ITcon Vol. 17, pg. 397-415, http://www.itcon.org/2012/27

Virtual design studio within a social network

revised:July 2012
published:September 2012
editor(s):Xiangyu Wang and Robert Klinc
authors:Marc Aurel Schnabel, Prof,
School of Architecture, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
marcaurel@cuhk.edu.hk www.aurel.tk

Jeremy J Ham, Architect,
School of Architecture and Building, Deakin University, Geelong, Australia
jjham@deakin.edu.au
summary:Online interactions, multimedia, mobile computing and face-to-face learning create blendedlearning environments to which some Virtual Design Studios (VDS) have reacted. Social Networks (SN), asinstruments for communication, have provided a potentially fruitful operative base for VDS. These technologiestransfer communication, leadership, democratic interaction, teamwork, social engagement and responsibilityaway from the design tutors to the participants. The implementation of a Social Network VDS (SNVDS) movedthe VDS beyond its conventional realm and enabled students to develop architectural design that is embeddedinto a community of learners and their expertise both online and offline. Problem-based learning (PBL) becomesan iterative and reflexive process facilitating deep learning. The paper discusses details of the SNVDS, itspedagogical implications to PBL, and presents how the SNVDS is successful in empowering architecturalstudents to collaborate and communicate design proposals that integrate a variety of skills, deep learning,knowledge and construction with a rich learning experience.
keywords:VDS, social networking, social learning, problem-based learning, PBL, Web 2.0
full text: (PDF file, 0.528 MB)
citation:Marc Aurel Schnabel, Jeremy J Ham (2012). Virtual design studio within a social network, ITcon Vol. 17, Special issue eLearning 2.0: Web 2.0-based social learning in built environment, pg. 397-415, https://www.itcon.org/2012/27