Effect of Computer Learning on performance in early Architecture Education

Abstract

A mixed cohort of students with different experience backgrounds join the architecture degree. While some are well familiar with the user interface of computer and 3-D digital tools, others are not. The effect of such prior knowledge and their corresponding digital and analog performance in a designed experiment was evaluated with a sample of 38 first-year students. This was done to understand the performance effects of previous computer learning in students. Computer learning of the sample was studied in terms of years of computer exposure, the number of software known, and knowledge of 3D software or SketchUp. The results suggest that none of the factors contributed to the digital performance of students. This provided suggestions regarding the computer teaching emphasis which should be placed on students having less computer learning.