This series of 12 short videos explores a variety of topics educators should consider when designing school spaces. They focus on ideas for designing spaces that promote collaboration, creativity, choice, and student agency. Other topics include consideration of light, color, sound and maximizing flexibility on a budget.

How does it relate to the UDL-SICC?

This video series supports the School Culture and Environment Domain, Element 4 (D1.E4). It focuses on designing community, classroom, and digital spaces to support teaching and learning variability. The intent of this element is to intentionally design school spaces that respond to the anticipated variability of staff, students and school community.

How might you use it?

• Use this video series to provide choice during a professional learning experience that focuses on the intentional design of classroom physical and digital spaces to support learner variability. Ask teachers to select an area of focus, then reflect on how they can create spaces that support learner variability.
• Use this video series to jumpstart a school leadership team discussion about designing community spaces that support the variability of the school community. 

In this video, three purposes and functions of common learning spaces within the classroom are named and described. The concept of “Caves” are used as a reflective space where learners look inside and think about what and even how they are learning. Campfires are spaces where people gather and learn together. In these spaces, knowledge, and information is delivered to the group. “Waterholes” are designed for learners to collaborate, share and provide feedback amongst each other. The video shares how these concepts can be expanded to digital spaces (Caves can be blogs, Campfires are like flipped learning and google docs or other collaborative tools can function as Watering Holes).

How does it relate to the UDL-SICC?

This informational video supports the School Culture and Environment, Element 4 (D1, E4)

which focuses on designing community, classroom, and digital spaces within a school to support variability. Within this element, school spaces are intentionally designed to respond to anticipated variability including cognitives, physical, perceptual, sensory, social, emotional and cultural variability.

How might you use it?

• Provide professional development on the three concepts and lead a schoolwide professional development for teachers to reflect on where and how they have students within learning spaces (You should have options for where, how, and when they are grouped)
• Ask yourself “Does the school have physical and virtual spaces that provide opportunities for self introspection or reflection, space to gather knowledge from an expert and space to collaboration?” (community, teachers, and students).