Critical Reflections on the Surface, Pedagogical and Epistemological Features of the Design Studio under the “New Normal” Conditions

Abstract

This study aims to make a critical reading on the constraints and potentials that emerge through the transition from face-to-face to screen-to-screen teaching and learning experiences in design education during the COVID-19 pandemic. By making a critical reading of current discussions, mostly in narrative surveys, on architectural design education, it is attempted to re-contextualize the emerging concepts of the remote teaching and learning to the broader context of design studio pedagogy literature. The theoretical framework of the study is based on the model developed by Shaffer (2003) regarding the three main elements of the design studio pedagogy as (1) “surface structures”, (2) “pedagogical forms” and (3) “epistemological principles.” The study revealed that the current situation, on the one hand, opened the ways for us to test “new” tools, methods and experiences of teaching and learning, and on the other hand, allowed us to better understand the potentials and well-functioning aspects of the “existing” pedagogical models. Rather than reducing the discussions on remote teaching and learning to a ‘technology-driven’ paradigm change in design education, future research should focus on the effects of changing pedagogical tools and practices on the manifold dimensions of ‘human learning’, which in turn will have implications for the epistemology of design pedagogy.

Student challenges in online architectural design courses in Iran during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Yorgancıoğlu (2020: 29) described what we would be experiencing today in a variety of notions ranged from forced into an emergency change to the conscious and desirable teaching strategies including remote emergency teaching/learning and online distance teaching/learning. The architectural design studio pedagogy, as she categorized, consists of three main components, that is, the learner-centered approach used as an effective paradigm, the communication/interaction method between the actors of the learning experience, and the design studio used as a physical and social space including the learning experience and interaction between these actors.…”

Situated Learning in Online Architectural Studio Education

“…However, with the changing ontology of spatial and social beings of the studio, distance learning in architectural studio education is needed to be some adaptations and changes. Besides the integration of the digital tools to sustain the studio education, being away from a social studio environment and lack of everyday sociality in the campus environment leads students to social isolation (Davies and Graff, 2005;McGuire, 2019;Smiley et al, 2020in Yorgancıoğlu, 2020 which restricts the students' zone of proximal development.…”

Disaster Awareness and Education Center-Park Design: Investigation of Outdoor Spaces on Graduation Project of Architecture Students

“…In the spring semester of the 2020-2021 academic year, the fieldwork graduation project was conducted online using technological devices under pandemic conditions. The situation, which is widespread all over the world within the scope of the COVID-19 pandemic, on the one hand, paved the way for the testing of "new" tools, methods, and experiences in teaching and learning; on the other hand, it enabled us to understand better the potentials and wellfunctioning aspects of "existing" pedagogical models (Yorgancioglu, 2020). Özorhon and Lekesiz (2021) identified the benefits of the remote studio with the feedback they obtained from their students as follows: 1) saving time, 2) understanding the feedback more accurately.…”