Design of the Learning Environment

Description of the learning environment

The Brain Architecture Workshop will be an in-person learning experience available to early childhood and elementary schools across the United States through contracts with my company, POP Ed Consulting. I will facilitate the workshop for groups of learners in a physical location chosen by the partner school or organization. A typical location would be a school library, cafeteria, auditorium, or classroom. Other possible locations include community centers or conference rooms. In this context, I am not responsible for access to the physical building, but may have agency over the arrangement of furniture within a room to create a desirable learning environment. All meeting rooms should be equipped with a projector, screen, and speakers for showing a PowerPoint presentation, videos, or other visuals. Chart paper and markers will be available for notes or visuals that should be posted on the walls. The seating arrangement may vary, but most likely will be either rectangular or round tables with chairs gathered around each table. I will provide printed copies of essential handouts and note-taking organizers, as well as the physical materials for playing the Brain Architecture Game. Internet access is often available, but not guaranteed, so provisions for downloading any web content should be made. Most participants should also have access to a smartphone or laptop for periodic use in taking an interactive online quiz during the workshop.

The overall learning goal for the Brain Architecture Workshop is for teachers to take action to implement what they learned in the workshop in their work with children. Specifically, at the end of the workshop learners will generate two specific, relevant action steps they will take in their work with children to support healthy brain development. This outcome falls within Gagne’s category of intellectual skills, specifically problem-solving (Smith & Ragan, 2005). Through both individual and collaborative learning structures, learners will build knowledge of defined concepts including the parts of the brain, trauma, toxic stress, and adverse childhood experiences, as well as principles of brain development and the impact of various environments and experiences on the developing brain. Learners will collaboratively apply this information to evaluate possible teacher actions that may help or hinder brain development, and ultimately use their collected knowledge and skill from the workshop to collaboratively undertake the problem-solving task of generating specific actions to take in their work with children.

The learning environment is physical. It is non-formal and closed because attendance is compelled and the group of participants is determined by the client. Depending on the population of students served by the educators attending the workshop, this learning experience could be high-stakes or low-stakes. If a significant population of students at the school has experienced trauma or adverse childhood experiences, the workshop may be higher stakes because of the challenge and opportunity inherent in serving this group of students. Parts of the learning environment will be adaptive, depending on the needs of the learners that emerge during the workshop, but parts will be non-adaptive and facilitated in a standard fashion. An additional adaptive element is the degree of learner choice and agency that will be included in certain activities to accommodate a range of learner interests and capabilities.

Design of the learning environment

My design decisions will help ensure that the environment supports learners in meeting the workshop outcomes. I will set up the room with desks or tables with groups of 4-6 learners, so that they can collaborate at strategic points throughout the workshop. Space between the tables should be wide enough that people can easily walk between them, both to accommodate any learners with mobility devices and to enable me to circulate around the room to monitor learning. Learners should also be positioned so that they can see the screen with the PowerPoint presentation and videos to support individual learning. The design of a physical environment to support collaboration and connection is responsive to current learners’ expectations for their surroundings (Oblinger & Lippincott, 2006). See the diagram below for a visual depiction of an ideal room arrangement.

Resources and supplies will be allocated to support learning through efficiency and effectiveness. I will place handouts and materials for the Brain Architecture Game on each table so that they are easily accessible to participants, rather than spending time distributing papers during the workshop. All of my presentation materials will need to be easy to interpret, given learners’ variety of prior knowledge, value, and self-efficacy for the learning task (Mayer & Clark, 2011). Poster paper and markers will be distributed around the room for collaborative purposes.

Learners may come into the room with any number of visual, auditory, or physical impairments that will not be known in advance, so it will be important to plan ahead for universal access and inclusion (Center for Excellence in Universal Design, 2014). Specific steps I can take include using subtitles for videos, using legible fonts on presentation materials, creating wide paths for wheelchairs or other mobility equipment, and providing printed materials for individuals who need to view print up close. The speaker system will need to be tested so that audio from any multimedia presentations is loud enough to be heard by all participants.

Additional steps to ensure that the learning environment is psychologically inclusive include setting norms around discussing sensitive topics, not forcing anyone to share, and ensuring that I am not reinforcing stereotypes in how I discuss trauma. Providing this sense of inclusivity and safety will contribute to participants’ honesty and comfort in discussing the sensitive issues of trauma and adverse childhood experiences, especially as they relate to growing up in low-income communities.

While the instructional decisions are within my control, the physical environment is beyond my control. Facilitating in a physical space that I do not select poses risks around resources. The school will select a location for the workshop and may or may not allow me to give input on the layout or size of the room. Ideally, I will be informed ahead of time about the resources available (especially internet access) so that I can plan ahead, but there may be situations where unexpectedly, some resources are unavailable. I will do my best to bring backup supplies and have contingency plans in case of unavailable resources.