Here is a copy of the article written by Professor Ilfryn Price and myself on space (spatial ecologies) and how spatial environments affects our learning and working. It is published in the recent Royal Society of Arts Journal.  There is also an interesting article in this edition by George Clarke called ‘Restoration Britain’.

I would love to my son out there when he is 10, in a couple of years from now. So I think I am going to start saving up, and do some planning. Camilo and I are both giving keynote speeches at the next International Conference on Experiential Learning in Lima, Peru from 15-19th July. The conference details are on www.icel2013.com

Today the differences between learning and working are being eroded, as more people work in the knowledge industries. Information is easy to locate – what we do with knowledge, and how we learn from experience is key. I will also explore how physical buildings and the internal spatial design can facilitate changes in the behaviour of individuals and even whole organisations; space has considerable potential to liberate people and increase effectiveness in working and learning. One of the examples to be referred to looks at the refurbishment and redesign of the UK anti-terrorist monitoring establishment, which looks not unlike a football stadium from the air – why is this, and how has its new shape affected the way people work……..?

Sage Conference Singapore 2012

I gave a keynote speech yesterday (at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel, situated on the promenade of the Singapore River) for the Strategic Alliance of Global Educators (SAGE) inaugural conference. The other keynotes were: Professor Wang Gungwu, Chairman of the East Asian Institute, Commander of the British Empire (CBE), and Professor of the National University of Singapore speaking on multiculturalism and bilingualism. Professor Randy Yerrick, a lecturer and researcher at New York Univeristy spoke on 1:1 IT. The conference was very interesting for me, and it made links with the themes of three conferences where I have given keynotes at Beijing (Peking) University, where the conference topic of experiential learning explored the crossroads of Eastern and Western approaches.

Singapore

Experiential learning started way back with Confucian times, but badly translated into the Western language of English there is a view that experiential learning is learning by ‘doing’, and often this view is that it is physical doing or outdoor physical doing. This is not so. Experiential ideas can also be found way back in the work of early Greek philosophers, particularly Aristotle, Plato and Socrates. Singapore embraces a milieu of elements found in both Western and Eastern values, as seen in lifestyles here. The educational practices in schools are becoming more experiential in teaching approaches, and co-curricular and extra-curricular, lifewide and lifelong educational ideas are encouraging this shift. Assessment remains an issue, problematic in having little synergy with experiential approaches. This is often the case elsewhere: many University lecturers also resort to ‘default mode’ in assessment i.e. exams or essays. Experiential assessment is in a less advanced stage of development.

At this lovely, lively conference where there was a feeling of energy and thoughtfulness, we talked about languages that might be learned by our children. My work in China has taught me many things about Eastern ways. I have been privileged to experience so much over many years. My Visiting Professor roles at Capital Normal University, Beijing, China (a leading teaching University) and my adjunct professorship at the highly ranked Central University of Finance and Economics have now finished. I never was able to learn much of the Chinese language however but I tried, and the pictographic written language still fascinates me by its origins. The word for rest is a pen stroke version of a person under a tree! At the conference there was much talk about multi-culturalism, and bilingualism. The latter term is limited in my view. My view is that just two (bi) languages must not dominate the globe, i.e. just English and Chinese. This will silence other spoken and written words and meanings. The human species must eventually work towards a common language: this will take some time to evolve. Why not the gesture based sign language I ask myself?

……..I have recently been asked to be a Visiting Professor at Derby University, not far from my home city of Sheffield in the UK. I am looking forward to this new relationship, and it is less distance to travel!