The Power of Experience: Implementing and Evaluating the Use of a Mobile Approach for Enhancing Students’ Learning in Urban Design

Embracing the conceptual shift on new ways of experiencing the city and learning urban design: pedagogical methods and digital technologies

“…The mobile lectures approach was developed in 2010 as part of the project 'The Power of Experience" (Azevedo, 2011), funded by an Innovation in Learning and Teaching grant from the Higher Education Academy Centre for Education in the Built Environment. The project focused on using the portability and versatility of mobile technology to complement traditional teaching resources to create a series of mobile lectures that students could download to their phones and take 'to the field'.…”

“…The expectation was that the mobile lectures would facilitate an understanding of the urban environment through experience. This, in turn, would help learning to move from 'recipient' approach to a 'critical thinking' approach to learning in disciplines of the built environment could be facilitated if students were given the opportunity to appraise urban design principles through a flexible situated experience where they are active participants rather than inactive recipients in the knowledge building process (Azevedo, 2011).…”

“…They also felt better able to make more informed decisions in their design projects as they had experienced the consequences of the application of certain principles when walking in the streets (Azevedo & Fett, 2012). The following quote exemplifies students' perceptions of the usefulness of mobile lectures through experiential learning I think [the mobile lectures] have helped me to understand the principles of urban design, because I am experiencing a 'first hand' look at the different buildings, streets, people, areas and what their relationships are with one another...you can understand and associate better with the different urban design principles such as perimeter blocks, land form, permeability, retrofitting and open and public spaces.…”

“…The encouragement for students to experience the urban environment guided by a short structured lecture was useful for the teaching process as it allowed the lecturer to refer to students' experiences when discussing topics that were in the content of the mobile lectures. This was especially constructive when discussing students' design decisions in studio design sessions (Azevedo, 2011).…”

“…In the student interviews, technology was never identified as a barrier for learning. However, students have highlighted that the use of videos whilst walking can impact negatively on the experience of the place (Azevedo & Fett, 2012). Varying levels of digital literacy amongst staff may pose problems for the development of similar projects (Azevedo, 2011).…”