Miraino Manabi wo Design suru (Designing the Future of Learning) New Edition

This book revises the first edition, originally published in 2005, on learning theories and the design of learning environments that underpin learning activities, such as project-based learning and workshops; learning spaces, such as learning commons and active learning studios; and learning communities, such as communities of practice and social learning. It also adds a dialogue with coauthor Prof. Noyuri Mima of Future University Hakodate, reflecting on developments since 2005.
 
The term “learning environment design” has recently gained currency with the arrival of an era in which universal lifelong learning is considered the key to a better life. Learning for a better life assumes that learners are active participants and begins by rejecting so-called “instructionism”—the implicit premise of traditional schooling that knowledge must be transmitted by the instructor. Nevertheless, even if we presuppose the existence of active learners, it is possible to “design learning environments” that activate desirable learning processes. Learning environments created through close collaboration between professional learning environment designers and active learners can become sociocultural assets that will sustain the lifelong learning society of the future.

As an introduction to “learning environment design,” this book presents insights primarily from educational technology and the learning sciences, illustrated with concrete examples.

• Prologue: Why “Learning for the Future”?
Examines different perspectives on learning, drawing on everyday discussions to explore epistemological foundations.

•Chapter 1: Space
Discusses the potential for new learning opened up by innovative spaces, including the case of Future University Hakodate, which coauthor Noyuri Mima helped design.

•Chapter 2: Activity
Explains how new forms of activity based on contemporary perspectives on learning are practiced through examples such as project-based learning and university workshops.

•Chapter 3: Community
Develops a discussion on sociocultural approaches to learning, grounded in the theory of communities of practice.

•Final Chapter: Designing Learning Environments
Summarizes the appropriate order and considerations necessary when designing spaces, activities, and communities that generate learning.

This new edition adds the following section to the above content from the first edition: “Dialogue on the Occasion of the New Edition: ‘Learning for the Future’ Keeps Driving Forward (Noyuri Mima + Yuhei Yamauchi).” Drawing on cases that the two authors worked on between 2005 and 2025, it discusses the latest trends in learning environment design and future challenges.
 

(Written by YAMAUCHI Yuhei, Professor, Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies / 2025)