The Learning Project

Melbourne, Australia + 1 more

A prototype series of relocatable buildings that inform the nature of learning spaces & enable evolution in teaching and learning practices.

An authentic prototype, the Learning Project is a vehicle for change, enabling the evolution of spaces and settings to support a multi-modal, learner-centred pedagogy. By conducting research and post occupancy evaluations to assess and analyse all aspects of the project, both the school and design team are able to develop an in depth understanding of the links between pedagogy and space.

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Shortlisted

Overview

HundrED shortlisted this innovation

HundrED has shortlisted this innovation to one of its innovation collections. The information on this page has been checked by HundrED.

Web presence

2016

Established

-

Children

1

Countries

Updated

March 2018

There are 33 exceptional features throughout the Learning Project, each with a clear purpose in enabling teaching staff to have significant choice in how they deliver their lesson and all pivotal to providing an engaging learning experience for students. Lounges, a greenhouse, video conference pods, a media cubby, working walls, a kitchen table and a news stand are tangible examples of unique constructions that are not found in traditional classroom settings. There has been a great sense of optimism among the school community as the spaces came to fruition, with a significant demand from excited staff to occupy the new spaces which underscore our emphasis on student learning at the heart of the school.

About the innovation

The Future Of Learning: Prefabrication and Prototyping for Evolving Pedagogical Models

The Learning Project evolved from the masterplanning for the school’s three campuses in metropolitan Melbourne, developed by Hayball in 2013.

The project marks a progressive move by the school, with a prefabricated building introduced to each campus to facilitate a shift towards bespoke facilities for a new pedagogy.

As a prototype, the project acts as a vehicle for change, enabling the school and designers to test settings and spaces which are designed for purposeful and differentiated learning.

Each modular building is designed with dedicated and connected spaces for whole-group work, small group collaborations, production, presentation and performance activities, quiet reflection and individual study.

The prefabricated buildings offer greater affordability and the potential to be demounted and relocated after the testing phase. The project is the subject of broader research being undertaken by the University of Melbourne to evaluate the role of design in learning environments.

Media

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8v5ML1_IvY

Implementation steps

Collaboration & Engagement

A highly collaborative and engaging process of workshops and site visits enables a design response to take place over approximately six months.

With the project ambassadors from the school exploring concepts around redesigning learning activities, curriculum, time and pedagogy, the design team focuses on rapid response to these explorations, tailoring workshops and the presentation of ideas to best represent and communicate the spatial implications of such complex concepts.

Exploring design solutions through the use of diagrams, drawings and virtual and physical modelling enabled a kind of prototyping of ideas that the brief demands, whilst facilitating discussion amongst the project group. The building of 3D physical models allowed the connectedness of settings to be explored, whilst also providing a planning tool for the educators preparing to move into the new spaces.

To further assist with the capture and communication of ideas explored throughout the Learning Project a unique Design Guide will developed outlining each of the learning settings in detail, and providing the school community and visitors with a record of the process, ideas and outcomes.

By capturing the intent of settings we are able to evaluate the extent of success of the spaces, and provide interventions where improvements can be made.

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