A short story about how we engaged
students in their own education and
what would be coming after...
Rosie Parnell, Mark Auvray, Sam Brown, Sarah
Ernst, Daniel Hall, Jon Millard
School of Architecture
Overview 20 mins
5x5x5x5 carousel
Reflections on ...Education
• What is my education for?
• What is the relationship of education to
practice?
• Why does my education take the form that
it does?
• Does it have to be that way?
• What is learning and how can it be more
effectively supported?
Inspiration
• Critical pedagogy
(education as a contested process)
• Participatory action research
(engaging participants, increasing voice,
facilitating social action / change)
PAR
Seeks to enable people to:
• re-establish power and control in their own lives
The means by which data are co-generated and
interpretations debated are a key part of the
change process – 2 way learning
Map: Reflections on Architectural Education
Theory
Texts - reading
Reflection
Reflective journals
& discussion
Action Research
Innovation
Implement own idea
Practice
Y1 teaching practice
Essay
Synthesis
of experiences
The Learning Outcomes
By the end of the module you should be able to demonstrate
the following:
- an ability to reflect on the nature of architectural learning
and teaching through a critical self appraisal of your own
experience
- an awareness of the interrelationship between architectural
education and the profession
- an understanding of the issues involved in tutoring and
reviewing design project work
- an ability to participate in and run group tutorials/reviews
- an ability to engage constructively in a diverse range of
design approaches
- an awareness of the alternatives that exist to the
conventional ‘crit’
Critical thinkers
Autonomous learners
Reflective/Reflexive practitioners
Postgraduate students
– different UG experiences
– different work experiences
Reflection, discussion, exchange,
collaborative working
‘I found [the module] probably the most
rewarding component of my various years here
– the relaxed and discursive format only helped
this in creating an atmosphere for serious
debate without any real pressure of assessment
hanging over it.’
Map of the module
Theory
Texts - reading
Reflection
Reflective journals
& discussion
Action Research
Innovation
Implement own idea
Practice
Y1 teaching practice
Essay
Synthesis
of experiences
Learning from Experiences
Learning is a process of active engagement with experience. It
is what people do when they want to make sense of the world.
It may involve the development or deepening of skills,
knowledge, understanding, awareness, values, ideas and
feelings, or an increase in the capacity to reflect. Effective
learning leads to change, development and the desire to learn
more.
Resource definition adapted from Campaign for Learning
Empty vessel
• Transmission mode
…an empty vessel to fill with knowledge
Is this appropriate in some contexts?
Constructivist/constructionist
• Constructing knowledge and understanding
• Co-creation of knowledge
• Valuing existing knowledge
Architecture studio
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Learning by doing
Experiential learning
IBL – inquiry-based learning
Project-based
Theory seminars
Facilitating critically reflective learning:
excavating the role of the design tutor in
architectural education
Pedagogy of the oppressed.
Dumbing us Down: The Hidden Curriculum
of Compulsory Schooling.
Knowledge Skills and Arrogance:
educating for collaborative practice.
The Pink Book
Learner autonomy and teacher autonomy: Synthesising an agenda.
Discussion themes
• Own experiences of education & learning
• Alignment:
objectives/methods/assessment
• Power relationships
• Responsibility for learning
• Education and Practice/workplace
• Curriculum
• Theory and practice
‘The seminar discussion groups were
excellent, informal and offered me the
most I’ve ever learnt in …tutorials due to
their active learning nature’
‘It was a real insight to discuss the theory,
understand its application and all within
the context of text and discussion. A bit
like discovering the Matrix!’
Map of the module
Theory
Texts - reading
Reflection
Reflective journals
& discussion
Action Research
Innovation
Implement own idea
Practice
Y1 teaching practice
Essay
Synthesis
of experiences
Peer Assisted Learning
• Reflection sessions
• Tutorial
• Design review
• Workshop facilitation
Benefits
Help to:
• adjust/settle into university
• understand course material
• understand expectations of the course
• find reassurance
(Capstick, 2004)
Discussion groups
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build confidence in expressing a view
help validate individual and peer experience
develop reflective and critical thinking
help students take responsibility for learning
develop critical awareness of the context of
architectural education
(Parnell, 2001)
Hi
…I think that the older tutors forget just how little we know when we
arrive at university.
…It would be good to have more practical advice from people that have
been through it because as a 1st year (and even now in my 2nd) I
genuinely didn’t [sic] have a clue what Iwas supposed to be doing.
…thanks for listening and helping!!
Map of the module
Theory
Texts - reading
Reflection
Reflective journals
& discussion
Action Research
Innovation
Implement own idea
Practice
Y1 teaching practice
Essay
Synthesis
of experiences
Action research:
Used by practitioners
• …to investigate own work/practice
• …to create own theories of practice
• …ideally to inform policy as well as own
practice
Theory
• Not only an abstract body of knowledge
‘out there’
• Located within your own practice
• Your knowledge and expertise = your
theory/ies of practice
• Practice informs theory and theory informs
practice – they are always transforming
What to investigate?
• Starting point is often tension when values
are denied in practice
• …or personally held values and those of
the organisation or ‘system’
Who takes part?
Sources of data, but not objects of
study – qus about what you do
• Research participants
• Collaborative colleagues ‘I’s or ‘we’ – organisational learning
• Critical friends, validators and advisers
A sympathetic person offering
critical feedback
• Interested observers
colleagues, tutors, HoD etc. who
provide comment when asked.
Provide them with progress
reports (e.g. staff meetings,
noticeboard etc.)
Reflection
• Make sense later
• Recordings
• Writing a journal
– What have I done?
– What have I learned?
– What is the significance of my learning?
Innovation as...
• A space to take risks
• A positive means of raising awareness
and involving others in debate
• A collaborative endeavour
Examples/themes of innovations
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Peer/student-led learning (year out resource)
Feedback and assessment
Learning from other disciplines
Team working, collaboration etc.
Self-appraisal & judgement
Power relationships, agenda-setting
Communication
Autonomy
Risk
Visual Literacy
Map of the module
Theory
Texts - reading
Reflection
Reflective journals
& discussion
Action Research
Innovation
Implement own idea
Practice
Y1 teaching practice
Essay
Synthesis
of experiences
• Formatted in a journal style
• Peer mark (30%)
• Final submission (70%)
Developing PG teaching
Collaborative approaches?
• Supporting L&T initiatives
• Providing a forum for proposing & initiating
change
• Playing an active role
• Not as consumers, but
activists/researchers/collaborators
• Peer ‘teaching’
• Peer feedback
• Peer assessment
Development for the workplace
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Consciousness
Critical skills
Reflection skills
Skills for enquiry/research
Collaboration
Empathy
Strategic thinking
Carousel
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Peer-assisted learning
Students as critics
Self-appraisal
Working with cognate disciplines/professions
• 5x5x5x5
• Round-up