Invitation From The Learning Environments Australasia Chair

On behalf of Learning Environments Australasia, I would like to warmly invite you to our 2019 Regional Conference in the spectacular city of Perth. Our Western Australian team has curated a magnificent program to engage us with people, place and pedagogy. They invite us to visit outstanding examples of educational design, hear from internationally and nationally renowned speakers, and to spend time learning and networking with colleagues. The event promises to stimulate and challenge thinking, in particular about the relationship between space for learning and ongoing change. The key question underpinning the Transformance theme therefore is a highly pertinent one: How do education and learning spaces adapt to a world of rapid change and disruption?

This is very much something that is on our minds. We know that we are living in times of exponential change, whether concerned with technology, globalisation, or environmental factors. This is clearly not ‘new news’, although perhaps the pace of change continues to surprise. Knowing this though, how do we design educational environments, with the understanding that in the time they are going to be used notions of, and approaches to learning, may well be turned on their heads? The key factor may be this: As an organisation we are concerned with the design, research and activation of learning environments (noun). The contemporary context demands us to be ever more conscious of our role in learning (verb) environments. This means understanding what works, where and why? It means working closely together to understand what a particular project and community is trying to achieve. It means both looking ahead, to understand the reality for our young learners, as well as looking backwards to reflect on successful partnerships, processes and solutions. As an organisation this is what I believe we are good at, where we have a role to play, a voice to offer and expertise to share. Our role is about learning environments as well as learning environments.

What better opportunity could there be then than to share and challenge our learning and thinking in Perth 2019? As the leading forum for professionals involved in all aspects of improving the spaces where students learn, we continue to bring together educators, architects, providers, and policy makers, all key decision makers in the design process, from right around Australasia. The fact that this is our 19th annual conference is testimony to that. The fact that LEA is the fastest growing region in the wider Association of Learning Environments is something we can be similarly proud of.

So join us in Perth 2019, for a conference that aims to challenge our thinking, share our ideas, make new connections, and above all to support our learning.

I look forward to seeing you there.