Classroom

FETC 2025: Work to Intentionally Create Flexible Learning Environments

Don’t just buy furniture with wheels for your K–12 classrooms.

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Rebecca Torchia is a web editor for EdTech: Focus on K–12. Previously, she has produced podcasts and written for several publications in Maryland, Washington, D.C., and her hometown of Pittsburgh.

One attendee at FETC 2025’s Friday session on “Cognitive Yoga: How Flexible Space Design Fuels Student Success” said that in most modern or flexible classrooms, he sees a hodgepodge of mismatched furniture. Presenter Doug Konopelko, a senior manager of education impact for CDW, noted that the best modern learning environments are intentional.

He pointed out the classrooms at Flagler County Schools in Florida as a leading example of intentional and well-executed modern design. Some of the elements he highlighted included the modular wobble stool seating, the writing surfaces in every area of the room and the classroom “themes.”

“You can see up by the board they made what looks like a little dock; there’s a little rowboat in the corner,” Konopelko said. “A lot of those things are inexpensive, but they help pull it all together, and most of that they did in house.” He added that the district talked to their facilities teams about how to paint the room, branching away from the traditional classroom designs and colors to add more thematic visual interest.

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While not all schools will find solutions in the form of a classroom rowboat, the Flagler County Schools classrooms are an example of intentional classroom design for modern learners. Here’s how other K–12 innovators can follow this lead:

Design for User Experience and Student Comfort

The first element to consider when designing a modern classroom is whether the space will be able to function as it’s intended to.

Take user experience, U/X, and turn it into EDU/X, Konopelko said. “With EDU/X — education experience design — when we design a space, it’s great that it looks good, but what happens when students walk through the door?”

Focusing on the functionality of the design is more important than the aesthetics or how it should theoretically work in the classroom.

“In theory, it’s great that your furniture has wheels, but what are we putting on it, and can we still push it around the room? Because if we bought furniture with wheels but put desktop PCs on it, now it has to stay right next to the outlets,” Konopelko explained.

Beyond ensuring the modern learning environment functions as intended, it also needs to serve as a meaningful space for students. It’s vital to consider the needs of the students who will be using the technologies and furniture in the room. The main driver of impact is comfort.

Konopelko quoted the Building and Environment journal, which states that “classroom design could be attributed to a 25% impact, positive or negative, on a student’s progress.”

He added that this isn’t just about having a comfortable recliner for every student. Rather, can the students focus on learning in the room, or are they distracted by discomforts, whether that’s the lights, the noise level or other factors?

25%

The impact, positive or negative, on a student’s progress that can be attributed to classroom design

Source: Barrett, Peter, et al., “A Holistic, Multi-level Analysis Identifying the Impact of Classroom Design on Pupils' Learning,” Building and Environment, January 2013

The problem is that comfort is relative for each individual learner, so Konopelko encouraged listeners to talk with students and find out how to best accommodate them. This is especially important for students who need additional support.

“If you build for your average student, you’re almost always going to leave out the students on the edges, whether it’s high performers or low performers, whether it’s academic or physical ability,” he said. “If you plan for them, it’s probably going to be good for all of your students.”

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Collaboration Informs Choices for Modern Learning Environments

A problem Konopelko said he’s frequently seen schools run into is that they buy flexible furniture but never talk about the fact that they want things to be flexible. If schools don’t have professional development about the best ways to engage with this furniture or why it exists, they end up leaving teachers in the dark, and the spaces aren’t used to their fullest extent.

School leaders who want to build these spaces should bring stakeholders into the conversations, but don’t have so many voices at the table that you can’t get anything done, Konopelko advised. And when you’re having these conversations, make sure that everyone understands the vocabulary.

Two people can be saying the same word but have different ideas of what it means in practice. For example, there’s a difference between flexible, agile and accommodating. Even the word “technical” can mean something different to an IT professional and an educator, Konopelko warned.

The upside is that there are a lot of options to explore for today’s classrooms. “As time goes on, — with furniture, AV or technology — there are more and more and more and more options all the time. Being explicit about what you’re trying to build and accomplish is really important.”

Visit this page to see all of our coverage of FETC 2025, and follow us on the social platform X @EdTech_K12 for behind-the-scenes looks using the hashtag #FETC2025.