HyperGlocal – Third Space Learning
02 Oct 2026
HyperGlocal was one of many workshops at the annual Learning Environments Australasia Conference in Perth 2026 themed “Unleash: Let the Possibilities Run Wild”. The workshop explored how education delivery is being reframed by means of “third spaces” – the non-traditional, non-classroom-bound learning environments – and their role in supporting contemporary skills and dispositions.
It applied a survey developed by the workshop convenors as a springboard to challenge workshop participants. The survey of 161 education respondents across Australasia revealed strong tensions in how learning is experienced and designed. While “the classroom still matters”, meaningful learning was often described in real‑world, social, applied, or outdoor contexts rather than formal classrooms.
It highlighted that students already live in distributed learning ecosystems across home, online, social, and community spaces, whereas formal teaching was delivered within school‑centred structures. This tension creates persistent contradictions: autonomy vs structure, social energy vs need for solitude, informal inspiration vs formal reliability, contemporary skills vs traditional systems.
From all the tensions and contradictions arising from the survey, five key take-outs emerged:
Learning is distributed but Formal Learning is under pressure
- Learning happens across home, workplace, online, informal spaces
- Classrooms still dominate formal structures
- Mismatch exists between lived experience and systematized delivery
No single best space
- Different environments support different types of learning
- School = structure / Home = reflection / workplace = application
- Cafés/outdoors = creativity and collaboration
Conditions matter more than place
- Psychological safety, comfort
- Flexibility and autonomy
- Access to people, resources, and collaboration
- Sense of belonging and energy
Rise of Learner Agency
- Critical thinking, communication, collaboration dominate
- Strong emphasis on self-direction, adaptability
- Shift from content delivery to capability development
Hybrid Future
- If learning is optional, people choose flexible ecosystems (Libraries, hubs, workplaces, online spaces)
- Desire for structure – but different kinds!
The research initiative continues as part of the LEA conference “Belonging” in Sydney, May 2027.
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Photography Credit
Oodi (Central library Helsinki) includes numerous examples of “third spaces”
