On Friday, October 28, 2022, I interviewed Dr. Testa regarding our transformed library, the Learning Collaboratory! Our conversation went as follows:

What led the school to transform the former library?
Dr. Testa: So you may have heard of the Baldwin 2035 vision, which is something that we’re really moving forward with, especially this year. The Learning Collaboratory is an example of not only that vision, but also of the district’s quest to bring students into true 21st century learning and collaboration where they have not only the tools and skills, but also the space to facilitate that collaboration.

What inspired the name “The Learning Collaboratory”?
Dr. Testa: So it was a combined effort of myself, Dr.Camhi , a couple other people, and we did have some student input, where we wanted it to be a name that when you heard it, you knew what its intended purpose was for. We knew we wanted learning to happen there, and we knew we wanted collaboration to happen there, and we also wanted the ability to have a nickname as well, so its nickname is the “LC”. It’s a laboratory of sorts because we want students to engage in critical thinking as a group, but collaborating, so we combined laboratory and collaboration.

What are some of its key features?
Dr Testa: So I would say that the most unique and best feature of the room is that there’s 6 individual collaboration spaces that have TVs, technology, and have the ability for students to work in a private space, but work in a space that is free-flowing with ideas and comfortable. I think that’s one thing that makes it unique and, actually, each room is going to be named after one of the elementary schools. I think it’s also that there’s different options of seating depending on what type of activity you’re involved in; we have the genius bar for more of a presentation space, we have chairs on wheels if you want to have small group conversation, we have space in the middle where you can do reading or studying quietly, we have something for everything. We have the booths if you want to have that feel of being in a public space, but you have some privacy and comfortability, so we try to think of just every possible way that students would be comfortable working together.

What do you hope to see as a result of the change of the library?
Dr. Testa: I hope to see that students see this as a place that they can go to spark their learning further. It’s really not a place to hangout, it’s a place where learning should be happening, and I think that students are really excited to have that space. I think it’s been missing, especially because of COVID we’ve always had to keep our distance, but now this creates a place where students can come together, learn, and grow.
Allison Nicolas: I think it’s really going to be an asset because a lot of what I’ve heard is when they didn’t have the library available, all this time people went “where am I supposed to do my work after school?” because people would have to travel to the Baldwin Public Library. Not everyone has transportation, so I’m excited for this personally and I hear other people saying “I can’t wait until this opens.”
Testa: After school is still kind of going to be on pause for now, so we’re not there yet. However, clubs can sign out the space and hold meetings there as needed under the proper supervision.

How can we access the Learning Collaboratory?
Testa: As you have on your ID, you have to have registered your student ID and get the stickers with your free periods. There’s going to be some rules that are coming out, and they’re up on the TV screens now. The first is you have to have the sticker and show ID to enter. The entrance is only through the 100 building second floor entrance as opposed to the one [in the commons] and you sign in. Once you’re there, you’re expected to stay there. There’s a bathroom inside, and if you have a corridor pass you can leave, but we really wanted it to be a place where you’re going and you’re staying for the duration of your period; we don’t want it to be an in-and-out thing. [For example,] if you want to get food first that’s fine, there’s no food in the Learning Collaboratory, [..] you’d have to go [to the LC] in the first 25 minutes of the period. After that period [of time], we’re not going to let anybody else in because we want to keep it as a learning collaboratory space, not as a space where “Oh, I have 10 minutes left of lunch, let me hang out there,” so we have some rules we’ve created to make that possible. It’ll be under teacher supervision as well, and it’s gonna be a great place.
Nicolas: That was all, thank you for your time!

The Learning Collaboratory will be officially open starting Tuesday, November 1, 2022. Make sure to get your ID stickers and check out our new and improved space!