Islamic Art Studies

Islamic Art Studies

An Examination of the Challenges in Teaching Islamic Architecture During the COVID-19 Pandemic with a Focus on Assessing Constructivist Education

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Department of Architecture, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
10.22034/ias.2023.370876.2098
Abstract
The aim of the research is to identify how indicators are applied in the four areas of constructivist curriculum, environment, teaching, and assessment in the architectural education at Harvard University, AA School, Bilkent University, and Shiraz University. This is so that, by making decisions appropriate to the conditions of virtual architectural education, students are guided in the process of knowledge construction. This research, with a qualitative approach, using a comparative method and a cross-sectional timeframe, was conducted in two periods: before and after the outbreak of COVID-19. In the research process, first, constructivist indicators were extracted from theoretical foundations and, after validation by experts using the Relative Content Validity Coefficient with a minimum of 0.49, were studied and comparatively analyzed with George Bereday's model within the educational systems of the four selected world universities. Following the comparative analysis of the cases, the adopted strategies were used to propose a model for constructivist virtual architectural education. The research results indicate that continuous updating of the curriculum, dialogue and research-based teaching, the use of guest lecturers and teaching assistants along with revising their related regulations, creating interactive virtual environments, professional internships in workshops, and holding online review sessions are the most important measures that can be employed to move towards constructivist architectural education.
Research Objectives:


A comparative study to understand the structure of virtual architectural education in selected universities during the COVID-19 pandemic.


Presenting a model for applying constructivist indicators in virtual university education in Iran.


Research Questions:


What indicators does constructivist education encompass in the areas of curriculum, environment, teaching, and assessment?


What measures and strategies have been employed to constructivize virtual architectural education in the studied universities?
Keywords

Subjects


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