Education in the Outdoors

Learning Ecosystems Beyond Physical Classrooms

BY CAROL A. LARSON

Do students need a school building to learn? This may sound like a radical question, but it is worth exploring. As new technologies become available, the future of education will become less reliant on physical school buildings as we develop ecosystems of learning environments that enable us to meet students’ diverse needs.

Because school buildings are slow to evolve, many of the factory-design elements of the Industrial Revolution are still observable today, such as age-based classrooms, bell systems that divide the day and single-subject course arrangements. The system was designed to promote efficiency and rote teaching methods, which are not aligned to supporting today’s teaching, learning and child development.

Since the 20th century, societal shifts and technological advances have outpaced the evolution of school facilities, resulting in many buildings no longer appropriate for a highly technological, collaborative and information-rich society. Some school districts have responded by retrofitting existing buildings or constructing new ones to include modern updates, such as groupwork spaces or adding technology infrastructure.

However, the option to upgrade facilities is not universally available. Because capital projects often are supported by local taxes in many states, this can lead to inequities between resource-rich and economically disadvantaged communities. And when school districts are successful at developing new structures, the delivery of high-quality educational experiences is not always guaranteed due to the limitations of facilities. Consider the difference between students planting seeds within the confines of a classroom box versus participating in a community gardening project. For us to adapt to a rapidly evolving society, reimagined educational models are needed to solve problems and optimize learning experiences.

Reimagining Settings

So what’s the way forward? Rather than overrelying on traditional school buildings for where learning occurs, we should consider them as part of a larger ecosystem of options that offers greater access to rich educational experiences. Place-based learning, which provides students with authentic experiences that extend beyond the confines of the physical classroom, has been gaining attention. This could include orchestrating community projects or immersive experiences that connect students to their environments, such as learning about native plants in backyards and parks.

We also see an increase in remote learning, field experiences, workplace learning and internships that are not easily replicated in school buildings. As a former superintendent of a virtual school system in Indiana, I observed how our remote learning model fulfilled a need for students who required an alternative setting, such as traveling student athletes or students with disabling social anxiety.

In addition to delivering remote lessons, we also coordinated field experiences throughout the state to leverage cultural assets, such as museums and parks. We sent lesson materials to students’ homes and created partnerships with organizations, such as regional career and technical service centers, for hands-on experiences.

By developing an ecosystem of learning environments extending beyond traditional school buildings, we can address equity issues for students living in underserved communities. Students who join a massive open online classroom, or MOOC, can have access to Ivy League professors without having to step foot onto a campus.

Adaptive Ecosystems

As more technological tools become available, such as virtual and augmented reality, students will have greater access to digital simulations, laboratories and field experiences when it may not be feasible to meet specific learning goals in an analog physical classroom.

In a 2019 journal article “Investigating Remote Access Laboratories for Increasing Pre-service Teachers’ STEM Capabilities,” Ting Wu and Peter Albion discussed how a remote access laboratory provided preservice teachers with a virtual option for improving their access to STEM training, which increased their capacity to acquire STEM-related skills.

Given these shifts in education, we are experiencing a significant milestone in our history. Personalization and equity will require us to consider what to teach, to whom, how and, now more than ever, in which setting or platform. Developing an ecosystem of learning environments lies in our ability to adapt and innovate.

Carol Larson, a former superintendent, is an educational psychologist in Oak Lawn, Ill.