Sweden leads world into new age of learning

Uppsala University, founded in 1477, might be Sweden's oldest, but its new learning lab means it is looking towards the future.

The facility is part of the Swedish Learning Lab (SLL), a collaborative educational network that includes the university, Sweden's Royal Institute of Technology, the Karolinska Institute and Stanford University in the United States.

The lab, set up with SEK132 million (Pounds 10 million) from Sweden's Wallenberg Foundations, was opened by Bo Sundqvist, Uppsala rector, and Gerhard Casper, Stanford president.

Casper said the lab would help bring together academics and students as well as industry representatives from the US, Sweden and other parts of the world to help improve learning across all educational levels and cultural and geographic boundaries.

The SLL aims to explore the use of information and communications technology-supported learning, such as physical and virtual dynamic learning environments, in specific areas of undergraduate education.

Uppsala Learning Lab: www.learning-lab.uu.se; Swedish Learning Lab: www.swedishlearninglab.org; Stanford Learning Lab: http://learninglab stanford.edu