Towards Education 4.0: How Flexibility, Design, Interactivity, and Wellbeing Improve Learning Outcomes. A Real-Life Experiment in an Innovation Laboratory

Abstract

This study aims to analyze whether providing design, flexibility, interactivity, and well-being can benefit learners. The deductive research approach is based on a qualitative exploratory design, including a real-life experiment and a survey with 94 participants. The participants completed a new one-week, full-time course in marketing and sales management in a newly created Innovation Laboratory. This study found that providing a flexible environment with design elements such as writable and magnetic walls, mobile sofas and seating sets, chairs, tables and lecterns support interactivity and collaboration. The coordinated use of color concepts and plants can enhance learners' sense of well-being and their ability to learn efficiently, while also promoting future-oriented skills such as creativity, analytical thinking and problem-solving. All this at low cost.