=2E..well, not denying politics, but don't forget that a lot of the best
learning generates noise -- that's one of my assomptions. As soon as you
collaborate with other people, I'd say the interaction gets tangibly
audible... I mean, quietly turning the pages of a book or silently gazing
at the object you are concentratedly making a painting of, may be good
learning situations, too. But a lot of the time learners want to talk (and
move stuff around), and they should be able to do that without the
escalating effect of talk at a large party, where everybody gets hoarse.
So the wishlist for an enhanced learning environment would include some
kind of assortment of differentsize partitioned spaces. With sensible and
interesting "passages" between them. I have just read a 1995 article by
Stephen Acker...
SPACE, COLLABORATION, AND THE CREDIBLE CITY:
ACADEMIC WORK IN THE VIRTUAL UNIVERSITY
http://www.ascusc.org/jcmc/vol1/issue1/acker/ACKTEXT.HTM
=2E.. where he looks at what is lost in spatial affordances in the Virtual
Campus as opposed to the traditional version, where functionality is
divided up between buildings, providing buffer periods of physical travel
between periods of stationary mental activities -- periods offering rest as
well as opportunities for chance encounters.
A good architectural environment for learning will need to be carefully
articulated, I think... and then, I guess we ar back at the power issues of
trust versus surveillance.
Eva