E-learning for Architecture

The book presents the results of PRIN research as well as the research aim: to recommend and experiment a teaching method for e-learning in Architecture. The following strategic objectives were achieved: a - The creation of on-line asynchronous interactive multimedia lessons designed to improve the multi-disciplinary dimension of architecture and to integrate design disciplines. The capacity to integrate different disciplines was a basic aim of the e-learning methods experimented with in our research. In the e-learning module, previously acquired experience is optimised in order to set up guidelines for the construction of e-learning tools. b - The creation of synchronous applications which can be tried out in virtual laboratories. The chosen didactic model used develops self-study modules integrated with periods of collaborative learning thanks to the use of a virtual laboratory and a system of tele-presence. c - The creation of thematic online databases as a back up to teaching, and software for the structural organisation of multimedia material. The research created structures to implement these online thematic databases, located on a server, accessible and updateable by all users, thus providing students with a store of well-thought out multimedia material. d - Determined the best suited IT platform to teach architectural courses, based on target users and the scalability of the system. The architecture hosting the teaching modules and the independently created thematic databases, are resident on a server having links to storage subsystems on disc and tape, ensuring for every user an efficient access to the data relative to their course. The infrastructure on the e-learning platform provides for remote access so that each user can have transparent access to the courses provided by the server. The platform includes a portal specifically designed to handle the research project and a personalised interface allowing access to all the learning objects according to topic. e - Experimentation with virtual laboratories of design on a high-definition ‘Augmented Desk’ tele-contiguity platform and the use of simulation models for large scale design processes. The research tested the IT platforms and technological sets for e-learning, with particular attention to virtual laboratories where lessons and reviews have been implemented and tried out with augmented desk technology. f - A survey of the history of architecture from the post-war period to the sixties, to trace the origins of contemporary design. The critical hypothesis behind this survey is the contention that this period is fundamental to a new design culture, which can be regarded as contemporary in that it is radically different from a modern one. g - The experimentation and assessment of the e-learning courses produced by the research units and the creation of a logistic structure for observation and monitoring the effectiveness of the teaching. All the teaching modules produced have been tried out on a selected number of students and subjected to a qualitative assessment of their effectiveness. The same number of students was selected for the traditional teaching module. The parameters and quality indicators on which the evaluation criteria are based were defined to be used in evaluating the e-learning courses, both qualitatively and quantitatively. This assessment had total compliance and reliability, since a comparative evaluation of learning skills was carried out. Students of the e-learning workshop and the same number of students participating in a traditionally taught module were equally evaluated in order to determine the real educational capabilities of the e-learning module. Anonymous questionnaires were submitted and an assessment score of the two types of teaching were produced