Evaluations suggest that, within construction related professional courses, technical aspects are the most difficult to teach. This is particularly evident in the teaching of architectural students as many fail to make the link between Construction Technology and the main thrust of architectural education: the Design Studio. The teaching of Construction Technology has, until now, been very much an instructor centred, didactic exercise with little interaction among students or between students. In sharp contrast, Design Studio is dependent on the visual and graphical processes and occurs in settings where students interact informally with their peers and design tutors. If Design Studio can be managed in a student centred and hands on environment, why can't courses in Construction Technology / Tectonics be delivered in a similar atmosphere? This was the challenge faced by the project team as they undertook a project in changing practice through innovative teaching in Construction Technology at The University of Hong Kong. This paper reports on the process and progress of this project where there has been an attempt to shift the pedagogical practices in Tectonics. Changes in students' learning of Tectonics, the issues associated with collaboration between instructors and students, between instructors & instructors and across departments are discussed.
[Copyright of Australian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education (ascilite) at http://www.ascilite.org.au]