Jo Tondeur - Vrije Universiteit Brussel
My 1st teacher
The First Teacher: Parents; primary caregivers who provide foundational learning experiences, emotional support, and early cognitive development
My 2nd teacher
The Second Teacher: Formal Educators
Teachers who deliver structured curriculum, facilitate learning experiences, and guide academic growth in institutional settings.My 3th teacher
My 3th teacher!
Learning environments as active contributors in educational practice can be understood as the ‘third teacher’How can we bring them together to create an active learning environment, a third teacher?
What is the problem here?
What do we know about the physical learning environment?
What do we know about the digital learning environment?
Let's find out!
The 'physical learning environment'
How do you like this space?
The software of a school
The hardware of a school (Lawn, 1999)
The social agency can be exercised relative to things and social agency can be exercised by things
"The space should reflect the pedagogy"
- Myers, 1993 -
Classrooms have become a synonym for education.
But that does not mean that we know many things about them”
(Braster, et al., 2011)
The most well-known physical space where formal learning takes place is still a mystery
What is the problem here?
What do we mean by
a 'digital space'?
Be TPACK specific!
Digital storytelling toolCase-based
discussion of
authentic scenariosIntercultural communication theories
What is the problem here?
How do we bring the digital and physical learning environment together?
Integration before the GOT...
From classroom biographies: from 1960 -...
Digital technologies... in the physical space!
Results: 21st Century Skills &
the physical learning environment
Combination axes
Innovative spatial solutions: with their own detailed fiches
> Scenarios based on school visits, interviews with experts and literature
Innovative spatial solutions
What is the problem here?
How do we move to online and blended learning?
Blended learning?
After the GOT?
1st question: Why F2F?
Integrate?
Experience?
Activate?
Demonstrate?
Next: What can we do online?
Instruction
Coach
exercise
Collaborate
What about the blend?
OR
OR
Station rotation/team teaching
What is the problem here?
Where's the third teacher?
Bringing spaces together
Designing Teaching and Learning Environments model
One case in detail
Underground
More examples?
What is the problem here?
Where's the fouth teacher?
Gen AI tools as the 4th teacher, contributing to teaching and learning processes in ways that extend beyond 2nd & 3th teacher roles
(cf. Katsenou et al., 2025).
Artificial intelligence
Where is AI in your learnong environment?
What is the problem here?
