Bretford Adds ED Focused Learning Portal

September 24, 2012 - ProAV News, rAVe [PUBS],

Bretford today introduced Learning Commons – a new section on the Bretford.com website that contains a compilation of education resources and expertise for customers and partners. Part of Learning Commons includes BretfordUniversity’s (BretfordU) enhanced six-part fall/winter webinar series focusing on agile learning spaces, which includes a discussion panel and actual case study on the topic. The first webinar event, “Bringing Agility Into the Classroom” will take place on Sept. 27 and feature input from Mark Silver, head of School at Hillbrook School, an independent, coeducational JK-8 day school in Los Gatos, Calif. and Eric Boatman, assistant director of facilities planning and space management at Michigan State University.

Learning Commons is divided into five key areas to help customers and partners easily navigate the new section:

Resources: research data and resources like articles, interactive white papers, book references and videos
Community: features a weekly blog topic and the ability for customers and partners to ask questions and post comments with relevant content shared through the Bretford Twitter and Facebook pages
Professional Development: includes BretfordU online and live webinars and other events, along with Continuing Education Unit courses for architects and designers
Referrals: houses all case studies, references and testimonials
Experts: bios and contact information for the experts contributing to the BretfordU webinars, blog topics, research and other sections

The first BretfordU webinar, “Bringing Agility to the Classroom” discusses how the pace and magnitude of change brought by rapidly advancing technologies can seem daunting. Accommodating that change requires schools to think differently about how they teach and where and how learning occurs. This webinar examines the strategic and tactical questions and issues involved with bringing agility to learning spaces. During the webinar, Head of Hillbrook School Mark Silver will discuss a new experimental learning space in the school called the iLab. The foundational idea of the iLab is that, along with books, teachers and environment, the learning space is also an education tool. Student outcomes, teacher evaluations and anecdotal, ethnographic and empirical evidence are being collected to understand the agility and adaptability of the space and how it can support teaching and learning.

See it all here.