North Carolina State University (NCSU) Libraries and its Distance Education and Learning Technology Applications (DELTA) partnered with strategic consultants brightspot strategy and AECOM to design, share, and promote an updated model for institutions to plan and support technology-rich informal learning spaces. This Learning Space Toolkit includes a roadmap to guide the process along with tools and techniques for assessing needs, understanding technology, describing spaces, planning and delivering support services, and assembling space, technology, and services to meet needs, even as they change.
The Toolkit is freely available as a resource on the web and was developed using a collaborative process that shares thinking early and often from the broader community. The resources developed support the full lifecycle of a project, from defining the goals and needs early on to constructing the space to supporting and assessing it. By using the Toolkit, institutions will be better equipped to orchestrate the planning process so that learners are better supported and space, technology, and services are effective.