Understanding Concepts of Efficiency and Effectiveness in Architectural Facilities Space Planning and Design

Although contemporary literature treats efficiency and effectiveness extensively, virtually no objective understanding of both is found in architectural facilities space planning and design. It is imperative that both concepts are definitively explained as they apply to these disciplines. Hence, the contemporary views of both concepts are reviewed and attempts made to interpret them within more amenable contexts. The objectives are (1) to objectively elucidate the factual differences between efficiency and effectiveness; and (2) to contribute to their better understanding in architectural facilities space planning and design. Diagrammatic and mathematical means are engaged to demonstrate efficiency and effectiveness in these fields.

Enhancing quality in online learning : scaffolding planning and design through proactive evaluation

A major issue confronting educators is the extent to which they wish to conform to so-called paradigm shifts in teaching and learning. In the contemporary world of tertiary education these shifts embrace both pedagogy (from instructivist to constructivist) and technology (from classroom to online). As teachers and learners are faced with the potential of these new learning environments, the extent to which learning outcomes are achieved remains a high priority and subject to a wide range of evaluation strategies. Conventionally, evaluation has been positioned at the end of the instructional development cycle, to assess first whether or not the creative effort achieved the original product goals and second whether or not the desired learning outcomes were realized. In the context of online teaching and learning environments, however, the level of understanding teachers, learners and developers have of the medium can impact the ultimate effectiveness of the product. This paper articulates an additional dimension to post-development evaluation processes in proposing proactive evaluation, a framework that identifies critical online learning factors and influences that will better inform the planning, design and development of learning resources. This notion of proactive evaluation advocates resource development being undertaken where all planning activities are assessed against the evaluation criteria that would normally be applied during formative assessment. By performing these evaluation checks proactively, online learning resources will, in principle, work first time as all relevant factors and issues will have been considered and resolved. More importantly, for those participants who are new to online environments, proactive evaluation will perform a scaffolding and professional development role by enhancing online teaching or learning competencies.

Teaching and learning in collaborative group design projects

The 200 years of apprentice/master tradition that underpins the atelier studio system is still at the core of much present-day architectural design education. Yet this tradition poses uncertainties for a large number of lecturers faced with changes in the funding of tertiary education. With reductions in one-to-one staff/student contact time, many educators are finding it increasingly difficult to maintain an atelier teaching model. If these deficiencies remain unchecked and design-based schools are unable to implement strategies to reduce the resource intensity of one-to-one studio teaching programmes, then, for many higher-education providers, current architectural education may be based on an untenable course structure. Rather than spreading their time thinly over a large number of individual projects, an increasing number of lecturers are setting group projects. This allows them to coordinate longer and more in-depth review sessions on a smaller number of assignment submissions. However, while the group model may reflect the realities of the design process in professional practice, the approach is not without shortcomings as a teaching and learning archetype for the assessment of individual student skill competencies. Hence, what is clear is the need for a readily adoptable andragogy for the teaching and assessment of group design projects. The following is a position paper that describes – with a focus on effective group structures and assemblage and fair assessment models – the background, methodology and early results of a Strategic Teaching and Learning Grant currently running at the School of Architecture and Building at Deakin University in Australia.

The impact of teaching models, group structures and assessment modes on cooperative learning in the student design studio

As a result of ever diminishing teaching resources, an increasing number of architectural educators are setting group design projects, rather then spreading their time thinly over a large number of individual projects. This allows them to co-ordinate longer and more in-depth review sessions on a smaller number of assignment submissions. However, while the group
model may offer an authentic learning model by reflecting design in practice, the approach is not without its obvious shortcomings as a teaching archetype for the assessment of the knowledge and skill competencies of individual students. Hence, what is clear is the need for a readily adoptable andragogy for the teaching and assessment of group design projects.
The following paper describes the background, methodology and findings of a Strategic Teaching and Learning Grant funded research project carried out in the year 2005 at the School of Architecture and Building at Deakin University. The project aimed to inform a change of classroom/studio practice governing the assemblage, teaching and assessment of student design teams. The development through these changes of cooperative and student centred learning principles focused on effective design collaboration and fair assessment should, it will be argued, lead to an enhanced group-learning experience in studio, which will subsequently and ultimately enhance professional practice.

Modeling dialogue with mixed initiative in design space exploration

Exploration with a generative formalism must necessarily account for the nature of interaction between humans and the design space explorer. Established accounts of design interaction are made complicated by two propositions in Woodbury and Burrow's Keynote on design space exploration. First, the emphasis on the primacy of the design space as an ordered collection of partial designs (version, alternatives, extensions). Few studies exist in the design interaction literature on working with multiple threads simultaneously. Second, the need to situate, aid, and amplify human design intentions using computational tools. Although specific research and practice tools on amplification (sketching, generation, variation) have had success, there is a lack of generic, flexible, interoperable, and extensible representation to support amplification. This paper addresses the above, working with design threads and computer-assisted design amplification through a theoretical model of dialogue based on Grice's model of rational conversation. Using the concept of mixed initiative, the paper presents a visual notation for representing dialogue between designer and design space formalism through abstract examples of exploration tasks and dialogue integration.

Architect as composer: engaging architecture students with music in the design studio

This paper explores the engagement of architectural students with music in a second year design studio, through a Game and two design projects. A ‘Game’, in the context of this research, is a low-risk learning activity derived from the model established in the CUTSD ‘Reflective Making’ project. The Game required students to complete one of three tasks; to compose and record a piece of electronic music; to research the works of a composer within a digital presentation or to design a prototype musical instrument. This was used as a generative device to inform the design of a Music Room: a space for the contemplation and composition of music. A third stage of the project involved the actual construction of 8 Music Rooms, a high-risk, high-reward activity that requires physical resolution of an established relationship between music and architecture.

This paper will focus on the engagement of architecture students with the Game and related design projects. Student perceptions of the project are used to inform an evaluation of the project as an authentic learning experience and as a valuable component of their architectural education.

From product centricism to systems-wide education design: making corporate technology systems work for the learning organisation

Deakin University has established a major integrated corporate technology infrastructure in the last two years to enhance and bring together its distance education and on-campus education. This environment has been called Deakin Online. With Deakin Online rapidly developing, efforts are beginning to focus more fundamentally on how the potentials of the environment can be realised to create enduring teaching and learning value. This search must be understood in the context of the University’s commitment to the values of relevance, responsiveness and innovation. The question is: how can these values be realised in the digitally-based evolving educational enterprise using the new corporate technologies and new concepts of organisational structure and function? We argue for the transforming role of the academic teacher and new forms of open academic collegiality as being critical to realise strategic and enduring educational value. Moreover, change in role and process needs to be grounded in more systemic organisation and program-wide approaches to designing and working within the new contemporary learning environments. We believe the shift from the dangers of product centricism to system-wide education design modelling situating e-learning within broader curricular and pedagogical concerns represents the best strategy to create enduring educational benefits for all stakeholder groups (notably academic teachers and their learners) while preserving teachers’ sense of agency in the changing learning environments of higher education.

Sustainable design education: teaching, learning and assessment in collaborative group design projects

Changes in the funding of tertiary education resulting in less one-to-one staff/student contact time mean that we cannot continue to teach as we have historically been taught. If design schools are unable to implement strategies that successfully overcome resource intensive studio teaching programs, then current architectural education may for many higher education providers be based on an unsustainable course structure. Rather than spreading their time thinly over a large number of individual projects, an increasing number of lecturers are setting group projects. This allows them to co-ordinate longer and more in-depth review sessions on a smaller number of assignments. However, while the group model may reflect the realities of the design process in practice, the approach is not without short comings as a teaching archetype for the assessment of individual skill competencies. Hence, what is clear is the need for a readily adoptable andragogy for the teaching and assessment of group design projects.
The following describes the background, methodology and early results of a Strategic Teaching and Learning Grant currently running at the School of Architecture and Building at Deakin University. The project is evaluating two design programs at Deakin and it is envisaged that the results of the
investigation may inform other project-based teaching disciplines experiencing a similar need for new knowledge and skill-based delivery due to increasing staff-student ratios.

The need for a culturally inclusive andragogy for collaborative design learning

In recognition of the apparent paradox between the cultural-systems of Asia and the West and the teaching and learning styles they promote, this platform paper aims to propose how research might investigate differences between achievement and diverse learning preferences at various stages of the design process in the multi-cultural studios of Deakin University. The paper presents a Strategic Teaching and Learning Grant project currently running at Deakin as a reflexive research program aimed at resolving the learning difficulties of international students collaborating in three undergraduate design studios. The primary aim of this program is to inform a new culturally inclusive andragogy for problem-based design teaching through experiential
learning theory.

Managing social and intellectual capital to inform design and development of learning objects : issues, applications and technologies

The purpose of this paper is to present and analyse a case example of the development and implementation of a digital learnmg object in context with academic literature in the field. The paper's content describes the creation of a multimedia learning object from conception in 2004 to completion m 2006. Provided is the rationale and outcome of a strategically funded University project aimed at illuminating an industrial case study of good management and communication practices for use in classrooms throughout the entire university. This paper is intended to act as a guide for others. Our experience as academics in successful dialogue With educational technologists will inspire and inform those embarking on similar projects, and aspects of it will generalise to development and implementation Issues for other kinds of learning objects.

Reflections on teaching and learning online: quality program design, delivery and support issues from a cross-global perspective

This reflective paper began with a discussion of the online program design and delivery experiences of three senior faculty members at the University of Calgary (Canada) and Deakin University (Australia), which was recorded at Deakin University. After drawing on this recording in their research and practice, one faculty member from each institution decided to review and expanded upon their intervening experiences in terms of issues of quality program design, delivery, and support issues when teaching, and learning in different cultural contexts. The authors discovered that these issues are as important today as they were when they met to record the interview, and have concluded their discussion here with thoughts about the teaching, student, and administrative supports that institutions engaged in online program delivery cross-culturally must address in order to successfully deliver quality online programs worldwide.