WEB BASED COLLABORATIVE LEARNING (WBCL)
As the primary investigator I am developing a synchronous and asynchronous web based collaboration tool (WBCL) capable of serving as a virtual interior design studio environment to improve teaming opportunities for RIT students, faculty, national and international partner institutions as well as project stakeholders.
The WBCL will provide a dynamic exchange for interior design faculty and students with their project partners that can become a long term resource to enhance the design process through direct contact and collaborative teaming. Further, the WBCL will serve as a long term repository for project documentation and research findings so that the stakeholders may use this information for future grant writing or obtaining financial support for design implementation.
The WBCL is currently in development for phase one which includes on campus collaborations and strategic partnerships abroad. The first research project will engage students in a sophomore interior design studio with faculty and stakeholders in Malmo, Sweden to investigate the issues surrounding migrant housing and the resulting cultural collisions. Phase Two includes more expansive research efforts aiming for multiple, global collaborations to address design related issues for the Escuala Hospital, Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
COLLABORATORS
RIT Innovative Learning Institute
CIAS Tech Support
New Media Faculty
ACHIEVEMENTS | FUTURE EFFORTS
2016
Provost’s Learning Innovations Grants (PLIG)
$5,000.00, Principal Investigator
Awarded funding for the research and implementation of “THE VIRTUAL DESIGN STUDIO.” A project that intends to synthesize existing cyber technology, media, multimedia and software to develop a web based collaborative learning (WBCL) tool to create an accessible methodology for the dissemination and sharing of information between students, faculty and project stakeholders engaged in interdisciplinary and international design exchanges. Results of this grant will be disseminated on campus and submitted for professional publication, academic and professional conferences.