From Australia to Copenhagen: the ILETC Project’s next stage is in full swing

Learning Environments Australasia is a proud funding partner of the Innovative Learning Environments and Teacher Change Project. Here, Project Manager Joann Cattlin explains current research progress and international outreach.

Data collection:

With the release of the project’s first survey data recently, the project team are working on the next stage – developing in depth case studies of schools.  The team of PhD researchers are in the midst of contacting schools and collecting data on site, across Australia and New Zealand.

A report on the teacher workshops is almost complete and will be released in the coming months.  This report will provide insights into teachers attitudes and practices relating to their classroom spaces.  This will be published in a report and will be accompanied by a series of fact sheets.  The first of which is now available.

Outreach:

This week the team, along with our partners from Hayball and Ecophon, are presenting a symposium on academic and industry collaboration at the European Conference on Education Research in Copenhagen. The trip has also presented the opportunity to visit several schools, meet with government and researchers in the field. Some of the team will continue to EARLI 2017 (European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction) in Finland, to present on findings and meet with local researchers and policy makers.

The travelling ILETC Project show, Copenhagen

The team is coordinating a series of 3 international research symposia, Transitions 2017 - based on the successful model that runs each year at The University of Melbourne.  Transitions Australasia was held in Melbourne on 2^nd June, with over 100 participants and presenters from Australia, Canada, England and New Zealand.  A summary of the event is here and a full proceedings will be published before the end of the year and a book overviewing all 3 events is planned also.

This month Transitions Europe will be held in London on 7^th September and Transitions North America in Grand Rapids on 14^th September.  The events are being sponsored by project partners Ecophon Saint Gobain (Europe) and Steelcase (North America), with additional support there from DLR Group. Interest in the events has been strong, bringing architects, educational planners and industry from across both continents.

Each Transitions event is followed by an invitational think tank meeting, bringing together educators, designers, government, industry and academics to consider what research is required in this field, and who should be involved in it? These forward-thinking events recognise the significant work already done in this field, and seek to find the gaps through informed conversation. The primary outcome will be to articulate the initiatives now required to drive quality research on Learning Environments into the next decade. 

Learning Environments Australasia and A4LE in the USA and UK are involved in each of these think tanks and symposia and have provided valuable assistance in promoting these events.

Further details of the events are available here: http://www.iletc.com.au/events/transitions

The latest ILETC Project newsletter is out now.

Article: Joann Cattlin