Creative Learning Environments

Changing the ‘pedagogic space’ should be the driving force behind a paradigm shift in learning. Adjoining this, changing the physical spaces for learning can have a very positive impact on the process and experience of learning. Understanding how designed spaces support and enhance learning is key to developing a positive and creative environment for learning.

Developing creative spaces for learning needs to be on the change agenda at both the macro and micro levels of a community. At the macro level, a collective concept of space needs to be envisioned for an entire organisation. People need to move away from the notion of separated classrooms toward a more fluid concept of highly flexible and agile spaces. David Thornburg’s motifs of campfires, watering holes and caves for learning spaces is a helpful place to start a community conversation about the types of creative environments that might support a paradigm shift. This vision for space needs to be cohesive across all areas.

Different models for organisational change emphasise this need for consistency of change experience. This concept is very relevant to the design of creative learning environments. At the micro level, the wider spatial vision for an organisation needs to be translated by smaller teams into the required spaces for learning, all suited to a range of experiences specific to groupings or activities.