Discoveries at Edspaces

This week, I am discovering new furnishings and other ideas at Edspaces in Tampa - while this conference very much focuses on K-12, there are some sessions covering higher education, and of course it is always great to see what K-12 is doing, to see what we in higher education need to expect from our students when they come to our campuses.  It is quite clear that the discrepancies continue to grow, and that the schools that are able to renovate/build new and change the way they are teaching are sending students to university who have a very different idea on how learning should happen.

While the sessions of the conference are interesting, I will focus more on ideas and products I am encountering.  Here are some ideas for starters.

 How about a storage cabinet where the sides can be used for writing?   Smith System, now part of the Steelcase empire, has some interesting solutions, and other companies, like Gratnells, are also quite fun.  I also found a couple of other erasable writing surfaces that may be worth exploring, for example Polyvision's ceramic steel, which can look and behave like a chalk board, comes in different colors and claims to be easier on the eyes than glass and more durable.

Or a rocking chair that is very low to the ground? Quite comfortable, though it took me a moment to get out of it. This one is built by Virco.

 And here is an example of games that can be played with your feet, by RichTech Display.

 Think about what kind of collaborative spaces you can build out of these shapes - and apparently they are virtually indestructible.  One version of this is the one shown by Fomcore.

this kind of chair can be taken anywhere and will potentially improve your posture.  HowdaDesignz won an award for this concept.  Yes, I tried this one as well.  

 And yes, this is a grassy knoll for creating green spaces inside, by NorvaNivel.

 This lab table has magnets so that the stools can be attached for storage.  Notice the additional storage behind the stools.

a maker space on wheels,

 height adjustable learning stations,  and what would be cool if this could be combined with something like the FootFidget for folks to stand during lecture and be able to move just a little

 wobbly stools to keep you moving,

and storage desks with velcro sides to add flexible sides - this is part of their STEM Starter cart - NorvaNivel also has velcro blocks to create privacy barriers for testing