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Educational Spaces & Learning Environments in an International Perspective

Learning spaces, learning environments, extended education – the terms are as diverse as the concepts and definitions behind them. What is striking when searching for these terms is that they always also reflect current developments in other (educational) fields. Currently, in the 21st century, for example, there is a wealth of literature, projects and guides on virtual and sustainable learning environments. Whilst up until the 1980s, school buildings and school architecture played a central role (in some cases, the aim was simply to build more and better schools to provide education for more children), new perspectives are now emerging that are also of general concern to the education sector. Thus, the currently ‘hot’ topics of ‘digital education’ and ‘sustainable education / environmental and climate education’ are also reflected in considerations regarding learners’ learning environments.

Another area of focus stands apart from the improvement and modernisation of learning spaces in schools, classrooms, universities, adult education centres, etc.: This concerns extracurricular or out-of-school education (sometimes also called 'learning outside the classroom' or 'extended education'). This can take place both outdoors or in other premises. A frequently cited and popular example here is museums as venues for extracurricular education.

Sometimes, when it comes to learning spaces – unfortunately – it is simply a matter of making them safe and stable so that a minimum level of education can continue to be provided in conflict and war zones.

You can find out more about all these topics relating to learning spaces and learning environments from an international perspective in this dossier.

 

General information & overview

"Space, whether physical or virtual, can have a significant impact on learning. Learning Spaces focuses on how learner expectations influence such spaces, the principles and activities that facilitate learning, and the role of technology from the perspective of those who create learning environments: faculty, learning technologists, librarians, and administrators. Information [...]

A number of factors are prompting higher education's interest in learning spaces: the need to renovate existing space or accommodate additional students, pedagogical advances, a better understanding of learners, and, in some cases, curricular reform. Moving from classrooms to learning spaces involves a conceptual shift as well as a commitment to putting learning ahead of [...]

Organisations, societies & networks

United States of America (USA); Australia and Oceania; New Zealand; South-East Asia
"The Association for Learning Environments is a community of professionals dedicated to the design and construction of great learning spaces. Our members understand the impact that the environment has on student success and are committed to creating learning [...]

Europe
"Association For Learning Environments – EU is the European member of the Association For Learning Environments global community that champions excellence in teaching and learning and promotes the design of environments in which they thrive."
The website offers some practical resources – primarily for professionals in the field [...]

Europe
The Association for Learning Environments Australasia is the Australian-New Zealand-Southeast Asian member of the international Association for Learning Environments. It is a "not-for-profit organisation with a community of over 950 members within the education design, planning and building fields that promote the creation, design and [...]

international
The WERA research network "Extended Education" deals with extracurricular learning and informal learning places worldwide. The network provides an annual report on its activities, organises its own conference and publishes conference proceedings. It also works closely with the "International Journal for Research on Extended [...]

international
"The association focuses on the interplay of pedagogy, technology and their fusion towards the advancement of smart learning environments." Its vision is "to bring together researchers, practitioners, and policy makers to discuss issues related to the optimization of learning environments to enhance learning". The website [...]

United States of America (USA)
The LEARN network is dedicated to improving learning environments through practical strategies and solutions. These are based on research findings and utilise a network of educational partners. (...) LEARN offers school districts easily understandable research results, access to experts, support for professional [...]

United Kingdom
"The Council for Learning Outside the Classroom (CLOtC) is a national registered charity that champions all learning that happens beyond the classroom (LOtC). Their work supports educators, schools and organisations who are dedicated to ensuring more children and young people have opportunities for life-changing learning [...]

Projects & programmes

Europe
"This Commission-led NEB Lab project connects transformation initiatives, proof of concepts and practices making a difference in where and how people learn across Europe and beyond - from classrooms to streets, playgrounds, and libraries." A more [...]

Europe; Germany; Sweden; Poland
The project "Educational Spaces 21. Open up!" (EDUSPACES21 for short), which ran until 2016, aimed to "assist schools in modernizing their educational spaces with 21st century solutions in mind. The central idea of this approach is to see educational space in broader terms than as a mere classroom. This [...]

Europe
Novigado (Active learning and innovative teaching in flexible learning spaces) is the follow-up project to EDUSPACES21. The project aims to "support schools and related stakeholders in the transition from a conventional and teacher-centred classroom into teaching practices that promote active learning with the support of innovative [...]

Europe
Founded in 2012 by European Schoolnet, the Future Classroom Lab (FCL) is both a physical location in Brussels and the online platform linked here. Online, you can take a virtual tour of this experimental learning environment lab, which aims to "rethink the role of pedagogy, technology, and design in the classroom. In six learning zones, [...]

Europe; Germany; Austria; Turkey; Italy; Lithuania
"NIILS explores how informal and non-conventional learning spaces are used in higher education, in different countries and regions. Recommendations and guidelines for users are developed to promote inclusive informal learning environments that are conducive to learning and well-being." NIILS [...]

international; United States of America (USA)
Since the original page has been offline since approximately 2025, we are linking to a copy of the page from the Web Archive. The LSC was "collaborating community of researchers, academic leaders, architects, practitioners and other stakeholders who share a commitment to transforming the learning [...]

Australia; New Zealand
Led by the University of Melbourne’s Learning Environments Applied Research Network (LEaRN), the ILETC Project aimed to bridge the gap between what we saw as an unrealised educational potential of innovative learning environment design and to develop a mechanism for achieving this across as a range of educational [...]

Guides, manuals, tools & more

Europe; international
"The Learning Spaces School Toolkit provides practical guidance on how to make education infrastructure and learning environments more sustainable and supportive of the development of sustainability competences, student health, well-being and learning. The toolkit has been developed in the context of the study on 'School [...]

Europe; international
"This Compendium of Good Practices has been developed as part of the Study on school learning environments for sustainability in EU Member States, which supports the European Commission’s commitment to helping Member States integrate sustainability into education. The Compendium presents 23 snapshot examples of good [...]

Europe; international
"North Carolina State University (NCSU) Libraries and its Distance Education and Learning Technology Applications (DELTA) partnered with strategic consultants brightspot strategy and AECOM to design, share, and promote an updated model for institutions to plan and support technology-rich informal learning spaces. This [...]

"'Creative Classrooms' (CCR) are conceptualised as innovative learning environments that fully embed the potential of ICT to innovate learning and teaching practices. This report proposes a multi-dimensional concept for CCR intended to depict the systemic approach that is needed for the sustainable implementation of innovative and open learning environments using ICT across [...]

Europe; Germany; Sweden; Poland
Please note: The links to the manuals on this page are no longer working. We are providing working links from the Internet Archive for the introduction and the first two books. The third book is unfortunately not archived there. * [...]

Stages in the educational facility planning process are presented in this handbook, with a second focus on implementation. Four chapters provide information on the four cycles of the planning process, which include analysis and diagnosis, research and development, planning and programming, and implementation and evaluation. Characteristics of an effective educational building [...]

"(...) [T]he present Digest focusses on how to provide no cost/low cost facilities and also gives in a somewlat lover key, information likely to be useful to those lucky enough to be able to design purpose-built facilities. This Digest by Mr. David J. Vickery, which offers guidelines for the design of facilities for creches (including home-based child care centres) [...]

"This Digest contains a Handbook for Educational Buildings Planning. It is meant not only for architects, engineers and such other specialists responsible for the design and construction of educational buildings, but also for policy-makers, educational planners, as well as school authorities and teachers. (...) This Handbook seeks to help in developing better and more [...]

United Kingdom
"Countryside Classroom helps teachers to find resources, places to visit and school support relating to the themes of food, farming and the natural environment. Our site contains a range of quality assured educational content from hundreds of contributors. Countryside Classroom is a managed by a partnership of organisations [...]

international
The Inter-agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) offers various resources on education in conflict situations and emergencies, die auch die Lernumgebung betreffen:

* Improving Learning Environments [...]