e::Studio - A Virtual Platform for Urban Design and Collaboration
Design Pattern Tags : WIL, Online learning, WIL online, ePortfolios, Online learning
e::Studio - A Virtual Platform for Urban Design and Collaboration December 2015
Abstract/Snapshot:
The e::Studio extends learning environments to a broader public and professional cohort, allowing connections with, and feedback from, industry, community and remote peer groups. It builds collaborative skills and fosters a flexible approach to urbane design.
Learning Context Learners will be able to:
Develop and present urban design proposals in a virtual setting through graphic, verbal and textual formats, to peers, academics, professional and public audiences.
Produce and reflect upon design proposals through multi-channeled resources and modes of feedback
Critically evaluate their own and others’ design processes and projects effectively in a virtual setting
Research urban design projects, processes and practices using online and local resources.
Users will have:
Increased connectivity between design students, academics, practitioners and external consultants in urban design.
Collaborative skills for working on multidisciplinary design projects through virtual environments and tools.
Communication skills between virtual and physical environments of design practice and teaching, including commentary, presentation and assessment.
Conditions/Critical Success Factors The charters use throughout the semester.
Reinforcing team work process in class.
Linking team process activities to assessment.
Challenges:
Effectively design the virtual space and interaction between its users, as well as the face-to-face component.
Curate active use of the site and ways in which it not only mirrors but augments traditional studio teaching in a face-to-face environment.
Design a space (graphically and interactively) that reflects the program and profession.
Adjust the balance between online security and openness, both of which are imperative to design and feedback processes.
Create ease-of-use for academic and professional users alike.
Offer multiple modes of authentication and accounts – permanent and temporary with configurable account privileges.
Send time-based invitations to specific pages and events, eg, exhibitions.
Case Studies/Implementation The e::Studio provides a virtual space for five urban design studios each of which is curated around a specific project and site with its own identity and outcomes.
Students ballot or are placed in studios.
Each studio is 10-15 students.
Each studio has a specific project and design method.
Students may work individually or in groups of 2-4; this may vary for specific tasks.
A project brief is distributed/uploaded, outlining studio agenda and process.
Students develop a series of design ‘experiments’ in response to the brief.
Work in progress is uploaded to the e::Studio site on a weekly basis (pdf, jpg).
Feedback from the instructor is provided in the e::Studio Workspace, weekly.
Feedback from external consultants is provided to the e::Studio Workspace, periodically.
Students travel to the project site for an intensive 10 day workshop (mid-semester, typically).
Final workshop proposals are reviewed on-site by local guests.
Final projects are reviewed in face-to-face presentations (end of semester).
Students compile their work in a design Folio, viewable on their Gallery page.
Studio curates an online Exhibition, viewable to the public by invitation.
