PROJECTS
An introduction to some of our projects since 2010
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR TEACHERS
[ 2022 – ONGOING ]
RemixED aims to establish an ongoing team-based learning design approach to continuing professional development for teachers. The project builds on the need to improve the pedagogical use of technology and the value teachers found from peer support and shared resources during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic created a context where many teachers in Europe were forced to rapidly adopt online and blended learning. The short time frame that teachers had to prepare the new teaching scenarios often resulted in improvised solutions and suboptimal uses of technology and pedagogy. Teachers found value in the informal support of their peers and from shared teaching resources.
The project partners are Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Universidad de Vigo, European University of Cyprus, Centro de Estudios Dolmen S.L., SEK-Atlántico S.L., Lykeio Archangelou Apostolos Markos, and in Denmark 10.klasseskolen and MLCommunicate.
For more information see and interact on the Facebook page
SPOTLIGHT ON STRESS AND SELF-REGULATION
[ 2018 – 2021 ]
A project that aims to inform educators and students of the potential long-term effects of stress and provides them with the competences to reduce these potential complications from arising.
Spotlighters is an international collaboration co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union. The consortium includes higher educational and professional partners with expertise in the fields of neuroscience, education technology, and teacher development – who are experienced in bridging research and practice in educational settings. Associate partners include primary and secondary schools.
The partners are Universitat Pompeu Fabra, University of Western Macedonia, University of Helsinki, Metropolia University, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Advancis, Boon and LOOP.bz
For more information check out the materials on
[ 2010 – ONGOING ]
One of my continuous projects is to visit schools all over the world. I am doing this because whenever I visit a school I learn something. I learn about culture, both the culture that is dominating in the country and society where the school is located, and general school culture. By school culture I mean the culture which is shared across the globe, the (often unspoken) habits and rules that influence how schools are organised both physically and mentally.
EXPLORATION OF SCHOOLS
I always learn something about my own culture and assumptions about schools, learning and organisation. Experiencing someone doing something different from how it is done in my own culture and doing it as the most natural thing, and
sometimes believing it is the only way, is the best way for my eyes to opened to my own assumptions and reflect open heartedly and open minded about what the value is behind the things we do, why we do them and how we might do things differently.
I get many new ideas and references which can help broaden the understanding of what a learning environment can be. I use these in my dialogue with people who would like to learn more about educational culture and / or would like to develop their own school culture (and physical spaces).
I document my visits, see pictures
REDESIGN OF SCHOOLS DURING COVID-19 - LASTING EFFECTS WORTHWHILE
[ 2021 – ONGOING ]
Cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary exploration. As the world battles with finding a healthy footing in the educational sector, we aim to spread light on how some schools are coping in their everyday life in an attempt to inspire others in their struggle to provide good education in a Covid-19-safe environment. Belgium, Catalonia, Denmark and Sweden have all reacted differently to the Covid-19 situation. Through the exploration of the physical design, the managerial decisions and the teachers' and students' perception of their workplace, we hope to discover good practices that can inspire across nations, cultures and educational systems.
The aim of the project is to create knowledge from the current school situation during the pandemic that will benefit school development in the future. What can we learn from this situation that will support the designing of schools in the future?
within the two fields. We experience that students are in a frame of mind, where it is normal to examine, question and explore what for most professionals seems natural and has become a fixed way of doing things.
Through this project we challenge that we often look to the ones with the most experience for answers, because the most experienced people are often the people with the strongest patterns of thinking and behaviour. We want to foster a project culture, where we rely on the experienced to lead and frame the process but look to the newcomers within the field to challenge and expand it.
SPACE LAB - AN EDUCATIONAL PROJECT
[ 2019 ]
Developing an educational project for teachers and designers in order to aid reflections about physical learning spaces and practices. The participants will learn about the connection between pedagogy, furniture and space and develop their understanding of their own role in the processes that lead to our current educational environments. Besides working with teachers and designers who are already working with and in educational environments, we have chosen to focus on students
understanding children and adults of equal worth, with different roles in the organisation. This has brought forward new terminology, amongst other, workers and co-workers (instead of pupils and teachers), to highlight the relationship.
Read more about it in Learning Space Magazine
TEACHING AS A SPATIAL PRACTICE // THE NETHERLANDS
[ 2015-2019 ]
The past couple of years I have had a collaboration with DeWerkplats, a school in the Netherlands, where I have been observing on a regular basis and helping them reflect on their pedagogical practices and utilisation of space. DeWerkplaats is an interesting school founded on pedagogical ideas and beliefs about the importance of the relationship between people,
another part of the school was made. Securing a continuation in the development of the school, where new knowledge is created and used not just in class but throughout the school environment.
One of the crucial learnings from the project was that we were finally able to research treating low frequencies in a learning space. As professionals from several fields within acoustics and educational development we had to acknowledge the importance and challenges of dealing with the low frequencies. Read more about the project and some of the findings in this article published on Ecophon’s website.
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A SOUND LEARNING ENVIRONMENT // SPAIN
[ 2015 – 2016 ]
Researching why the physical spaces and pedagogy clashed at Col.legi Montserrat. Acoustically regulating two modernised learning spaces and researching the effects. Securing a healthy acoustic environment in the already refurbished areas and the canteen. Based on learnings from the research of the acoustically changed environments sketches for a refurbishment of another part of the school was made. Securing a healthy acoustic environment in the already refurbished areas and the canteen. Based on learnings from the research of the acoustically changed environments sketches for a refurbishment of
INHABITING SPACE OVER TIME // DENMARK
[ 2000 – 2016 ]
Maglegårdsskolen is a school that has existed in the same place since 1909. The main classroom building was added in 1930 after many years of pupil growth and complications finding enough space for them (short summary of the school’s history). More buildings followed and activities moved around in them over the years. In 2000 a total rebuild of the inside of the buildings took place as a part of Gentofte municipality’s large school development project SKUB. The following two decades
LOOP.bz had a close relationship with the school and visited often to learn from the development (read more about Maglegaards' development).
The development at Maglegårdsskolen led to the discovery of acoustical challenges in innovative collaborative learning environments. Ten years after the physical changes, based on pedagogical ideas about learning through collaboration and pupils being more active than passive, LOOP.bz started collaboration with Saint-Gobain Ecophon exploring the acoustic requirements to support these innovative learning environments.
SPECIAL ACOUSTIC NEEDS // DENMARK
[ 2015 ]
Søgårdsskolen, a development-oriented school for students with special needs, offers a holistic approach where the teachers and educators work closely together in teams. The smaller classrooms are part of a cluster which includes wardrobe areas for each class and a common space with a kitchen. In 2015 LOOP.bz and Saint-Gobain Ecophon decided to offer the school a project which included a study of three classrooms (observations of everyday activities and behavior, sound measurements during class as well as room acoustic measurements) and installation of additional sound absorbing material.
The installations in the three classrooms were all different in order to observe and test the difference between three of the most popular acoustic solutions when it comes to classrooms. Teachers were interviewed after the material had been in place for a while and observations were done before and after the installations. Besides the increased awareness of the teachers directly involved in the project, the school received a summary of our findings and recommendations as to how they could work with their sound environment moving forward.