TURN26 in Weimar: When Learning Becomes a Space for Experience
The motivation for learning doesn’t always come from a textbook; sometimes a surprising experience, a moment of confusion, or a conversation is enough to trigger something and open up new ways of thinking. »Experiential TURN – Erfahrungsräume für zukunftsfähiges Lernen« (space for experiential learning for a sustainable future) is the theme for the TURN Conference 2026, which will be held on 24 and 25 September 2026 at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar. The Conference will explore the role played by experience when it comes to teaching, learning, and higher education development.
Experience Is More Than Experimenting
Experience-based learning combines concrete experiences with reflection, theoretical contextualization, and renewed application. TURN26 focusses on how teaching and learning can be designed around different dimensions of learning: The mind represents the development of higher education teaching; the heart represents attitude, motivation, and responsibility; and the senses represent the experience itself: perceiving, trying things out, reflecting, and developing new ideas together.
TURN26 Programme
Spaces for experiencing require places, formats, and encounters that enable participation. TURN26 asks how students, instructors, pedagogical and teaching support staff, university administration, and partners from the community can work together to develop sustainable teaching practices.
The response to the call for participation was remarkable: 412 proposals were submitted, including 54 from students. These figures show the strong interest in issues related to experiential learning and highlights the importance of student perspectives. The submissions were reviewed in a process that included students, instructors, and staff. The result is a programme that combines diverse perspectives and focusses on topics like student participation, learning experience design, AI use in academic studies and teaching, and reflection as an essential part of experience-based learning.
TURN26 aims to bring these experiential spaces to life through workshops, discussions, encounters, and formats that combine exchange, teaching practice, and higher education development. Keynote speeches with key insights will be held by, among others, Nick Tyler, Professor at University College London, and Ira Helten, student at Europa-Universität Viadrina Frankfurt/Oder.
TURN26 invites attendees to understand higher education from a new perspective, as something that is conceived, experienced, and collectively shaped. Because experience matters when collective experiences lead to collective learning.
Register Now
Students, faculty members, pedagogical and teaching support staff, university administration, and partners from the community are invited to join us at TURN26 from 24 to 25 September at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar.
Participation is free of charge. As spaces are limited, we recommend that you register as early as possible. All programme information can be found on the official TURN26 website: https://turn-conference.org/
We ask that Bauhaus-Universität Weimar members who are only interested in specific events contact the TURN26 team directly.
Questions can be directed to the TURN26 team via e-mail: turn26[at]uni-weimar.de
Contact for TURN26
TURN26 Team at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar
Anna-Lena Öhmann - Conference Coordinator
E-Mail: turn26[at]uni-weimar.de
https://turn-conference.org/