Page 39 - ANAHEIM 2019

SESSIONABSTRACTS continued...
Educational Commissioning: Harnessing the Power of Teacher Hacks
Cassandra Bennett Porter, Director of Elementary/K-8, San Juan Unified School District / Aaron Buehring, Director of Educational Enivironments, Lionakis / Terrace / AIA CEU: 1. 0 LU
Primary Core Competencies: Design of Educational Facilities / Secondary Core Competencies: Educational Visioning
Are you commissioning all the systems you should be? We’re all familiar with commissioning related to the efficiency and functionality of a building’s HVAC / energy management system: we set up a basis of design, work during the design process to meet those goals, and then, when construction is complete, train the staff on how the building works, measure whether the system is functioning properly, and fine tune it as needed until it meets the design requirements. We’d like to encourage more design teams and clients to fully embrace the concept of Educational Commissioning—that is fine tuning the building for its performance as an educational environment. We see that as having the same steps as “regular” commissioning: observing current teacher “hacks” (all those upside down buckets with seat cushions, laundry baskets turned into cozy reading seats, weekend paint jobs, and dad-built backpack carts that teachers add to classrooms to better accommodate the activities they’re engaging students in) to understand the rationale behind them, refining the basis of design, and then working during the design process to support those teaching methodologies. But too many design teams (and school district administrators) stop there. The components that would make educational facility design a true product of co-creation—training the staff on how the building features work, measuring whether the educational elements are functioning as desired, and then fine tuning them as needed until they meet the design requirements—get shortchanged, leaving teachers to hack even brand new facilities. Through examples from school districts and teachers, we will share how implementing the fine tuning and feedback loop changes the design process from a linear model to a circular co-creation model, which helps harnesses the power of the hack to improve facility design and enhance educational outcomes.
Learning Objectives
OBJ #1 Define the Educational Commissioning process
OBJ #2 Understand how commissioning design and furniture solutions bring value to the overall design of educational facilities
OBJ #3 Share real world examples of teacher hacks translated into architectural design that have improved educational outcome
OBJ #4 Learn tools for improved and more-informed user engagement
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4 11:30 am - 12:30 pm
From Flexible Seating to Agile Space: Facilitating Student Agency
Bryan Dean, Space Futurist, NorvaNivel / Garden 1/ Primary Core Competencies: Educational Facility Pre-Design PlanningSecondary Core Competencies: Educational Visioning
As the Exponential Age of innovation unfolds around us, learning environments are changing to meet the new needs of learners and educators. Flexible classrooms have been introduced to allow educators flexibility
to facilitate the varied pedagogical practices. Yet as industry and society have created demands for deeper collaboration, critical thinking, and creative confidence for the future workforce, we need to consider how to further empower students in learning environments. One of the key ways of achieving this is through agile space design. Agile spaces encourage students to take control over their spaces, leading to self-mastery and executive functioning.