Outdoor learning is a way of integrating different places and their characteristics into the teaching and learning process. It does not simply mean moving the class outside, but rather proposes a new way of thinking about education altogether.

We’ve already dedicated a lot of time to the relation between outdoor learning and design in writing our latest book: The City as a Classroom. Now we dive even deeper into the specifics of that topic. Backed by the DIS Pedagogical Development Fund we will investigate how the higher educational institutions can benefit from integrating the city in the curriculum and venturing out into the urban spaces.

The project aims to investigate alternative practices, tools and methods for learning in the urban context. The scope of the content will expand from existing and proposed alternative DIS teaching practices to international academic examples that bring new ideas for academic learning in the urban context. The projects strives to discover the benefits of academic learning in urban context for individuals, institutions and societies. The main objective of the research project is to develop new methods and practices for alternative academic learning, based on the collected knowledge and conducted analysis. Hence, the project is partly a research into the nature and beneficial effects of outdoor academic learning in the urban realm, and partly development of new material and practices to initiate extended use of the city as a classroom.