As an independent freelancer, I do my work in many locations besides my home, - a co-working space, hotel lobbies when I’m on the road, and coffee shops - anywhere I can get wifi and a comfortable location to work. My local shop is filled with people that are involved in a range of activities - from engaging in professional work to simply having a discussion with friends over a cup of coffee.
And during lunch and after school, it’s filled with school kids.
They bring their lunch, they bring in pizza, they are loud and noisy, and basically no one cares. They’re part of the scene, accepted by everyone, and they add a fun vibe to the space. They do their homework, text their friends (even those that are across the table from them) and do a lot of talking - which creates this eclectic hybrid academic-social mix that contributes to the community aspect of the place.
Spaces like cafes, barbershops and salons, taverns, and gyms are examples of third places. First defined by Ray Oldenberg in his 1989 book, The Great Good Place, a third place is a space between home and work that supports social interactions. For kids, you can think of a third place as a social location between home and school. Enter Starbucks.
Image via Unsplash courtesy of Kyle Gregory Devaras
When I see kids there, I wonder why they just don’t stay at school? The answer isn’t surprising - for starters Starbuck’s isn’t school. And there is a degree of freedom, increased permissions, better food, more comfortable seating, and most importantly ( I think), acceptance from the adults in the space. For them, and everyone else, being in the space is an experience that’s grounded by the human connections that create a sense of belonging.
Read that last sentence again.
What I described is what was missing from remote learning environments.
When school starts again, it most likely appears that it will be a mix of students at school and student attending remotely. I’m not sure what that will look like and perhaps schools and teachers don’t know either. In any case, it clearly won’t be the same experience that students had previously at school. Some kids will be at school, some at home. That has the potential to be a disjointed and disconnected experience.
So, I’m proposing that schools can address this by developing a virtual third place, an online social space for kids to gather and connect. Give them a place to meet that’s school-based. Give them ownership of the space. And most importantly, connect them to their peers - if we have learned anything from the pandemic, it should be obvious that they miss each other. And finding ways to connect them to school is never a bad thing.
Now for the pushback. You could say that they won’t use it when they have access to their own spaces. Response: let them design it and make it something they want to use. Pushback: that’s not really the role of the school to supply that. Answer: that type of mindset and thinking is irrelevant starting as of March 2020.
Everything should be on the table as an option and as a potential solution that can support a new identity for school.
As for the technology, it’s not a difficult technology question, especially if you have an LMS. Create a course and enroll all your kids in it. Develop some expectations, a format, and some adult moderation and turn it over to the kids. Let them run it.
Mimi Ito, a cultural anthropologist, has researched and written at length about how students use technology and media. In her book, Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out: Kids Living and Learning with New Media, Ito says that students use technology to hang out out in virtual social spaces with their friends, they experiment or mess around with a variety of technologies, and they “geek out” online with others to explore what they are interested in. Ito calls this HOMAGO.
Image via Unsplash courtesy of Toa Heftiba
Ito also suggests that students engage in friendship-based and interest-based activities while online. Friendship-based activities are based in the social interactions that are established at school. Interest-based activities are related to things such as gaming, careers, programming, photography, and music - plus all the other things kids are interested in. And while Ito says interest-based interactions may extend beyond school relationships to people in other locations and other networks, it’s not unreasonable to expect that kids will connect with other kids in your school around shared interests, given the opportunity.
School has been always based on the connections between kids, adults, and community. The upcoming school year promises to challenge the traditional foundation of what that looks like. Technology can be part of a new solution and a new way forward that maximizes the opportunity to connect, to belong, and to engage in a more human experience. Developing a virtual third place can be part of a solution for doing just that.
Banner image via Unsplash courtesy of Sean Benesh