This document discusses an OECD project on innovative learning environments. It aims to promote deep learning, 21st century competencies, and lifelong learning through innovation. The project focuses on understanding learning from research, conceptualizing innovative learning environments through case studies, and supporting implementation and change. Key aspects of innovative learning environments are that they make learning central, are social and collaborative, are attuned to learner motivations and emotions, accommodate individual differences, are demanding but not overloaded, use formative assessment, and promote connections across activities.

1. INNOVATIVE LEARNING
ENVIRONMENTS: A LONG-TERM
OECD PROJECT
DAVID ISTANCE
Centre for Educational Research and
Innovation (CERI), OECD
November 2013

2. THE ILE PROJECT
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3. Why learning? Why innovation?
• Knowledge central to our economies and
societies - therefore, learning also central
• The difficulties of changing education
systems invites a fresh focus on learning
itself
• So much learning takes place outside
classrooms
• Innovation needed as the learning bar
continues to be raised - promoting deep
learning, 21st century competences,
foundations for lifelong learning

4. Common framework, inadequate to address
learning environments & systems
SYSTEM
SCHOOL
CLASS
TEACHER
LEARNER
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5. ILE understanding of ‘learning environment’
• Based in the organisation and terminology of
learning (not starting with institutions, schools,
classrooms and subjects).
• A holistic eco-system that includes the activity
and outcomes of the learning.
• Context and time essential to understanding
learning – interaction take time as does learning
itself.
• ‘Environments’ assume mix – of learning
approaches, experiences, and settings – not
fragmented “treatments”.
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6. Building ILE from fundamentals
1.Understanding the lessons of “Learning
Research”
(The Nature of Learning: Using research to Inspire
Practice, 2010)
2. Conceptualising environments & compiling
inspiring “Innovative Cases”
(Innovative Learning Environments, 2013)
3. Growing and sustaining innovative learning “Implementation and Change”
(Learning Leadership, 2013 (in press) Final Reports,
2014)
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7. THE NATURE OF LEARNING
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8. “The Nature of Learning: Using Research to Inspire
Practice” OECD Publications, Sept. 2010, 338pp.

9. The Learning Principles – environments
should:
• Make learning central, encourage engagement, and be where
learners come to understand themselves as learners
• Ensure that learning is social and often collaborative
• Be highly attuned to learners’ motivations and the importance of
emotions
• Be acutely sensitive to individual differences including in prior
knowledge
• Be demanding for each learner but without excessive overload
• Use assessments consistent with its aims, with strong emphasis on
formative feedback
• Promote horizontal connectedness across activities and subjects, inand out-of-school
Moreover, all should be present not one or two.
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10. THE ILE FRAMEWORK
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11. ‘Innovative Learning Environments’ 2013
Based especially but not
exclusively on 40 case
studies from 20 systems
(plus 85 self-report notes
submitted by diverse
sources)
Develops and presents the
ILE framework
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12. 21st century learning environments should:
• Integrate and apply the ILE learning
principles
• Innovate the “pedagogical core”
• Engage the “Design/Redesign”
formative cycle
• Extend capacity through partnerships.
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13. Innovating the basic elements of the
‘pedagogical core’
Profile of ‘teachers’
may be innovated
by adding:
• Volunteers
• learning
professionals
• experts;
• Distant teachers
• peer teaching
Knowledge, competences &
values. Innovations include:
• 21st c competences
• Languages, culture
• Sustainability
• Interdisciplinarity
Innovation through which
resources used and how used.
• Digital resources
• Use of learning space
Selection or outreach
can alter learner
profiles
Innovations include:
• Distant learners
• Parents as learners
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14. Innovating the organisation and
dynamics of the ‘pedagogical core’
Teacher grouping
Team teaching to expand
pedagogical possibilities
Team teaching to target
specific learners
Varying team and
individual teaching
Learner grouping
Varying size & profile of
learner groups
Smaller groups in larger groups
Mixed age groups
Rescheduling
learning time
Flexibility in timetabling
Personalised timetabling
Rituals
Incorporating distant & nonformal learning elements
Innovating pedagogical
options
Options include:
Inquiry-based methods
Tech-rich possibilities
Strong formative feedback
Remixing pedagogies
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15. Learning Leadership and the Formative
Learning Environment
-Vision of learning
- Change strategies,
including partnerships
- Distributed:
Managers, teachers,
learners, partners
- Formative feedback
to learners & teachers
- Formative evidence
to the learning
leadership
It’s the learners who learn
– the diverse learning that
results from the work of
the learning environment
- Learning logs,
portfolios - Visibility
of teacher work
- Research &
evaluation by the LE
on the LE
- Information systems,
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data management

16. Partnerships enriching innovative
learning environments within…
-Inside the
pedagogical core.
-Influencing the
learning leadership.
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17. Extending boundaries and capacity through
partnerships
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18. All informed by the ILE learning principles
ILE Learning Principles for 21st
Century Effectiveness
1) Make learning and learner
engagement central
2) Ensure that learning is social
and often collaborative
3) Be highly attuned to learners’
motivations & emotions
4) Be acutely sensitive to
individual differences
5) Be demanding for each learner,
without overload
6) Assessment coherent with
learning aims & strong emphasis
on formative feedback
7) Promote ‘horizontal
connectedness’ across activities &
subjects, in- & out-of-school
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19. THANK YOU!
david.istance@oecd.org
www.oecd.org/edu/ceri/innovativelearningenvironments.htm
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