New school year brings new media center to Fremont Middle School
School librarians are now called library media specialists and school libraries are now media centers. And, that once-strict rule about talking only in a whisper inside a library? It's gone too.
This school year, Fremont Middle School in Mundelein, which has an enrollment of 700 students and 75 staff, unveiled a new media center that encourages learning through the use of audiovisual material — besides books, periodicals and other reference material — while allowing students to talk and collaborate.
Conversations is not only allowed in the Wildcat D.E.N. (Designing, Exploring, Networking) media center, they're encouraged.
Allowing the students to communicate with each other allows them to collaborate as they discuss homework problems and projects, officials said.
“Our media center is quite similar to those that have been recently updated in local area districts, as well as within the public library environment,” Fremont Elementary District 79 Superintendent Jill Gildea explained. “If you take a peek at the Wauconda Area Library, its space configuration is similar to Fremont Middle School's media center to facilitate communication and collaboration. Libraries are no longer silent ... that's the big shift.”
More space was needed so students could spread out and work with multiple electronic devices in groups of various sizes. In October 2013, the architecture firm of Fanning Howey, specializing in designing schools and libraries, met with the District 79 school board, its technology integration specialist and technology committee to discuss the use of space at the middle school and draft plans, Gildea said.
The storage spaces across the hall from the existing media center would be converted into small group meeting spaces. A green screen room was needed so students could record video or media presentations, in addition to three other smaller recording rooms for students.
Moving the free-standing bookshelves to one side of the media center — instead of around its perimeter — would provide an additional 2,000 square feet of open space. That extra space would allow for easy reconfiguration to meet changing demands of hosting many small groups, a few large groups or several classes to display and share students' projects.
The open space would also offer staff a place to plan lessons, meet as a group to collaborate or for staff training. On Sept. 1, all those plans became reality when the new media center opened to students and staff.
The media center also boasts the latest technology. One device in the Wildcat D.E.N. is an interactive whiteboard. It connects to a computer and a projector, which visually displays information from the computer onto the whiteboard's surface. Various student-held electronic devices allow students to interact with the information on the whiteboard.
Another is mediascape, which features two wall-mounted monitors that allow students to view their projects in various phases. And to complete the list of the latest technological devices are two Apple televisions, also known as smart televisions. Students can wirelessly connect to the devices with their laptops.
According to Gildea, many of the students are so enthused about the new media center they elect to stay after school to take advantage of the center offerings.
Students enjoy working in the green screen room to create media projects, officials said. Also popular with students are the soft seating areas — low couches and tables so they can hang out and work together in small groups. The tall, countertop height tables are also very popular for students to collaborate while doing their homework and projects.
The media center renovation cost $480,000, Gildea said.