Zayed Mosque

When a monument is done for god, it is not unusual that we are able to reach heaven through the eyes

HOME

It is nice to be back home. After a certain period of time without posting here I am. Art, architecture and education is going to be the main interest of this blog. It bilingual character will remain and I guess arts will start taking more place among other themes as experience is pushing things towards this way of being in the world. 

Architecture and Cultural Heritage in India, Arabia and Maghreb

Interesting site

http://www.archiam-centre.com/Index.aspx

El Árbol de la Arquitectura

Edificio 13, Universidad Pompeu Fabra. Autor: Juan Navarro Baldeweg

Mientras la arquitectura siga haciendo posible espacios como este, la arquitectura no desaparecerá.

10º Aniversario del Colegio de Pedagogos de Catalunya

El mismo día de la celebración del 10º aniversario del COPEC sale la  Revista EIX, en la cual viene el artículo "Música, Diseño y Sistema Educativo" escrito por Eugenia López Reus y Miguel Jaime. El artículo propone extender a todo el sistema educativo la pedagogía reflexiva responsable del éxito del Sistema de Orquestas de Venezuela y las prácticas reflexivas del taller de diseño.

The Future of Architectural Education

The future is currently the most uncertain thing to think about. But present is not easy to understand either: what is going on right now has become a matter of experts, no common sense stuff. Education is not an exception, and architectural education even more.

The best idea to get a glimpse of how future architects will be taught is to ask the experts. The link takes to 5 very short essays by educational experts (click on them and they will open) that predict future architectural education.

The point of view of this blog is that, in the near future, architects will become aware of the fact that they have been self-teaching themselves for more than a century now, so they will have the opportunity of starting doing it better, much better. This is the reflexive (r)evolution ahead in pedagogical terms, not only in architecture but especially in it.

Figuring Things Out

Professor Eleonor Dockworth, cognitive psychologist and pedagogue, describes learning in a perfect Deweyian manner: "figuring things out".

We all shouldn't forget that figure is synonym of design, so to figure out (which means understanding, learning, thinking) means in some way designing, designing in our minds. Any more proofs needed of the connection between designing and learning?

The New School

Classrooms are over. Dewey, Vigotsky, Schön would be moved by this picture. Education is going in the direction they suggested, at least in some places. The school in the picture is Orestad College, in Denmark.

The building was done trying that the "physical structure supports the visions of knowledge sharing, interdisciplinarity cooperation and competencies". The bad news is that it is only happening in North European Countries. The good news is that class is over.

Improving Teaching

Since 2009, the MET (Messuring Effective Teaching) Project, is trying to make objective remarks on good teaching practices. That's the way more teachers can improve the way they do things later on. Improving, is what education is all about, and improving education is the most reflective iniciative ever (except designing, of course).

Education Affordability

The best educational system in the world is so, among other reasons, because the President, the first citizen and his wife, would not have been so if it was not for the grants and loans that give everybody a chance.

The speech at University of Michigan is about the importance of an affordable educational system.

Presentation Skills

Lectures are the most popular (used) means for presenting contents to students. The video is very good because its content is about the main subject education should have: attitudes.

Multiple ways of presentation (as UDL suggests) is the best way to improve communication in the classroom. Hope lectures improve a bit after this eyes opener video.

Stop SOPA

21st Century's Ph.D

Photo credit: katerha/Creative Commons

Academy can't remain unaltered if the world has changed, because Academy is in the world. Those of us that have spent nine years or more writing a doctoral dissertation of hundreds of pages and extremely deep subjects -and still are keen on learning- know it.

It is not that long dissertations were useful in the past. It is that their usefulness remained unnoticed then. New ways of researching have to be accepted. Traditional literary effectiveness has to be a requirement for Ph.D dissertations: if it does not impact the soul of the reader it should not be considered a valuable piece.

The link takes to an excellent discussion at Inside Higher Education on the subject. Follow it

Apoyemos a la Universidad Central de Venezuela

No hay ninguna idea, por buena que sea, que justifique acabar con la universidad, porque en la universidad es donde más se respetan las ideas.

Investigación en Arquitectura Venezolana

La investigación arquitectónica de calidad se abre camino en Venezuela. El vínculo lleva al sitio de la Trienal de Investigación de la Facultad de Arquitectura y Urbanismo de la Universidad Central de Venezuela, mi Alma Máter.

En documentos en PDF se puede acceder a las ponencias que tienen un nivel contrastable, aunque mejorable. La iniciativa tiene que continuar y recabar todos los apoyos posibles. El laboratorio que representa la ciudad de Caracas y el país entero ameritan el esfuerzo.

Universal Design for Learning

UDL is design applied to meet true diversity in education as learning skills in each individual are as different as their fingerprints.

There are three main principles for this pedagogical strategy:

• Present the students the subjects in multiple ways
• Allow them to express themselves in multiple ways
• Create multiple ways of engagement

In all cases, the students are at the centre of the experience. CAST is a nonprofits organization that has been working for more that 25 years now and it's doing its job very, very well. They have many free interactive tools for students and teachers. An example to be followed.

Student Engagement

Information on student engagement. It is done by the NSSE Institute for Effective Educational Practice of USA. At the end of the brochure there are some web sites very useful. You can tailor your own report with the Report Builder to hit the subject you want to measure.

There is also a Spanish version of the Guide to Choosing a College: Questions to ask on your college visits. It is very useful to learn criteria on choosing your educational institution, in spite the Spanish there is even worse than the English in this blog, I am afraid.

¿Occupy Harvard?

Economic students walked out a class at Harvard in solidarity with the Occupy Movement. It is normal that the students, who are going to live gloomy lives thanks to it, feel uneasy with the promotion of principles that have cause current global crisis. But that is not that clear.

The faculty chosen as a target was professor N. Gregory Mankiw, a New Keynesian economist that advised George Bush and has written some of the most important text books on the subject. University politics are always unpredictable. Not so long ago, Harvard Crimson celebrated the return of former president Larry Summers, previously fired for sexism, and one of the main responsible for laissez-faire fever. Now, a Keynesian gets the punch. In a previous post (The responsibility of Number One) I compared the reaction of the London School of Economics and Harvard in front of ethically controversial cases. It's in Spanish here.

In spite all the trouble this event may cause, it is encouraging that Harvard students think that "Harvard students will not do that anymore. We will use our education for good, and not for personal gain at the expense of millions." Here is the link to the news by the Universtity of Phoenix and here by Harvard Crimson.

Dibujo del bueno

Federico Correa, catedrático emérito de la Escuela de arquitectura de Barcelona, y uno de los mejores dibujantes de la profesión, expone sus últimas obras. Sus dibujos son un prodigio de talento y gusto exquisito. Imperdible.

Say no to ACTA

If you appreciate internet freedom, say no to ACTA.