What is it about?

railed the use of Web 2.0 technologies to enhance learning outcomes in a third-year architectural design studio that was modelled on the virtual design studios (VDSs) of the past decades.

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Why is it important?

The Web 2.0 VDS utilized the social networking site Ning.com, YouTube, Skype and various three-dimensional modelling, video and image processing, and chat software to deliver lectures, communicate learning goals, disseminate learning resources, submitting, providing feedback and comments to various design works, and assessing of students’ outcomes. This research centres on issues of learning and teaching associated with the development of a social network VDS.

Perspectives

In most current usage, problem-based learning sustains social interaction but essentially focuses on the development of the individual learner. When enriched by these new tech- nologies, which are much more effective at tapping into social capital, it becomes possible to achieve higher levels of collective intelligence. The learning process is less depen- dent on the teacher’s formulation of the problem as it becomes possible to tap into global professional and other communities. Thus, the social networking of the learners and their sharing of embedded knowledge not only contrib- utes to their own deep learning but also ultimately returns their gained expertise to the social environment. The chal- lenge remains the same: to facilitate student learning. It is the way in which we engage each other in these activities that is evolving to match today’s communication needs.

Professor Marc Aurel Schnabel
Xi'an Jiaotong Liverpool University

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This page is a summary of: Web 2.0 virtual design studio: social networking as facilitator of design education, Architectural Science Review, May 2011, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/00038628.2011.582369.
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