E-learning by studying:: topics for online architectural design teaching

A number of significant trends are converging and shaping practice and education with the ability to understand, simulate, and represent complex four-dimensional arrangements of space. The first is the technological revolution in the changing media of expression and the tools for this work. The second is the increased focus on knowledge, its communication and interpretation. The convergence of these trends points to a significant research area in design architectural education. This ALFIERI (2007/2008) research appraises the effectiveness and the transmissibility of some e-learning teaching models and their development in two different ways: the tutorial model and the design unit model. The work presents more than interface technological solutions: it represents studies about the Cultural and pedagogic implications by introducing such technologies to architectural design teaching. The methodological research process is based on the study of some American and European laboratory models, which are critically selected and analyzed.