A comparative study of an architectural design course of two sections: The course impact on the performance and continuation of a major-assessment based on two design projects

Abstract

In a typical semester (Fall/Spring) Architectural Design course, students complete two major architectural design projects. Before students begin work on these two aforementioned projects, students also work on a very small lake cabin drawing, which serve as an introduction in using the basic tools of the Revit Software, but was not considered for this research. The textbook utilized was an SDC Publication textbook entitled Residential Design Using Autodesk Revit [1] (now, 2018). The first project makes use of an SDC publications textbook [1] where students work on constructing a single family residence comprising of a basement, first floor, and second floor. During the latter part of the semester, students are to design and construct their own single floor dwelling for a single family residence. Students are to adhere to instructions for both projects. This is especially important for the second project minimum where building standards or codes are to be adhered to where applicable and emphasized by the instructor. In addition to the lake cabin drawing, Quizzes and other assignments were also assigned but not considered for this research. At the beginning of the Fall 2017 semester, students were to complete questionnaires related to their career choices in the construction industry and course related majors/minors. Towards the end of the semester, a similar questionnaire was issued which evaluated students' experience in the course. The second questionnaire was designed to determine whether or not students' career choices changed or remained the same at the conclusion of the course. The responses from the surveys and data from the two architectural project assessments were compared from both sections to identify whether the students' responses or career choices had an impact on a particular class section performance.