An innovative approach to technology mediated architectural design education a framework for a web-based socio-cognitive eco-system

Abstract

Learning in architecture has shifted from an individual focused approach to a larger system of interacting individuals in a situated, tool-mediated and socio-technical context. In addition to developing essential skills to work with diverse design software and taking part in collaborative design activities, learners also need to be equipped with competencies that will allow them to operate intelligently outside of situations of distributed cognitions. The challenge in present educational climate is to develop pedagogical approaches where situations of distributed cognition are not the ends themselves but are the means for improving mastery of solo competencies. The paper contributes to the current discussion about the need to re-orient architectural education and proposes a pedagogical framework for the development of a new web-based teaching/ learning environment (socio-cognitive eco-system) as an integrated platform to support both autonomous and distributed learning.