According to the PCATP press release issued to ARCHI TIMES stated that the PCATP & HEC organized a three days Faculty Development workshop on “Art of Studio Teaching” from 21 to 23 September 2022, at HEC National Academy, Islamabad.
The Workshop was formally opened by Dr. Nasir Shah DG of the Quality Assurance Agency, Higher Education Commission on September 21, 2022, with participants from 25 Architectural Schools/ Departments of Universities from all over Pakistan divided into five color groups for presentations. The master trainer from Malaysia, Ar. Adrianta Bin Aziz, VP of the Malaysian Institute of Architects (PAM) conducted the session supported and assisted by A. Khadija Jamal, member Accreditation Board PCATP, Dr. Anita Kapadia, Accreditation Evaluator-PCATP, Ar./Planner Sadia Fazli, Registrar PCATP and 05 National resource persons from various universities which included Prof. Dr. Saima Gulzar – PCATP Educational Nominee, Dr. Maryam Siddiq – UET Lahore, Ar. Uzma Kabir – COMSATS University Islamabad, Ar. Quratul Ain Asghar – UET Lahore, Ar. Agha Hanee Murtaza – Nazeer Hussain. Ar Adrianta presented the studio teaching pedagogy in a highly interactive and effective manner sharing their experience thoughts, and ideas and evaluating the presentations presented by the participants.
The said workshop is part of ongoing efforts of PCATP to uplift architectural education within the country, the workshop was designed for young faculty members and was specifically geared towards Studio teaching, the format of the workshop was based upon hands-on learning after that the training itself was made to reflect the studio environment, its strategy was based upon self-appraisal and allowed participants to investigate and polish their tutoring style. The workshop’s aim was towards de-constructing and defining the process of ‘Studio Learning’ and although there are many parameters within Studio, for this Workshop ‘Building Studio Environment’ adopted. The projected outcome of this workshop was:
* Introduce Young academicians within studio teaching to international practices and views through Guest Lectures conducted every day
* Inspire them through peer and parallel learning toward self-improvement
* Create an environment of dialogue between young academic professionals.
* Introduce soft skill-based teaching techniques allowing for opinions to generate and be accepted no matter how diverse or intangible.
* Incorporate informal learning techniques when carrying out studio teaching
* Preparation of Handouts for Studio
* Comprehension of the end goal when designing and conducting a studio.
It was heartening to see that the participants were open to ideas and eagerly infused the learnings from the workshop into their pledges. It is hoped that the said learnings would be shared with their colleagues and an interactive collaboration would be generated amongst the various schools.
Day 01: The Workshop started with the recitation of the holy Quran followed by the National Anthem. Dr. Nasir Shah delivered his opening speech and appreciated PCATP for organizing such useful events for the promotion of architecture education. Master trainer Ar. Adrianta Bin Aziz started his presentation in a very interactive way throughout the day. He shared his knowledge, teaching experience, and methodologies of interactive studio and class learning. He explained various learning styles, attributes of meaningful learning and oversights, issues, and the importance of technology in higher education learning as well as Kolb’s experiential learning, etc.
Later, Ar. Gita Balkrishna, an educationalist from India gave her online session on the topic titled “Education of Change, Change In Education” and presented the education environment and challenges in India in an effective manner.
The Master trainer Ar. Adrianta elaborated on the OBE (Objective-based Evaluation), Bloom’s Taxonomy, and constructive learning alignment during the final session of day 01. Later participants expressed their views in Q/A and Local resources also shared their comments on that
Day 02: The workshop was re-commenced through the interactive session and that was the core topic of today, the effective communication between teacher and class. Ar. Adrianta explained Dale’s cone of learning and the importance of teams and groups in cooperative learning, collaborative learning as well as supporting technologies.
The participant groups were given chance to project and present their design ideas, and relevant knowledge. A panel of National Resource members assessed the participant’s work and shared their experiences and recommendations. The day was closed with a brief summation by the master trainer.
Day 03: Started with presentations of the participant group and their assessments were evaluated by a panel of National resource persons and the master trainer. An interactive discussion was held as to how the class assignments could be made more effective and meaningful given the multiple challenges of the profession and the built environment.
Closing Ceremony
The closing ceremony was inaugurated in Islamabad Club in the evening on September 24, 2022. Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed Chairman Higher Education Commission attended the ceremony as the chief guest.
Ar. Khadija Jamal gave an overview of 03 days Workshop to the guests and how an attempt was made to train young faculty in studio teaching being the core of the learning process in Arch education. Dr. Anita Kapadia acted as the master of the ceremony. Chairman PCATP, Ar. Arif Changezi in his speech welcomed the Chief guest and all the attendees and thanked HEC for its support and cooperation. He lauded the efforts of the Master Trainer, the Core team of PCATP, and the National Resource Persons for their extraordinary efforts and input in making the Workshop meet its objectives.
A Pledge was made by the participant’s representatives on behalf of all the participants as to how they would transform the design studio’s culture into a learning environment through new techniques learned in the Workshop.
The Ceremony was attended by HODs of various Architectural Schools, Vice Chancellors, PCATP EC Committee members, and evaluators.
The Chairman HEC, in his speech, praised the workshop and encouraged such efforts in the future, and further acknowledged the importance of Architects. He highlighted the importance of the role of Architects in these flood and disaster situations. He also said that he will make efforts for coordinated directions of Architects and Engineers to cater to such situations and design future buildings. In the end, all the participants, the Core team of PCATP, the national resources persons, PCATP evaluators, and HEC representatives were given shields and certificates by the Chief Guest.
