Rehearsal of professional practice: impacts of web-based collaborative learning on the future encounter of different disciplines

Abstract

This study argues that the shift towards a more multidisciplinary professional life in contemporary design practice requires design curricula to equip students with collaborative skills. The study offers that by the aid of web-based collaborative learning (WBCL) in design education, different disciplines may be brought together during their education. A case study is held as a rehearsal of professional life; involving architecture and interior architecture students collaborating on a common project, using WBCL. The evaluations of the participating students about the process were analyzed. The findings convey that there is a mutual problem of recognition of professional domains. In order to diagnose and possibly reconcile tensions that may occur due to this problem in professional life, this paper asserts that integrating interdisciplinary work to the design curricula would be beneficial.

Designing teaching—teaching designing: Teacher’s guidance in a virtual design studio

“…Design artefacts vary from material to digital representations (Charlesworth, 2007;Pei, Campbell, & Evans, 2010). In design education, it is important for students to have opportunities to use digital tools and to simulate collaborative professional design practices (Cardella, Atman, & Adams, 2006;Chen & You, 2010;Karakaya & Şenyapılı, 2008). At the same time, it is crucial for design educators to focus on the pedagogical approaches to providing guidance and facilitating collaborative designing in the VDS setting.…”

“…A virtual learning environment offers opportunities for design students to participate in multidisciplinary collaborative projects and provides them with the experience of global professional practices (Karakaya & Şenyapılı, 2008).…”

“…The term, virtual learning environment, refers to an asynchronous web-based setting that provides tools for collaborators to share conceptual and visual design ideas as well as a medium for their joint construction of the design object (Karakaya & Şenyapılı, 2008;McCormick, 2004). A typical virtual learning environment provides tools for computer-mediated communications (e.g., e-mail, chat, and threaded discussion forum) and tools for course administration.…”

“…Yet many studies of virtual design focus on technological challenges (e.g., Al-Doy & Evans, 2011;Charlesworth, 2007) or on collaborative issues among participants (e.g., Karakaya & Şenyapılı, 2008). Hence we have seen a need for further research focussed specifically on the pedagogical issues related to virtual designing in a higher-education context.…”

The Role of Architect in Interdisciplinary Collaborative Design Studios

“…As Dong states (Dong & Doerfler, n.d.), "the collaborative efforts can produce new and original ideas not possible in a uni-disciplinary settings", so the potential of developing integrated projects worked on by interdisciplinary teams should be taken into consideration. Based on the study involving architecture and interior architecture students, using web-based collaborative learning, Karakaya (Karakaya & Şenyapılı, 2006) states that integrating interdisciplinary work into the design curricula would be beneficial.…”