Pedagogy built on working with communities - a first semester core course
Loading...
Date
2016
Editors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
AESOP
Abstract
Preparing students for practice is perhaps the key challenge in planning education. Since the late 1990s, the issue of how to balance theory, methods, skills, and practice oriented courses in the core curriculum has been increasingly recognized. Partly as a result of the greater emphasis in the 2006 North American Planning Accreditation Board guidelines on plan-making skills, and partly in response to the increasing demand from students for hands on learning, by now, most planning schools have incorporated practice oriented courses into their core curriculum (Edwards & Bates 2011, Vidhardi, et.al. 2012). Depending on how each program defines what planning is or ought to be, the strategies to incorporate practice oriented learning into the curriculum ranges from special seminars or workshops, to internship requirements to studios (Lang 1983, Grant Long 2012, Vidhardi et.al. 2012). While studios are a key component of practice oriented learning, the attitude towards studio pedagogy has changed over time. As the focus of planning programs shifted away from the physical planning oriented education of the earlier years towards social science and research oriented education, studio pedagogy was abandoned in most schools, to be revived once again in recent years. The role of studios in planning education continues to be a debated issue (Lang 1983, Higgins, et al. 2009). We argue that studio learning, if tied to working with a community-based client early in their educational experience, can help students learn to balance theory with practice, and “can be a transformative experience, forcing them to confront their own values (…)” (Le Gates 2014).
Description
Proceedings of the IV World Planning Schools Congress, July 3-8th, 2016 : Global crisis, planning and challenges to spatial justice in the north and in the south
Keywords
License
All Rights Reserved