Designed as a festival, the organization of this innovative symposium marks the launch of the ExpLearn network recently accredited by the French Ministry of Culture. Its ambition is to bring together educators, reasearchers, and research institutions from French, European and international schools of architecture and landscape design, who are sensitive to learning by doing and experiential learning in the field of eco-responsible architecture and landscape, the art of building with biosourced and geosourced materials, and the holistic perception of space and the natural and built environment.

The ExpLearn 2.0 international symposium is the continuation of the previous ExpLearn 1.0 symposium, which took place in Fall 2016. This, then first, scientific meeting in France on this topic allowed the documentation of various pedagogical and methodological approaches of experimental learning, and the promotion of these pedagogies, which were not widespread in France at the time. 

Today, we are witnessing the emergence of experiential practices in response to contemporary issues linked to ecological and societal transitions, climate change and the associated risks, respect for and enhancement of cultural diversity, and the fight against poverty.

In fact, a growing number of educators trained in these practices are helping to strengthen existing courses or are keen to develop new ones in response to strong student demand, in France and on all continents. 

In this context, ExpLearn 2.0 sets new goals aiming to deepen the knowledge on experiential learning and the diversity of its implementations in architecture and environmental design education :

• Contextualizing the various theoretic bases of architectural experiential learning
• Identifying and documenting the parameters and frameworks that favor the development of well-experienced model practices
• Questionning evaluation methods (measuring the impact) of these approaches in academic and professional spheres (concrete, detailed and replicable results)

To that end, three main topics have been selected :

• Topic 1 : Experiential learning in architecture : diversity of approaches

Contributions will describe the pedagogies and their goals for students, covering as many practices as possible, from the simplest workshops to the most elaborate design-builds. The discussion will be focused on the definition of these goals depending on the target audience, its background, or the contemplated type of projects, etc, as well as the adequacy of the methods with these goals.

• Topic 2 : Management, logistics, financial, legal, insurance and institutional frameworks

Contributions will to tackle issues such as calendar, transportation, housing, implementation of materials, supervision of learners, relationships to craftspeople, to other professionals, to contractors or to local inhabitants, etc. Contributions are also expected to describe the legal framework and insurance provided specifically for these activities, as well as the academic framework that support them. An accurate definition of these aspects are getting always more necessary, even though they are strongly dependent on locations and conditions. A measure of the necessary institutional support will be at the forefront of the topic.

• Topic 3 : Social impact of in-situ and experiential pedagogies

The impact of the undertaken pedagogies is not limited simply to the academic framework. To that extent, the symposium will also question the effects of the experiential pedagogies on the professional practice of the former learners within society, and the evaluation of its impact compared to more traditional pedagogies. Other expected communications will set in the forefront the rationale of the experiential pedagogies, as well as the tools allowing to grasp efficiently their impact on the training and the future activity of the learners.

Far beyond stereotypes associated to these experiences when experimented and shared, the EXPLEARN 2.0 international symposium will question the "why", the "how-to", and the value - both material and immaterial - of experiential learning in architecture.

The symposium will allow attendees to share their respective experiences, the less-experienced educators to get to know first elements of methods and tools to start efficiently and comfortably, and to define the preliminary conditions that are necessary to implement such model approaches, in France and around the world.

The symposium will take place over three days. The first two and a half days will be devoted to communications and discussions, followed by an optional half-day of fieldtrips, enabling participants to visit iconic experiential learning sites and projects in the french Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region.

After an introduction and a description of the ambitions for the symposium, the program will be structured around five types of communication on three topics : pedagogical approaches, organization and frameworks, societal impact.

• An « opening keynote » delivered by an expert in pedagogy and theoretical frame, and a « closing keynote » delivered by a long experienced and internationally reknown teachning practicioner.

Modalities : by invitation of the scientific committee, lecture and 5000-word paper

• Times for acculturation and debates around the presentations of 7 international speakers with examplary and institutionally anchored approaches, selected for the quality of the architecture produced, and the lifespan of the educational program, allowing iteration and critical feedback.

Modalities : by invitation of the scientific committee, oral presentation and 3000-word paper

• 2 « ideation workshops » on “emerging pedagogies” and “one-off experiments”, facilitated by a professional journalist

Modalities : call for abstracts, oral presentation and 1500-word paper

•  a series of experiential conferences (short format), allowing presenters to demonstrate in real time the pedagogical approaches
  

Modalities : call for abstracts, interractive presentation and 1500-word paper

• An experiential exhibition, opened during informal times, allowing faculty as well as students to present a specific or experimental pedagogy, with any relevant supportive material that can illustrate the success or the failures, and the true execution of the activity, in its complexity and attempted solutions, with "no make-up". It will also allow the audience to get to know other possible case studies, with varying ambition and structuring.

Modalities : call for abstracts, free format, and a 500-word article.

The symposium will be committed to document, through all contributions, the tools, research attempts, action possibilities and methods to create favorable conditions to the dissemination and democratization of experiential learning in architecture.

To that extent, both the invited and selected speakers will have the possibility to revise their contribution after the symposium, in order to pave the way for a publications of the proceedings by the end of 2025.