Investigating the Impact of DCIS Teaching Method (Direct Collaboration of Instructor and Student) on the Learning Process of Architectural Design Basics (Module I)

Finding the effective method for teaching basic courses of architecture is the main problem in this study. Accordingly, the objectives of this research are investigating the impact of a new method for teaching the architectural design basics (module I), entitled “DCIS” (Direct Collaboration of Instructor and Student), and assessing the students’ learning process through evaluating their activities as a validation test. This test method has been derived from the architectural education methods literature. To assess the dependent variable concerning the learning process precisely, its two important components are investigated in this research: the students’ success, as an external aspect, and their satisfaction as an internal one. Therefore, as the main focus of this paper, the question will be what the impact of DCIS on the learning process is among the students of Architectural Design Basics (I). To answer this question, the relationship between DCIS and students’ success and satisfaction has been analyzed. Case Study research is the methodology of this assessment. The results of the involved student's practice exercises were used to assess their success through comparing them to each other; moreover, questionnaires were distributed among the students to survey their satisfaction. Also, the statistical population of this research consisted of two groups of architectural students in the University of Mazandaran participating in the “Architectural Design Basics” course module I. Therefore, DCIS has been applied to one of these two groups. The comparison between the assessment results gained from these groups indicates different conclusions within various contexts. The results show that the students’ satisfaction from their learning process in the test group was more than the control group. In addition, the instructors’ assessment of the students’ exercises present that the students had more success when the DCIS Teaching Method was implemented.