e-learning
H. Pourmehdi Ghaemmaghami; A. Khaki Ghasr
Abstract
Background and Objectives: All academic fields, including architecture, were taught online during the COVID-19 pandemic. Architectural design studios were the most challenging courses offered online among all the architectural courses. The benefits and disadvantages of teaching in online design studios ...
Read More
Background and Objectives: All academic fields, including architecture, were taught online during the COVID-19 pandemic. Architectural design studios were the most challenging courses offered online among all the architectural courses. The benefits and disadvantages of teaching in online design studios have been studied through research on practitioner feedback. The current study focuses on the advantages of online studios and emphasizes the importance of verbal representation in the architectural design process. As verbal representation is utilized in the design process, with verbal description being one of its tools, the question arises: Is it feasible to enhance the verbal representation skills of architecture students, despite the limitations in content transmission and the challenges encountered during online studio delivery?Materials and Methods: The research methodology is qualitative. It is based on a systematic literature review and case study in which authors have used an autoethnography approach, sharing their experiences as online instructors during the COVID-19 crisis. The case study was carried out via thematic analysis supported by coding employing tactics including observations, memos, self-evaluation of students, and questionnaires. The research took place at Shahid Beheshti University's Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning for five academic semesters (2019-2022). The statistical population included 147 students (111 undergrads and 36 graduates). Findings: The results demonstrate that, due to the constraints of material sharing compared to face-to-face studios, architectural design online studios rely primarily on listening senses and linguistic skills. The results show an improvement in students' verbal representation (both oral and written), which varies depending on the studios. In online studios, 86% of students reported that their writing ability had improved, and 73% reported that their oral representation had improved. It is worth noting that students in online studios rate verbal representation in written format as the second most improved skill out of six. As a result, the level of usage and acceptability of written and oral representation in the creative process in online studios has not been consistent, and it may alter for various reasons. Some key points that make it successful include the instructor's preference for employing verbal description and representation in the studio, the student's potential in verbal description, the theme of the design studio, and where we are in the design process.Conclusions: Online architectural design studios provide students with the chance to improve their verbal representation skills. Additionally, one of the bases of delivering online studios is the ability to express ideas clearly via language, which also plays a compensating role during the design process in maintaining the studios' quality. Use of this feature in hybrid, online, or face-to-face studios could be part of future plans. The valuable tasks to be carried out should be defined and experienced in this context so that they can be implemented at the beginning, middle, or end of the design process. The practice of expressing the scenario, defining the design problem, writing the design statement, preparing sessions for reading descriptions from renowned authors' texts, as well as the sessions for critiquing the works of students and architects in the online studios in tutorial and judgment sessions, can be listed among them.
Technology-based learning environments
M. Maneshi; S. A. Tahaei; Sh. Mirshahzadeh
Abstract
Background and Objectives: There is a large gap between education in architecture schools in Iran and modern educational methods in advanced industrial countries. Iran educational methods are still the same as in the past, which unfortunately have not kept pace with the changes of the new era, and this ...
Read More
Background and Objectives: There is a large gap between education in architecture schools in Iran and modern educational methods in advanced industrial countries. Iran educational methods are still the same as in the past, which unfortunately have not kept pace with the changes of the new era, and this can be one of the reasons for the ineffectiveness of architectural education in Iran. The architecture schools need to be changed due to the changes in the educational system and the increasing needs of students to communication and modern technologies. In other words, the pervasiveness of new technologies has affected the educational system and the educational environment must continuously adapt to the improvements and developments of today's world. The most important goal of the educational system is to educate capable and competent individuals and produce extensive knowledge to meet the changing needs of the modern world for life and a growing society. In fact, the educational system must constantly strive to respond to the educational innovations and evolutions and prepare students for a rapidly changing world. The need for change, modernizing and updating the educational spaces is important in parallel with the new educational flow in architecture and urban planning faculties. This research comparatively examined the curriculum, spaces and new educational technologies in the architecture education system in selected universities of the world. The purpose of the research was to identify solutions for reforming the university architecture education system in Iran.Methods: The present study was descriptive, analytical and applied. Content analysis was based on an inductive approach. The research sample was purposefully selected from among the leading architectural schools in the world, which were selected by valid evaluations. The research method was comparative with qualitative approach and based on the stages of George Bereday's comparative Method in education: Description, Interpretation, Juxtaposition and Comparison. The data and documents were collected from library studies, books and articles, web-based information that were categorized and analyzed in tables and charts format and the common qualitative characteristics of the top schools of architecture in the world were determined.Findings: Analyses performed on the samples showed that the use of new educational technologies would play a central role in the curriculum of the educational system and was effective in improving the level of education and learning of students. Also, some of the innovations of this field were recognized in the top universities of the world. Among the most important of these innovations were frequent revisions of the curriculum, working in workshop environments with advanced equipment, holding educational trips, preparing students for the job market, holding lectures and exhibitions with the presence of contemporary architects, working in work environments with real employers and prominent architectural offices.Conclusion: A comparison of the strategies of MIT, Harvard, Rice, Sci-Arc and Cooper Union universities showed that MIT and Harvard offer the most flexible curriculum among the universities, while using a suitable educational environment with advanced and up-to-date architectural equipment and facilities. Rice University increases the creativity of students with the possibility of apprenticeship in the offices of prominent architects and holding classes and courses about current and future architectural issues and challenges. With the approach of creating flexibility and dynamism in the teaching method, Sci-Arc School emphasizes the innovative innovations and creative solutions in architectural design, holding lectures and exhibitions with the presence of world-renowned professors and architects, and emphasizing the interaction between professors and students. Cooper Union School, in addition to providing a suitable educational environment, focuses on the sociability of gathering spaces and increasing social interactions between the general public, students and professors. As a result, the university architecture curriculum must be in line with new developments in the education process. Technology and its advanced tools and critical thinking are considered as essential and vital factors for success in architecture education. It is necessary to take a step towards improving the quality of architecture education by using technologies and making all necessary changes to revise and reorganize the educational system.
Technology-based learning environments
M. Hosseini; S.B. Hosseini; F. Mozaffar
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Reflective learning has been studied in various studies. Reflecting while learning architecture alongside practice helps the student to evaluate and refine the design idea, and this round-trip process is mostly repeated. The application of reflective learning in the field of ...
Read More
Background and Objectives: Reflective learning has been studied in various studies. Reflecting while learning architecture alongside practice helps the student to evaluate and refine the design idea, and this round-trip process is mostly repeated. The application of reflective learning in the field of architecture while practicing needs to be examined to understand to which extent teachers are committed to this teaching method in studios. The investigation and recognition of assessment features along with reflection in architectural studios was the subject of this research.Methods: In order to know the status of assessment in architecture schools, the behavior of teachers in this field and their preferences during assessment were studied through a semi-open questionnaire and the importance of reflective assessment indicators including rational assessment with micro-score was examined. In this study, the presence of students and round trip evaluation based on the design process were also asked from a sample of fifteen participants from the teaching community. For each question, Likert scale answers from 1 (very low) to 5 (very high) were collected and analyzed. Then, their preferences about choosing between twenty-three indicators in assessing each work were examined.Findings: The study of reflective assessment indicators in the sample population of this study showed that 66% of teachers were committed to reflective assessment in practice and the others did not use it. The results showed that reflective assessment in architecture was equally applicable in all types of universities in the country. The study of the effect of gender factor revealed that females’ assessment was more committed to reflective assessment criteria than that of men. Examination of the age factor in refereeing demonstrated that older referees distanced themselves from microscopic and reciprocal refereeing and showed more tendency to single-stage and intuitive refereeing. The use of reflective assessment showed that for jurors who adhered to the reflective assessment, "efficiency and performance of the plan" were more important than anything else, and “innovation” was placed next, while other jurors called it "innovation". "Design aesthetics", "graphic presentation" and "form quality and composition in architectural design" were more important.Conclusion: Assessment with reflection has been introduced as a new method in current research. By presenting a logical, step-by-step, interactive and back-and-forth form of teaching, this method has changed the assessing process from the end of the semester to the entire semester and made it as a tool for learning. The effect of this method, whose indicators were approved by the experts in this research, showed that changing the teaching method can improve learning the basic concepts among architecture students. The efficiency of this method is when the teachers change the current education process in a purposeful way which prioritizes the efficiency and performance of students' plans. This assessment method has changed from intuitive, single-step, product-oriented and independent of interaction with students towards the indicators presented in this research. The findings of the research show that this goal has been achieved in more than half of the architecture studios, but considering its positive results in improving students' learning and there is a need for more detailed planning and coherent management for this purpose.
Technology-based learning environments
M.R. Saghafi
Abstract
There is increasing support for the constructive approach in learning and teaching to respond the changes and challenges facing higher education; an approach that is particularly suitable for architectural education and design studio pedagogy. While the studio environment has been promoted as an ideal ...
Read More
There is increasing support for the constructive approach in learning and teaching to respond the changes and challenges facing higher education; an approach that is particularly suitable for architectural education and design studio pedagogy. While the studio environment has been promoted as an ideal educational setting for project-based disciplines, few qualitative studies have been undertaken in a comprehensive way. This study responds to this need by adopting Grounded Theory methodology in a qualitative comparative approach. The research aim is to explore the limitations and benefits of a face-to-face design studio as well as a virtual design studio to achieve a suitable platform to establish the best and maximum learning situation. The main outcome is a holistic multidimensional blended model being sufficiently flexible to adapt to various settings, in the process, facilitating constructive learning through self-determination, self-management and personalization of the learning environment.The model was tested in 2013 in the third year architecture course at Art University of Isfahan. The author’s role in the study was to teach the students and attend all the sessions as an active researcher observer. Volunteer students participated in a discussion group discussing their experiences at the end of the semester. Full access to the web-based design studio and archives of the design process was the most important benefit and technical internet problem and limited virtual partnership is the most important limitation of this experience.
Architecture
Y. Gorji Mahlabani
Abstract
Nowadays, the concern about the future of architecture education has been growing. It seems that the existing models of teaching and practicing architecture may not be appropriate to address the challenges of tomorrow. Not only has there been little consideration of the future of architecture but even ...
Read More
Nowadays, the concern about the future of architecture education has been growing. It seems that the existing models of teaching and practicing architecture may not be appropriate to address the challenges of tomorrow. Not only has there been little consideration of the future of architecture but even less about the inclusion of the futures thinking within the architectural curriculum. While thinking about future is so important, particularly for current students who lives and works the future. This paper presents arguments for the necessity of futures thinking within the architectural curriculum of tomorrow. In this regard, attention to future is investigated from modernism till now to gain the right view to past, today and future problems; specially criticized view to today problem in order to prepare the future. Concerns about today architecture and their solutions have been considered to find out the basis of future architecture education. In fact in this way not only has history of architecture taught but also future of architecture is considered. This article shaped based on a developing research. This kind of research is similar to applied researches. The goal of this research is the planning and codification of the problems about quality of architecture education in the future. So, firstly in this paper the condition and situation of today architecture education has studied and then (secondly) according to developing research results, the conclusion for solving the available problems has extracted. The aim of this research is to determine how available situation would improve or is there any method or model to improve this situation or not. Generally, it can be said that the aim of this article is in the area of improving the situations, methods, equipments and structures of architecture education in future in Iran .In order to data gathering in this article, the researcher used a combined method: analyzing the documents and references and using questionnaire method. In this method the results extracted from comparative literature about each part and quantitative data analyzing via evaluating the questionnaires by descriptive and inferential methods.
TVET
M. Al al Hesabi; S. Norouzian Maleki
Abstract
This paper argues for a more responsive architectural pedagogy that enables future architects to create human environments and that emerges from and responds to societal, cultural, and environmental needs. Human environments are those that enhance, celebrate, and support human activities, those that ...
Read More
This paper argues for a more responsive architectural pedagogy that enables future architects to create human environments and that emerges from and responds to societal, cultural, and environmental needs. Human environments are those that enhance, celebrate, and support human activities, those that reflect behavioral and cultural norms defined by society, those that ultimately integrate economy, ecology, and society into systems or are simply those everyday environments. A critical analysis of a number of thematic issues is provided to delineate the gaps between skill-based and knowledge-based pedagogies in the educational process of architecture. The paper provides a number of scenarios that help bridge these gaps while integrating knowledge contents necessary for creating human environments. This mandates a comprehensive understanding of two different but related types of pedagogies in architecture: skill-based and knowledge-based.
Architecture
Gholamhosein Memarian; H. Jahanbakhsh; F. Mirkazemi
Abstract
Courses in Architecture can be classified into three categories; Knowledge, Skill, and Attitude. The "Human, Nature, Architecture" course, which falls into the attitude category and is one of the basic and specialized courses in teaching architecture, is supposed to be a preface to basing students’ ...
Read More
Courses in Architecture can be classified into three categories; Knowledge, Skill, and Attitude. The "Human, Nature, Architecture" course, which falls into the attitude category and is one of the basic and specialized courses in teaching architecture, is supposed to be a preface to basing students’ general approach to this area of expertise. So far, nonetheless, this course not only has not moved in this direction but has also caused feelings of demotivation and indifference in students. Current methods in teaching the course often depart from the general content and objectives of the course, thereby reducing the intended impacts of the course on students’ attitudes. The present study investigates the impacts of effective presentation of this course via reintroducing the course and emphasizing the significance of environment in architecture education. Using a questionnaire survey, this study was conducted based on the comprehensive examination of the basic features of the course and comparative analysis of its different teaching methods. The participants of this study include 35 teachers and 180 students from five architecture departments in different Iranian universities. Various teaching methods with authorized syllabuses were investigated comparatively. Results of the study led to the development of a coherent method for teaching the course Human, Nature, Architecture, which is expected to be employed by teachers in recognizing a comprehensive method.