The Hybrid Studio: Introducing Google+ as a Blended Learning Platform for Architectural Design Studio Teaching

Studio teaching in architecture and design traditionally bases on the presence of both instructors and material learning artefacts. Instructors typically give supervision to students one-on-one at their drawing tables. Students, in turn, work with a tangible material such as pens and tracing paper, and scale model material such as cardboard and styrofoam. From this triangle of students, instructors and learning artefacts, the learning emerges. As such, the physical presence of people and stuff is a fundamental premise of the traditional studio learning format. As the object of study in architecture and design is physical – the designed artefacts in the form of objects and buildings – a certain hesitation seems to reside in architecture and design education towards new mediated forms of learning. However, while completely mediated forms of learning such as MOOCs may not be a feasible replacement for the traditional architecture and design studio, forms of blended learning, combining physical and online learning has the potential to make the best of both worlds, enriching studio learning without losing its indisputable merits in architecture and design education. In this paper, the introduction of an online communication platform – Google+ – in a four months urban design studio course is evaluated and discussed concerning its capacity to facilitate a transforming blend. The online platform was used for general instructor/student communication, for student/student communication, as well as for sharing of student work in progress. It also worked as a one-on-one supervision platform for whenever students were in need of supervision and advice outside class hours. The implementation of Google+ into the studio course was experimental and ran alongside the use of official Moodle platform. The students evaluated the positive and negative aspects of both platforms. While they were mostly critical of Moodle, they valued the functionality of Google+ from several perspectives; they also made critical remarks. While the experiment was not entirely successful, it seems beyond doubt that transforming blends have a lot to offer in architecture and design studio teaching.

建筑与设计领域的传统工作室教学，以教师与实体学习物料的在场为核心基础。教师通常会在学生的绘图桌旁提供一对一辅导。学生则需使用钢笔、描图纸等实体绘图材料，以及硬纸板、聚苯乙烯泡沫板等比例模型制作材料。依托学生、教师与学习物料三者构成的三角关系，学习活动得以开展。由此可见，师生与物料的实体在场，是传统工作室教学模式的核心前提。
由于建筑与设计的研究对象为实体——即以物品与建筑形式存在的设计成果，该领域教育界对新型媒介化学习形式似乎存在一定抵触情绪。然而，尽管大规模开放在线课程（MOOCs）这类完全媒介化的学习形式，或许无法成为传统建筑与设计工作室教学的可行替代方案，但融合线下与线上学习的混合式学习模式，却有望兼顾两者优势，在保留建筑与设计教育无可替代的传统优势的同时，丰富工作室教学的内涵。
本文围绕一款在线通信平台——Google+——在为期四个月的城市设计工作室课程中的应用，围绕其助力转型混合式教学的能力展开评估与探讨。该平台被用于教师与学生、学生与学生之间的日常沟通，以及学生阶段性作业成果的共享；同时也可作为课外时段学生寻求辅导与建议时的一对一沟通平台。将Google+引入工作室课程属于实验性尝试，其与官方Moodle平台并行使用。学生对两个平台的优缺点进行了评价：多数学生对Moodle持批评态度，但从多个维度认可了Google+的功能实用性，同时也提出了批评性意见。尽管本次实验并非完全成功，但毋庸置疑，转型混合式教学模式在建筑与设计工作室教学中仍大有可为。