One of the way change occurs, is that what exists is incorporated into new forms, and new functions. New technology enfolds old infrastructure, somewhat like the new parts of the brain, enfold the old parts through evolution. Old media is repurposed as part of new media… This article discusses the use of old factories as new data centers. Big data is a big part of Ed Tech potentials, so it’s not a stretch to envision these factories as serving new purposes such as “real time learning”.
Or maybe as physical locations for “blended elearning”…or multimedia community serving centers such as the “Multitask DeVille” model. But repurposing physical structures also points to one the larger questions going forward:
If learning can take place anywhere, what do we do with all the school buildings spread throughout all our communities in the US? Well, they could enfold old functions into new functions, where schools became places of learning access, and other online and cloud function access, involving whole families in the neighborhood, and not just warehousing kids. Could be a place where many cloud based healthcare functions could be housed too, right there conveniently near the local populations.
[gview file=”https://publicservicesalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/The-factories-of-the-past-are-turning-into-the-data-centers-of-the-future.pdf”] Kudos to Gary for the link.
IIRC Kathy Rogers was part of a community college that was developed using an old textile mill in New England as the physical location for classes.
What strikes me most about repurposing old buildings, is that schools are distributed throughout our towns and cities, in generally practical and central locations in neighborhoods within reach of most residents. Thats a big deal for multipurpose centers…their accessibility furthers use, and if something is hard to get to, use is limited.