THE EVOLUTION OF ARCHITECTURAL EDUCATION IN THE ERA OF SOCIAL REVOLUTION AND TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENT

This paper explores the systemic shortcomings (economic, gender and racial inequities, etc.), identified as challenges in the paper, that persist in education despite the transformative events that have altered the global context of 21st century education in recent years, viz. the Me Too and the Black Lives Matter movements. At the same time, the technological advancements in teaching, most dramatically because of the Covid-19 pandemic, have led to further development in educational modalities, such as online, hybrid and remote. While the paper examines the issues that confront education in general, it focuses on the endemic problems that plague Architecture Design education, the structure of which, within the broader framework of educational models, is not only atypical and novel but, fundamentally, collaborative in nature and in great need of social justice reform. The paper is based on the observations, analysis, and conclusions of its two authors, whose combined experience of teaching Architecture spans almost seven decades. The paper offers remedies, such as the need to incorporate new teaching and learning technologies in the classroom, as well as the inclusion, in Architecture Design curricula, of projects that promote social justice, to prepare socially responsible, technologically savvy architects for future professional practice. To address the complex challenges that the prolonged Covid-19 pandemic has created for students and educators alike, the paper proposes the adoption of the hybrid format for teaching Architecture Design. Such a format leverages the strengths of traditional teaching methods with the benefits of technologically driven learning systems and platforms, such as virtual boards (termed the Virtual Studio --- a type of flipped classroom --- in the paper), to provide students and instructors with round-the-clock access and more effective communication, so vital to a successful and productive Architecture Design classroom environment