The first issue of ACCESS in 2017 brings together a sequence of articles on Modern Learning Environments (MLEs). Here issues of spatiality, philosophy, new technologies and education coalesce. Guest editors, Leon Benade and Mark Jackson raised a provocation out of the propositions of architect, Prakash Nair, which elicited many and varied responses from scholars of philosophical, design or pedagogical persuasion. The articles gathered here make for fascinating and challenging scholarly encounters.
Leon Benade and Mark Jackson are well positioned to engage here. They bring their different knowledge perspectives to bear upon the subject of MLEs. Leon is a senior lecturer at the School of Education, Auckland University of Technology (AUT); and Mark, an Associate Professor at the School of Art and Design, AUT. Leon comes to the subject with a Doctor of Education from The University of Auckland and wide scholarly experience in educational work. Mark presents with a Doctor of Philosophy in architecture from the University of Sydney, and draws from many years experience in the field of design and architecture, and their intersections with education and pedagogy.
Both are regular contributors to EPAT and ACCESS. For about 15 years, Mark Jackson has contributed actively to ACCESS as an author and reviewer, drawing on his scholarship in pedagogy and educational philosophy. His research engages in particular the philosophical writings of Heidegger, Foucault, Derrida and Agamben, and he has published in the fields of architecture, design cultures, film-philosophy and the visual arts. Leon Benade is also an active contributor and reviewer for ACCESS. In 2016, Leon co-edited an ACCESS Special Issue commemorating the work of New Zealand educator, Elwyn Richardson. He writes and publishes on the ethical contexts of teachers’ work and has particular interest in issues of twenty-first century learning, new pedagogical approaches and the development of flexible learning environments. Leon Benade and Mark Jackson are collaborating professionally on several projects and postgraduate work relating to learning environments research and practice. This includes co-editing a book publication on innovative learning environments.
When Leon and Mark suggested this theme for a Special Issue, it was accepted immediately as one that has been embraced little to date in educational publications. The theme brings together scholarship on educational pedagogy, spatiality, design, philosophical questions of knowledge, institutional practices and policy perspectives that drive educational decisions and effect on-the-ground practices of teaching and learning. This coverage suits the overarching mission of ACCESS, whose aim is to focus on cultural and policy analysis in education with communications as an important aspect.
The articles gathered here show the complexity of the subject identified as Modern Learning Environments, and the diverse ways that the human subject is affected by spatial concerns in the educational project. As editor of ACCESS, I thank Leon Benade and Mark Jackson for bringing their expertise to bear upon this publication. By collaborative processes of inventing, creating, negotiating, reviewing, critically reflecting, engaging and advising they have brought to life an important academic work.
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University
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