International Forum at Hokkaido University to Explore Embodied Learning and Educational Spaces
Hokkaido University will host the international forum “Educational Spaces: Embodied Learning and the Reconstruction of Cultural Ethos” on 7 August 2026 in Sapporo, Japan and online.
Taking place from 14:00 to 18:00, the forum will bring together researchers and educators to examine how learning can extend beyond conventional classrooms and digital environments. Participants will explore educational experiences created through movement, travel, outdoor activities, cultural encounters and direct engagement with people and places.
Reconsidering where and how learning takes place
At the centre of the forum is the idea of “wanderlust”: deliberately turning towards the world itself as a place of learning.
The event approaches educational spaces in a broad sense, encompassing outdoor environments, walking and climbing, tourism, theatre, forests, streets, conversations with unfamiliar people and the creative documentation of lived experiences.
The programme will consider what may be lost as education becomes increasingly shaped by efficiency-driven and screen-based environments. It will also examine what learners can regain by slowing down, moving through physical spaces and engaging directly with different communities, cultures and natural environments.
Drawing on the concept of voluntary simplicity, the forum will investigate how experiences that may initially appear less efficient or technologically sophisticated can nevertheless provide rich educational opportunities. Discussions will address transdisciplinary co-creation, intercultural communication, walking workshops, outdoor and forest education, media production and travel as a means of developing civic and political understanding.
Keynote on Alpine clubs and the history of wanderlust
The keynote address will be delivered by Dr Andreas Brugger of the Montafon Archive at the Montafon Folk Museum Schruns in Vorarlberg, Austria.
His presentation, entitled “The Alpine Clubs in the Eastern Alps between infrastructural development of the mountain environment, transfer of knowledge and ongoing progression of ‘wanderlust’ from the 1860s until World War I,” will explore the historical relationship between mountain environments, knowledge exchange and cultures of travel and exploration.
The forum will be introduced by Professor Keiko Ikeda of Hokkaido University’s Faculty of Education and coordinated by Dale Whitfield of the university’s Institute for Academic Innovation.
Other contributors will include scholars from Hokkaido University, Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University and the Montafon Folk Museum, bringing perspectives from education, tourism, media, communication, cultural history and academic innovation.
Event details
Date: Friday, 7 August 2026
Time: 14:00–18:00
Venue: Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan
Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85238155250?pwd=iQCavkdnJNglLaJb6mqkRVtjtamoEq.1
Meeting ID: 852 3815 5250
Passcode: 937203
The forum is hosted by the Laboratory of Theory of Bodily Culture, Faculty of Education, Hokkaido University, with support from the Sport & Peace UNESCO Club Japan.
For more information refer to the pdf document here Educational_Spaces, or please contact Professor Keiko Ikeda at kikeda@edu.hokudai.ac.jp.
