InfoBase: A multimedia learning environment to support group work

1 INTRODUCTION A curriculum review at the Faculty of Architecture, Delft University of Technology, has provided us with the opportunity to reflect on the role of ICT (In-formation and Communication Technology) in the curriculum and to redesign the implementation of this role. Two main strengths of ICT have been sin-gled out: as a design support and as a means to sup-port cooperation among students. Each strength has been translated into an educational path that is em-bedded and integrated into the curriculum. The first path is developed around the use of ICT to support the, mainly, individual design processes. In a first step, students learn simple modeling tech-niques, focusing on form, color, and visibility, and apply these to the composition and decomposition of a building with respect to basic notions such as load bearing structure, circulation, functionality, etc. In a second step, the knowledge of modeling techniques is extended with free-form surfaces and solids, mate-rial properties, daylight analysis, and the generation of simple spatial structures from repetitive elements. Towards the end of the path, the emphasis is on the advanced modeling of form in relationship to struc-ture, using a variety of software tools and applica-tions in combination and succession, on the expres-sion of design as a machine, in relationship to free-form buildings, and on the use of computational in-telligence in order to process increasing amounts of information, data, and knowledge. The second path considers the use of ICT to sup-port group work and discourse in relationship to the design process. Here too, a number of steps are con-sidered in order to familiarize the students with the potential of web-based design communication and cooperation. In the first step, the emphasis is on presentation and publication to others in the form of a digital portfolio. In the second step, a cooperative database serves the management and presentation of design analysis information and construction com-ponent and material information on a collective ba-sis. The third step considers the design and devel-opment of a communication process to link individual design activities within a common context or under a common theme. In order to support the activities and steps within this second path, we are developing a multimedia learning environment that offers the students the means and tools to create and develop structures for information management, presentation, communica-tion, and cooperation during the learning process. This should allow students, at their own initiative or under the guidance of an instructor, to organize their learning activities and to cooperate amongst them-selves and with their instructors. Our aim is to initi-ate networks or working groups, within an integra-tion of education and research, that serve as virtual centers of knowledge and experimentation on spe-cific themes, in order to advance both education and research. In this paper, we consider the general role e-learning can play in education, concentrate on spe-cific aspects of e-learning in design education, detail the educational path towards ICT use for coopera-tion and group work, and describe the multimedia ABSTRACT: We are developing a multimedia learning environment to support group work and discourse. It aims to offer the student the means and tools to organize his or her learning activities in cooperation with oth-ers. The focus is on information and document management, presentation and publication, communication and discourse, and cooperation and group work. The design of this environment is considered in relationship to an educational process in which the student becomes familiar with the use of ICT for supporting communi-cation and cooperation. We believe that such an environment plays a vital role in the application of e-learning to the design context, and that it will facilitate the initiation of networks or working groups that serve as vir-tual centers of knowledge and experimentation.