Collaborative web-based learning spaces: Introduction to Housing

This paper explores a collaborative web-based learning space named “Introduction to Housing” created in the context of the Erasmus Lifelong Learning Project OIKONET. The learning space mainly draws on the curriculum of the design studios in the Polytechnic University of Valencia and the University of Cyprus and includes work from a 3D Visual Communication course at the University of Belgrade. All learning activities developed in this learning space aim at the introduction of students to housing studies through a collaborative learning environment that cuts across traditional and institutional boundaries. The paper starts with a brief discussion on design studio teaching, its importance in architectural education and recent impacts of emerging information technologies on traditional teaching methods. The transformation of the traditional design studio learning into a “blended” learning environment is then discussed through the presentation of the web-based learning space. The paper concludes with a discussion of the participants’ experience which renders the proposed learning space as a fruitful and potentially innovative learning environment. Tutors had the opportunity to incorporate blended learning in their teaching and get familiar with different and diverse teaching methods and learning resources in different academic environments. Participating students on the other hand, were exposed to different cultural and academic contexts and were able to experience different methods of learning through the virtual campus.