Creating a Library Learning Commons

	The emphasis in a Learning Commons is on collaboration and sharing. The Learning Commons is a physical place, but it extends out to the whole school, and far into the digital realm. 24/7 access is available. After the “place” – both physical and digital – is established, the Learning Commons becomes more a “way of being and learning” with an emphasis on collaboration, co-creation, and sharing. Technology and print are intermixed. In a Learning Commons, there is a huge focus on Information Literacy and Digital Citizenship skills – these are key. Students no longer have trouble accessing information – the shift is now to being skilled at encountering information, knowing how to be a discerning user, and becoming skilled at making meaning from what they encounter in a collaborative way. Synthesis of the learning is then translated into creation of new meaning in a collaborative way. This is reflected in the newly revised Bloom’s Taxonomy – Bloom’s Taxonomy Blooms Digitally http://techlearning.com/article/8670 The Learning Commons is a place for experts and learners (these roles switch, often while working on the same project!) to come together to engage with information and create new understandings.

Welcome