Mapping innovative learning experiences in the UK

Summary CREANOVA is an EU-funded project that aims to undertake research on specific conditions and factors which are present in creative learning environments and promote innovation. While innovation is a defined imperative for European learning policy, there is a lack of evidence on what constitutes meaningful innovation and how it can be fostered and applied in learning. It is anticipated that the research outcomes from CREANOVA will inform innovative competence acquisition and development in formal and informal learning contexts, such as vocational education and training (VET), adult education and work-based learning (WBL). This paper maps the ways in which 18 UK entities demonstrate and reflect innovative learning. However, in anticipation of further research, special attention is paid to addressing the challenges of blending the learning environment. The blending of hybrid pedagogical imperatives and methodologies, within physical and virtual learning environments, has increased access and flexibility for the learner and for the delivery of innovative learning spaces. However, there are many challenges related to developing a coherent framework for facilitating an effective blended learning environment. There is a need to develop an understanding of what blended learning is, in relation to both how and why people learn. It is also necessary to ask what we, the educational provider, can learn from the people who populate these ‗programmes‘ of learning. This article, and the research that accompanies it, is attempting to reconcile the relationships resident within the duality of experiences for both student/trainee and educator/trainer and to bridge the divide by considering current pedagogical theory within the reality of work-based educational practice and learning development.