Improving the Professional Competencies of Architect Students

Abstract

In university education today, students must demonstrate motivation and show a willingness to take on a more proactive role in the acquisition of the competencies needed to successfully handle professional challenges if they are to gain a well-rounded educational experience, especially given the significant importance now being placed on learner autonomy in the professional world. During their training, Technical Architecture students must assimilate and apply competencies relevant to the subject Graphic Expression. To assist them with this task, the authors have developed an experience that uses ICT-based Learning Objects (LOs) specifically designed and developed for use as teaching aids in a university degree subject delivering training to this type of professional in this subject area. Results indicate that intrinsic motivation increases significantly amongst students following the use of the aforementioned LOs. This is fundamental in the development of deeper learning as it ensures the comprehension, retention and transfer of content being learnt, and, as such, facilitates the acquisition of competencies in the subject area of Architectural Graphic Expression.