Good ideas travel and this week, Daniel Smith, Deb O’Riley and Ros Marsland are taking Australasia’s learning environments conversation to Seattle.

Representing Learning Environments Australasia at the LearningSCAPES 2026 conference, the team will connect with international colleagues, share work from across our region and explore fresh perspectives on the places where people learn.

Hosted by A4LE + EDmarket from 4 – 7 November, this year’s conference explores “Learning Without Limits: Alternative Environments for Tomorrow’s Students” through workshops, presentations, school tours and conversations.

For Daniel, a highlight will be co-presenting with Deb our International Director, showcasing thoughtful learning environments from Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. It is an opportunity to share the thinking behind these projects: how collaboration, educational vision and an understanding of learners can shape meaningful places for learning.

LEA’s presence in these conversations matters. Our region has valuable experience to contribute, and international exchange gives that work a wider audience while opening the door to new ideas, relationships and opportunities for our members.

It also creates space to ask questions together. How are other communities responding to changing learner needs? What can we learn from different approaches to inclusion, student voice and the relationship between teaching and space? And which ideas could spark something useful back home?

By participating, presenting and building connections, Daniel, Deb and Ros are helping keep Australasia’s perspectives part of the global conversation and bringing that conversation closer to our own community.

There is also a special reason to attend this year’s conference. Hayball’s Scientia Terrace at Monte Sant’ Angelo Mercy College in Sydney, a winning project in the 2025 LEAD Awards, is one of three international finalists for the A4LE James D. MacConnell Award.

Bringing together sports, social enterprise, innovation and science programs, Scientia Terrace reflects the power of collaborative design grounded in educational purpose. Congratulations to the College, Hayball, builder Richard Crookes Constructions and the many collaborators behind the project. The award announcement on Thursday 5 November (AEDT) will be a moment to celebrate the international recognition of work from our region.

Throughout the week, we’ll share informal updates, snapshots and reflections from Seattle on LEA’s socials from the sessions and school visits to the conversations in between.