Inverted Studio: Novel Teaching Techniques for Online Design Studios
Duks Koschitz & Robert Brackett III with research assistants Dayoon Oh and Noah Rosenberg
A guide for online design studios with course structures, representational techniques, and methods of production for remote students.
This project was developed at Pratt Institute by the d.r.a. and supported by the Provost's office and Kirk Pillow's initiative to advance projects related to the Institute's Strategic Plan and Pratt's IT Department. Joseph Hemway helped us to purchase digital paper cutters and to send them to a dozen students. This ensured that no student was financially disadvantaged to take part in this study.
This booklet was constructed using Miro.
Duks Koschitz and Robert Brackett are professors in the Undergraduate Architecture Department in the School of Architecture at Pratt.
This project was supported by the Provost's office and Pratt's IT Department.
Pratt Institute, School of Architecture, Undergraduate Architecture
ABSTRACT
This research project aspires to find novel teaching techniques for online design studios that include making at home. Inverting the design studio from an in-person to an on-line pedagogy provides an opportunity to create a remote learning model accessible to a more international and under-served population at the same level of quality as current programs. The research documents critical aspects of an in-person studio environment and develops digital corollaries that allow students to produce analog and digital work at home without compromising quality or learning goals. The Covid-19 pandemic intensified the direction of the research and allowed us to document the strengths and challenges of remote learning. We subsequently developed an Advanced Design studio for Summer 2020 and Fall 2020 to refine a system for online studio learning to be shared as a booklet and interactive resource showcasing course structures, work sharing platforms, representation techniques, and methods of analog and digital production accessible from home.
The primary contributions of this research are the use of an online digital whiteboard application, the design of a visual course structure, and the development of a ‘making at home kit’. A visually organized platform for course organization brings the in-person studio experience to a virtual space where students can find documents, schedules, resources, and peer work by freely navigating a single digital platform. Having all course materials and developments accessible at all times helps simulate the learning experience of an in-person studio. We also do not have to give up the physical aspects of design learning when operating on an online platform. The research documents many tools and techniques of making that can be done in an at home environment without the need for significant costs or equipment. With integrated common material packages and tutorials on representation students are able to achieve equivalent levels of analog models and drawings over four semesters and several courses including design studios, representation seminars, and high school scholars courses.
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