The architecture of the city from the moderns to today

The Chair of History of Urban Planning at the Institute for the History and Theory of Architecture (gta) in the ETH Zurich Department of Architecture is developing a virtual learning environment for the Master’s degree lecture course “Die Architektur der Stadt von der Modernen bis heute” [The architecture of the city from the moderns to today]. It will serve to align the planning of teaching, the teaching process and performance assessments. In its content the focus of the Master’s degree programme is the acquisition of required knowledge in the context of historic interconnections in urban planning, and the acquisition and training of competences in critical and analytical strategic planning decision-making and action. In the teaching structure up to now these competences received too little attention. The virtual learning context will help students to acquire the respective competences in decision-making and action; in addition, it will impart methods of text and plan analysis. Oriented towards the Bloom taxonomy of learning objectives, the offering comprises three learning activity blocks: analysis, synthesis and evaluation. The virtual independent study unit extends classroom teaching and also includes a performance assessment with an integrated feedback function. This teaching project was first deployed regularly in Autumn Semester 2012.

• Based on experiences with the learning environment at Bachelor’s degree level course “Geschichte des Städtebaus im Netz I. Die Architektur der Stadt von der Antike bis zur Moderne” [“History of urban planning on the net I”] the e-learning offering for the Master’s level was developed and extended according to increased requirements. The Moodle learning platform was used at both Bachelor’s and Master’s levels.
• Tasks to solve are offered in three lessons with different learning resources and activities. These lessons must be completed within 14 days. Subject knowledge, methods of working scientifically and interdisciplinary competences are presented in a playful, state-of-the-art manner. Faculty are present to answer questions and moderate.
• The tests in the learning environment are not examination tasks, but help to solidify the competences needed to solve discipline-specific problems. Independent work outside of the classroom fosters the personal responsibility of students. The virtual learning environment makes it possible to activate and animate large numbers of students.

In the three learning blocks students actively address text and plan sources on selected themes from the lectures. They analyse anc compare these materials, deepening the knowledge imparted in the classroom. Methods for analysing texts and plans are also imparted and practised. Students work independently outside of classroom hours. Pedagogically, the concept is to bring in the three higher levels of cognition (analysis, synthesis and evaluation), link them and thereby systematically improve the level of competence. An interactive learning environment in Moodle serves as the working instrument for the learning activities. To realise efficient alignment a new question type was developed which makes it possible to enter properties and information on plans.

The new question type, which was developed with an eye to a skill important in architecture (the drawing of plans and adding of entries to existing plans), has not yet fulfilled our expectations. After its first deployment in Autumn Semester 2012 the automatic correction function had to be reworked. In addition, students felt that the time restriction on the respective phases of the three learning activities were constricting.

Students expressed generally good impressions, and felt that pedagogically the e-learning level was high. They felt that content was consolidated and that they could approach it from a different perspective. In the independent learning unit skills were taught which had been mentioned in the lectures but not practised. Technical difficulties in the context of the new question types was a negative factor.

• An external formative evaluation supplied an inspiring and valuable assessment of the project and also provided tips for potential improvements.
• Close collaboration with LET in both technical and pedagogical areas is highly recommended.

• Lampugnani – Die Architektur der Stadt von der Moderne bis Heute