'Sit up straight, face forward, and pay attention!' Students typically spend around 15,000 hours of their lives in schools. Until recently, much of that time would have been sitting at a desk with little opportunity to move during a class lesson (Burke & Grosvenor, 2008; Fisher, 2002). With ready access to information using digital technologies and a stronger appreciation of learning through making and collaboration, changes are happening within schools and higher education sectors. Changing pedagogy has spatial implications (Dudek, 2000). In a digitally rich learning environment, is it still useful to seat students at desks facing a teacher and smart board? More fundamentally, is it time to reassess how institutions distribute people into places across the learning week? How might team teaching, peer instruction, community-based learning, learning through making and informal learning be supported by rethinking our learning settings? How might classroom spaces lead to higher student engagement? How might the redesign of our learning spaces cultivate agency and ownership of learning in students? In this paper, we highlight the significant, and often forgotten, role of furniture and the physical environment in creating learning spaces experiences that are purposeful, functional and empowering. We draw on research and industry innovations undertaken over the past two decades to question the traditional role of the desk and chair (OWP/P Architects, VS Furniture, & Bruce Mau Design, 2010). We highlight the importance of movement (Blankstein, 2013; Leadbeater, 2012). We argue problem-based learning requires different learning settings. We consider the important role of informal learning (Malott, 2011). We suggest that lessons can be learnt from the way offices are reconfiguring their spatial layouts to encourage new conversations across disciplines boundaries. We explore the ways in which these different learning settings give the teacher and learner a more active role in their learning. We also argue that changing the physical environment alone will not bring about widespread teaching innovation in schools or higher education (Newton, 2009; Newton & Fisher, 2009). Organisational change within educational institutions is difficult and requires leadership, professional development and consultation as well as time and space for educators to plan together to respond to new opportunities for learning in a digitally rich world. New opportunities arising from digital technologies will arguably be the major driver of change in the coming decade.

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