It’s an interesting question and one that led us to form Hyper Island. It’s when we saw the opportunity to build a new institution of professional learning that empowered individuals to be flexible in anticipating and dealing with change.
Recently, we were listed as one of the schools in CNN’s article that highlighted nine of the most interesting schools around the world. It started a conversation with our team about the components of a healthy learning environment.
Here are some of our thoughts.
Across our schools, we all agree that a creative space is a vital component. But, what makes a creative space?
Creativity flows when we feel comfortable in our surroundings, and in creating a comfortable space we have to consider diverse student tastes.
Diverse personalities soak up the energy from their surroundings.
And finally, creativity flows through active encouragement and collaboration.
We touched upon the need for space in which we feel comfortable and where we are not afraid to ask questions and share our inner thoughts.
A safe space can influence the creation of a culture, and it’s important in harboring openness and trust.
Students make up part of the learning environment, and so it’s important to set a culture that motivates us to learn.
Going back to having a safe space, if we succeed in doing that, we can also encourage a culture where we aren’t afraid to make mistakes and try new approaches.
People, personalities, their ideas and stories all form part of the learning environment. We learn from one another, and our diversity allows us to understand different perspectives.