Fair assessment and blended learning in collaborative group design projects

Abstract

The authors now operate as co-coordinating lecturers of the third and fourth-year studios respectively at Deakin and have introduced collaborative group projects to their cohorts. however, while the collaborative model works well in some instances, both authors are equally aware of situations where it has failed. Given the rapid changes that have come about in the funding of tertiary education, placing significant pressure on one-to-one staff/student contact time, an increasing number of schools and educators are being compelled to operate group projects. If, therefore, collaborative learning is to become a standard studio teaching model it is imperative to establish not only best practice teaching standards for the blended learning model,m but also fair assessment criteria and the optimisation of group dynamics for such a model. The following is a position paper detailing the blended learning studio Atelier Geelong, which is the focus of a funded research program currently investigating these issues at Deakin University. It is hoped that the findings of this research will inform a pedagogical framework that at present does not exist for design teaching.