Teacher Transition into Innovative Learning Environments: A Global Perspective

This open access book focuses on how the design and use of innovative learning environments can evolve as teaching practices and education policies change. It addresses how these new environments are used, how teachers are adapting their practices, the challenges that these changes pose, and the effective evaluation of these changes. 

The book reports on emerging research in learning environments, with a particular emphasis on how teachers are transitioning from traditional classrooms to innovative learning environments. It offers a significant evidence-based global assessment of current research in this field by designers, architects, educators and policy makers. It presents twenty-five cutting-edge projects from researchers in fifteen countries. Thanks to the book’s comprehensive international perspective, which combines theory and practice in a single publication, readers will gain a wealth of new insights. 

Wesley Imms is an Associate Professor of Education at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education, co-director of the Learning Environments Applied Research Network (LEaRN), and director of LEaRN@MGSE. In these roles he teaches in Master’s and Doctoral programs on subjects bridging curriculum and learning environments, and conducts research projects with partners ranging from individual schools to entire education systems.  He has authored approximately 90 scholarly papers and reports on learning environment use and evaluation.  He has secured extensive external funding for research including the Innovative Learning Environments and Teacher Change (ILETC) project; he is also Chief Investigator for the innovative Plans to Pedagogy (P2P) project, which focuses on building teachers’ spatial competency skills in schools across Australia and New Zealand.

Thomas Kvan is recognised for his pioneering work in design, digital environments and design management and has held seniorleadership roles in several universities as Dean and Pro Vice Chancellor. He was the founding co-Director of LEaRN (the Learning Environments Applied Research Network) delivering multidisciplinary research on learning and architecture, and was founding Director of AURIN (the Australian Urban Research Information Network) that developed a national digital infrastructure, both networks hosted at the University of Melbourne. He has published over 180 publications in academic, professional and popular channels. He is currently founding Dean of the School of Design at the South University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) in China.