To meet the growing interest and to extend and share expertise in this field, the University of Hong Kong will host the second U21 Learning Environment Design Forum. The five-day intensive event is being convened by the U21 collaborative group on Learning Environments and builds on the success of the inaugural design forum which was hosted by The University of Melbourne in September 2007.

The design forum is intended to engage participants in discussion and design activity aimed at creating new generation learning environments in higher education. An important aspect of the forum is its aim to promote inter-disciplinary approaches to the design and development of improved learning environments and, to this end, the event encourages the involvement of those with a professional role in this field – including property and estates leaders, audio-visual and information technology staff, educational and curriculum designers, professional/faculty developers and academics.

The 2008 Design Forum will focus on the challenge of creating more effective on-campus learning environments beyond the regular classroom. In particular, it will address the design and development of:

• a ‘learning commons’
• external settings to enliven the campus and create a more engaging environment for staff and students
• the challenge and opportunities presented by campus heritage buildings.

Like the previous design forum, this event is designed to engage participants in small, inter-disciplinary teams in real-life design activity based on actual campus settings drawn from the HKU context. However, the intention is to build the participant’s knowledge and skills in ways that can be applied in their own professional role at their respective institution.

Given the nature of the event (this is not a traditional conference) and the emphasis on hands-on design activity, there are only a limited number of places available for participants. Expressions of interest should be emailed to Heronie Mok in the Strategic Planning Unit at the University of Hong Kong.

Telephone +852 2219 4718
Fax +852 2915 5393

Applicants should identify their U21 institution and their professional role. It is expected that participants will meet their own travel and accommodation/living costs. There is no enrolment fee. The organisers will provide lunch and daily refreshments as well as host several complementary social events.