Fair assessment and blended learning in collaborative group design projects

As stated by Driscoll (2002), ‘blended learning means different things to different people, which illustrates its widely untapped potential’. However, the concept of blended learning as defined as the integrated combination of pedagogical approaches to produce an optimal learning outcome, coordinated with instructional technology focusing on skill-driven and intended learning, is not foreign to schools of architecture (Valiathan 2002). This is primarily due to the teaching methodology of the design studio, in which the aforementioned concepts of blended learning work to emulate collaboration in practice so that students of architecture can be taught the collaborative skills needed to negotiate infinite design options within a building design process that can include numerous participants and consultants (Cuff 1991). Collaborative group project working is a core aspect therefore of many schools of architecture. One such program that both authors worked with during the mid 1990s that highlighted many of the benefits of collaborative learning is the model established at the School of Architecture and Civil Engineering at Bath University. While the school operates separate course structures for two disciplines, they have blended learning components where both discipline cohorts combine in a studio environment to engage in joint project work. One of the program units manipulates groups to develop collaborative student teams consisting of at least one architecture student and at least one engineering student who work to submit a joint submission. Although most schools of architecture are single discipline focused, the authors strongly believed that, if managed appropriately, many of the benefits gained by having students working jointly in a blended learning environment – such as greater breadth and depth of knowledge acquisition, more thorough design exploration and resolution, and more accomplished presentation – could all be translated into a single discipline blended learning design curriculum.