(2003) Ett öppet bibliotek – vilka kunskaper och vilket lärande?!. Umeå universitetsbibliotek. UmUPedKonf. [On-line] Available on: http://www.ub.umu.se/tjanste/hehe/oppetbibl.pdf [2005-04-03]

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APPENDIX A - Our vision of a future university

Learning Center Different kind of group rooms

Helpdesk House of Professors Teaching Stage Learning Café

Learning community

Learning Commons and other buildings creates our vision of a future university

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APPENDIX B - Virtual portal for the university

Luleå News Campus Search Research Order Institutions Internal Education LTU About Home Forum Mail Mail University Forum Forum Guestbook Guestbook Studying at LTU Studying News Internal irr School Library Friends Friends News News Files Files commons Learning Learning Calender Calender Meeting Meeting Private Notes Notes Courses Courses Student Student union Results Results My Shortcuts My Info Info

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APPENDIX C – University Forum

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APPENDIX D – Learning commons part

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