2-4th October, 2019. The University of Melbourne, Australia. Read more›

Call for abstracts is now open for academics, professionals, Masters and PhD students. Read more›

Building Connections: Schools as Community Hubs

Two new positions available!

The Building Connections: Schools as Community Hubs project (Building Connections) is a three-year research project funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Grant scheme together with four Partner Organisations. The project will investigate how best to plan, design, govern and use/manage facilities to enable schools to operate successfully as ‘more than a school’, and encourage the development of thriving, resilient and connected communities.

Two new positions are now being advertised to work as integral members of the research team:

For further information about the project or positions please see https://research.unimelb.edu.au/learnetwork/news-and-events/learns-arc-success and/or email Dr Benjamin Cleveland (Lead Chief Investigator) benjamin.cleveland@unimelb.edu.au.

Project Coordinator (professional role):  read more›
Research Fellow – Level B (academic role): read more› 

ILETC Survey for Teachers

Are you a teacher or can share this with a teacher?

The ILETC project has just released a new survey for teachers  – the Teacher Transition Survey.  The aim of the survey is to understand educators’ perspectives on their transition from traditional learning spaces into more innovative learning environments. The questions ask about the types of spaces educators have worked in, the impact of physical spaces on their teaching and what is important in supporting them transitioning from traditional to more innovative spaces. The survey only takes 8 minutes to complete.

This survey will help to inform subsequent policy and practices in school design and teacher professional development. The data will also help the project develop resources for teachers to effectively use learning spaces in schools to affect student learning.  The survey has been released to all Australian teachers  with release planned for New Zealand in coming weeks.

Complete the survey here›

Rethink: Academic Workspace Futures

Led by A/Prof Clare Newton, Sarah Backhouse, this LEaRN commissioned research project is exploring the space of higher education workplace design.

Academic workspace remains an emotive topic. It is bound closely with identity, purpose and status.  As universities increase their focus on cross-disciplinary collaboration and convergence research, the sanctuary of the individual office is being challenged. 

LEaRN’s Academic Workspace Futures project is exploring the topic through the lenses of People, Place, Process and Policy. Following a review of the literature, we are currently conducting expert interviews that span disciplines from environmental psychology to change management. Process design is emerging as critical to positive outcomes. Next steps include case studies with tailored LEaRN evaluation methodologies. Our goal is a larger research project situating future focused academic workspace within the broader learning context.

Learning Spaces for Special Education Needs Design

The Special Education Needs project is now underway. The project will develop and test strategies for evaluating educational facilities for students with special educational needs. This project is led by Dr Ben Cleveland. Dr Scott Alterator is the Research Fellow on the project and if you wish to be involved please get in contact: scott.alterator@unimelb.edu.au

Plans to Pedagogy (P2P) Workshop

On February 19th and 20th, leaders from 12 schools across Australia and New Zealand came together for a 2-day workshop as part of the 3-year Plans to Pedagogy program of research.

Participants spent time sharing their progress and plans with their peers and engaging with data from across the schools. Working with their academic mentors, school team members developed their research skills and practiced data generation and analysis strategies. The two-day event was followed by Talking Spaces 9, enabling P2P schools to immerse themselves in research, practical strategies and case studies over the week. The P2P project is led by A/Prof Wes Imms.

Australian Research Council Engagement and Impact

Leading the way in built environment research impact.

We are delighted that LEaRN partnerships have enabled the University of Melbourne to be awarded the highest possible rating in the inaugural Australian Government 'Engagement and Impact Rating' for the Built Environment and Design Field of Research (FoR) Code. LEaRN research arising from our first two ARC Linkage Projects called Smart Green Schools and Future Proofing Schools was the single case study on which the assessment was based. We particularly thank our LEaRN research partners. It was largely our partners who enabled this exemplary result.

This new Australian government rating assesses ‘how well researchers are engaging with end-users of research, and shows how universities are translating their research into economic, social, environmental, cultural and other impacts’. There are 24 FoR codes at the University of Melbourne. The Built Environment and Design FoR code was one of just three codes receiving the highest ratings across all three assessed areas of engagement, impact and approach to impact.

Read more›

Reflections and resources from Talking Spaces 9

On February 22 and 23 over 150 designers, educators, policy makers, academics and consultants came together to discuss what the future decade holds for learning environments.

Talking Spaces 9 was our most thought-provoking event to date. A strong desire to improve learning environments was at the heart of all presentations and workshops. However, it’s safe to say that we are approaching this common objective in varied ways. Following the event LEaRN members put together some questions which came out of the event. You can read our reflections on the event and view slides from some of our workshop presenters who have their work available.

View slides›
Read more› 

Catholic Education Northern Territory (CENT) Project

In February 2019 Dr Pippa Soccio travelled to Darwin to present the outcomes of the research project Evidence based design and practice development at the Catholic Education Northern Territory’s (CENT) Principal Retreat. The first of the three sequential research phases commenced in 2016 and involved a study tour to support CENT consolidate their vision for a new Catholic school under design. The second phase (conducted in 2018) involved evaluating the pedagogical effectiveness of learning environments in the newly opened school, and in four older CENT schools. The final research phase involved meta-synthesis of the five data sets to identify the challenges that staff and students face, as CENT transitions schools to collaborative learning environments. The knowledge gained is having an impact as three of the four Principals have commenced embedding the lessons learnt into the redesign of their School Masterplans.

LEaRN team news

• Marian Mahat and PhD students Fiona Young, Dan Murphy and Mark Osbourne presented on the ILETC Project at the Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE) conference in Sydney in December 2018.
• Marian Mahat and Joanne Blannin presented on LEaRN research projects, Innovative Learning Environments and Teacher Change (ILETC) and Plans to Pedagogy (P2P) at the 2019 American Educational Research Association (AERA) in Toronto.

• Ben Cleveland contributed a project review in the March issue of Architecture Australia on the Denton Corker Marshall designed Geoff Handbury Science and Technology Hub at Melbourne Grammar School. Preview here.  

• Ben Cleveland commented on claims made about school closures and overcrowding in NSW ahead of the State election in an RMIT ABC Fact Check. Read here. 

• Philippa Soccio has begun a new role as Lecturer, Teaching and Learning, within the newly established Built Environment Learning + Teaching (BEL+T) team in the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning. Philippa will remain as an Associate of LEaRN and we wish her the best as she commences her new role with the University.

• Scott Alterator recently joined the LEaRN team as a Research Fellow. Scott is currently investigating Special Education Needs environment performance. Scott's recent book, School Space and its Occupation (Alterator & Deed (Eds), 2018), brings international authors together to conceptualise and investigate the lived experience of learning environments. Scott consults on learning environment design and innovative occupation across the world. Scott is a committee member of Association for Learning Environments and is driven to share insights on the meaningful combination of education and design narratives. 
• Wes Imms and Marian Mahat will be presenting Supporting teachers to use learning environments well: ILETC's Teacher Transition Pathway at the British Education Research Association (BERA) annual conference this September in Manchester, United Kingdom.