2024 A4LE LearningSCAPES Conference Wrap Up
21 Oct 2024
The annual 2024 Association for Learning Environments (A4LE) Conference "LearningSCAPES" was held in Portland, Oregon from 16-19 October 2024. LEA's Regional Chair Daniel Smith and International Director Deb O'Riley attended the conference that brings together architects, designers, and educators from around the world to discuss “One Association for the Success of Education.
The keynote speaker Trevor Muir celebrated the power of storytelling and learning. The power of engagement in an authentic context empowers our learners through challenging times while they work towards solutions. This was made powerful by integrating projects that had real world impacts such as screening interviews with WWII veterans and creating helpful guides for recent immigrants. Now we just need to provide agile spaces for them to do their learning.
At the Conference Awards presentation, Australia's very own Hayball, Monash Univeristy and Evelyn Scott School won the Kelley Tanner Award for the project "Enhancing Spatial Literacy at Evelyn Schoot School: A Teacher Professional Learning Program". This award is designed to showcase and celebrate – and even stimulate – innovative and pioneering practices that enhance learning, our profession, and the communities we serve. A fabulous achievement for an Australian project to be recognised on a global scale.
One of the highlights of every A4LE conference is the site tours and we had the opportunity to visit two great learning environments - the Lincoln High School and Leodis V. McDaniel High School.
Lincoln High School
This tour highlighted the journey of Lincoln High School’s transformation, specifically focusing on the shift from a socially segregated community to a thriving and inclusive environment, and from a mid-century model of education to an urban, next generation high school. The community are so welcomed in this learning hub.
Leodis V. McDaniel High School
The rebuilding of the new Leodis V. McDaniel High School (McDaniel High School) transformed the former 1957 facility into a more contemporary learning environment that serves the city’s most culturally diverse student population, encompassing more than 30 languages. A five-year planning and design effort involved hundreds of school and community stakeholders through a series of hands-on interactive workshops. The social spaces were the highlight in this new build.
This partially reconstructed high school enables their whole community to gather in the heart of their school in the central cafeteria space. With clean flowing circulation and identifiable zones.
Fun fact. This was the indoor shooting location for the Twilight movies (pre refurbishment and partial reconstruction).
The conference was a wonderful opportunity to strengthen our connections with the A4LE team and exchange ideas on the future of learning spaces globally.
Looking forward to 2025 LearningSCAPES, being held at the Sheraton/Convention Centre in Phoenix Arizona from 30 October - 2 November 2025.