Getting Started on Blackboard

Laura Terry, Associate Professor of Architecture

Miran Kang, Global Campus

Blackboard “ANXIETY”

What do students really learn in an on-line course?

Blackboard “ANXIETY”

How do I know students are paying attention?

Blackboard “ANXIETY”

Do I really sound “like that!?!”

“Education consists mainly of what we have unlearned.”Mark Twain

What can Blackboard do for you?•Innovative presentations•Discussion Boards •Video and website links•Tracking student performance

Thinking “Outside the Box”•Re-invent your course•Change the pace•Take the “pulse” of the course•Be willing to use alternative sources •Embrace the technology

“How can you do new math with an old math mind?” Charlie Brown

Course Objectives

• Carefully construct the syllabus with clear course objectives

• Provide objectives for each course section or lecture presentation

• Discussion board format takes the place of traditional classroom discussions and requires all students to participate

• Develop assignments that require the student to synthesize the information

Course Content

• 20 minute lectures – What is ESSENTIAL?• Streamline PowerPoint lectures with

information the students can refer to later• Identify what is working/not working

Additional Resources

• Websites of professional organizations• Topic-specific content• Using videos to enhance course content

“The first duty of a lecturer – to hand you after an hour’s discourse a nugget of pure truth to wrap up between the pages of your notebooks and keep on the mantelpiece forever.”

Virginia Woolf

Measuring Student Learning

• Re-thinking the FINAL EXAM• Projects that require synthesis• Coming full circle

Points to Remember

A design does not have to be fancy and ornate to be considered architecture. Many of the buildings we looked at were basic in design, but they were functional. The important role that the structure plays can make a simple building into something very beautiful. The Gateway Arch isn’t near as ornate as Chartres Cathedral, but they are both magnificent.

Light can become a material of its own. Light has the ability to make other materials and colors become something else. An architect skilled in the use of light can use it to manipulate existing materials into something unique and special.

Context is important. Thorncrown Chapel wouldn’t have the same serenity if it was placed in the middle of a city. The Empire State Building would not be fitting for the Ozark Mountains. Where a building is to be located makes all the difference in designing for a function.

Sensingarchitecture.comlifeofanarchitect.com

Important PointsLight as Decorum: Over the semester I could not help but be intrigued by

the use of light to make dynamic spaces. The way light can be filtered, directed, or amplified changes how I view the building as a whole. The works that stuck out the most to me were the ones in which the architect went out of the way to respect and anticipate light. The most interesting to me was at Newgrange where the only opening in the structure is only truly utilized at the winter solstice. The notion that a sacred space deserves a sacred light was very beautiful to me. The Imperial War Museum, Simmons Hall at M.I.T., and Notre Dame du Haut, where some of my favorite examples of unique geometric light.

Maison Domino & The Five Points: Learning about this changed the way I viewed buildings in general. The Five Points of Architecture helped me understand the theory behind what a building should be. It gave birth to a completely new species of architect, to which I am very thankful for Le Corbusier. The Maison Domino helped me really understand what he was trying to communicate and I could not believe he was purposing this in the very early 1900s! Revolutionary.

Arkansas Architecture: Before this class the only pieces of Arkansas architecture I knew about were Thorncrown Chapel and the Clinton Library. I got a chance to see a wedding at Thorncrown and I really loved seeing such a great piece tucked away in rural Arkansas. I grew up in Little Rock and have had many opportunities to see the Clinton Library. I was very excited when it was built and think it sets a great precedent for modern architecture in Arkansas. I did not know about many of the others and I highly enjoyed being enlightened. I will likely visit many of them soon. The Fulbright Building was great to find out about because I really like Crown Hall and it will be nice to see a good example of the international style in AR. The Edmonson House was a great residential example. Also, the organic emphasis that we have in Arkansas as reflected at Thorncrown Chapel, Pinecote Pavillion, and the Heifer International Project was most interesting to learn about.

http://www.bluffton.edu/~luginbuhlg/Europe/Ronchamp%20Interior.jpg

http://www.chi-athenaeum.org/archawards/2007/2007photos/AA07-60.jpg

Three Most Important Points

One of the most important points that I learned this semester was to be able to look at a plan, section, or elevation and understand the design of the structure and design techniques used within the building.

Another important concept I learned this semester was the concept of light and how it can define a space. I had no knowledge of the type of technique that can be used within a space to display light in many different ways. From using double curtain wall systems to using an oculus in a building, there are many ways that light can be used to send a dramatic message to visitors of the space.

Lastly, I learned about the different ways buildings can be designed to display tectonic expressions. Its amazing how concepts can be used to be aesthetically pleasing and at the same time serve a structural purpose. It really makes you observe structures in a different way, and makes you think about how the structure is assembled.

“Do not confine your children to your own learning, for they were born in another time.”

Hebrew Proverb