My time to explore was relatively brief, but a few key themes emerged as potential ingredients for a place of inspiration, challenge, and love of one's work.
Play matters
Google's office embodies the mantra of MIT's Media Lab: "Lifelong Kindergarten." Around every corner there are places to play, tinker, design, build, and experiment. There are bins of Legos, expansive table tops, boxes of Mr. Potato Head, chess boards, a ball pit, pool tables, slides, and a multi-user gaming system complete with a big screen TV. And when walking is too pedestrian or inefficient, one can grab a scooter to move from room to room. A skeptic might wonder how in such an environment any work gets done. However, research shows us how important play is beyond mere "fun." Play is practical, essential to problem solving, and an application of curiosity and imagination. And in addition to many other benefits, it fuels a healthy morale. What leader of learners wouldn't want more of this for his or her community? Unfortunately, as students advance grade levels, play often seems to disappear. The rigor of more advanced curricula becomes synonymous with stress, and the value placed on play disintegrates as the prospect of college looms. What if we could take a lesson from Google and science and find ways to help our young adults play more as they learn?
Reflection breeds creation
Comfort counts
Core to Google's success is its steadfast focus on the user experience. An unusable interface, an unsightly design, or an ineffective tool will quickly be abandoned, perhaps even resented. Google's office designers seem to grasp this truth on many levels. To do good work that meets people's needs requires people whose own needs are met. A space suited to herd cattle into restrictive spaces that tax the body and mind is poised to result in sub-optimal work and team members eager to jump ship. On the contrary, spaces that comfort and support, with parts that can move and adapt, and make inhabitants feel welcome, valued, and wanted may just produce wonders. You see these latter elements everywhere you look at Google. I imagine that those who dwell in that space cannot help but feel valued and are therefore inclined to pass that experience on through their work. I have to wonder, how comfortable are our learners? How valued does their learning space (and the people in them) make them feel? How many learners may feel eager to jump ship, and what can we do about that?
Google's offices are exceptional, and large revenue streams play a big part in that. But I believe that the vision and values of Google's spaces are ones from which every school can learn.
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a Google employee's tweet |