This week I’ve been learning about the design of learning spaces and experience design. Much of the media I investigated was specifically related to makerspaces and classrooms, but since I work in the IT office at my school, I attempted to adapt the ideas to our workspace.
I’d like to increase productivity and innovation in our office. I want my team to be proud of their surroundings and for the students to feel proud that they attend an innovative school. I want the school to know that we are working to be nearer to the cutting edge of technology innovation and I want to design a service experience that feels cleaner, more modern, and innovative.
Not only do I want our own office environment to encourage creativity, I’d also like to model what that environment looks like and inspire teachers to make changes in their classrooms. I want to practice these design skills to gain experience so I can assist others in mkaing similar changes.
I created some drawings of what our office looks like now as well as what I would like it to look like:
Current Design
Proposed Design
I considered trying to rearrange the room to encourage collaboration. However, if we had smaller desks we could move our chairs to form a circle in the middle of the room so it’s not necessary to move them. I’d also like to add a larger TV to the wall for collaboration. We currently have one, but it is small and difficult for everyone to see.
Research says that blue tends to encourage both creativity (Mehta and Zhu 2009 pp. 1226-1229) and trustworthiness (Williams, 2009). I chose a cool blue for the walls that I hope will also help keep stress levels lower during some of the more challenging days in our office.
A study by Barret, et al. (p 679-680) confirms what your mom always told you: A cluttered workspace is indicative of a cluttered mind. An office with too many things in it projects the message that the team is too busy or is disorganized which weakens their perceived reliability. Currently, much of the floor space is taken up which feels constricting both physically and mentally. To remedy this issue, I’d like to get smaller desks and remove some of the furniture in the office. We will have less storage in the office once we get rid of furniture but if we only keep the things we use frequently we could move the rest to storage in the server room.
I love this school in Japan that is full of natural light and is connected to nature. I was inspired by it to make some simple changes in our office. Currently, we keep the blinds closed because of the glare the light creates on my monitors. I want to purchase some low-glare filters to put on my screens to see if that allows us to keep the blinds open and allows natural light to enter the room. I’d also like to add some plants to the office, and maybe it would be a good time to get that desk fountain I’ve always wanted.
Our carpet looks institutional and aside from the Phineas and Ferb sculptures we created out of excess metal strips from a wiring project the room has little character. I feel this encourages the “factory model” feeling that Sir Ken Robinson describes (OWP/P Architects p. 56) so I’d like to take out the carpet and use the existing hardwood beneath instead.
Another addition I’d like to make is to work with students to create a technology art installation just inside the office. Ideally, this would be some type of collaborative or interactive art so that visitors to our office can engage with it. I like this idea because it emphasizes the idea that we are a team with our students, promotes a sense of creativity and if done correctly can add to a more techie feel in our office.
I’m looking forward to making these changes to our office beginning next week and continuing into the summer!
References
Barrett, P., Zhang, Y., Moffat, J., & Kobbacy, K. (2013). A holistic, multi-level analysis identifying the impact of classroom design on on pupils’ learning. Building and Environment, pp. 679-680.
Le, T. (2011). A School That Connects Kids to Music and Nature. Retrieved from https://www.fastcompany.com/1663134/a-school-that-connects-kids-to-music-and-nature
Mehta, R. Zhu, R. (2009) Blue or Red? Exploring the Effect of Color on Cognitive Task Performances. Science 27 Feb 2009: Vol. 323, Issue 5918, pp. 1226-1229
OWP/P Architects, VS Furniture, Bruce Mau Design (2010). The Third Teacher. p. 56. Harry N. Abrams. Retrieved from https://static1.squarespace.com/static/509c0d15e4b058edb8f35a86/t/50f495b3e4b0c7661ad2ec2e/1358206387728/Ch2+TTT+for+Web.pdf.
Williams, J. (2007). Your Brand’s True Colors. Retrieved from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/175428.
Brian Durst EdTech 