Istanbul Gelisim University (IGU) Faculty of Fine Arts (FAF) Head of Interior Architecture Department asst. Prof. Dr. Yaprak Özel attended the 15th Interior Architecture Department Heads Meeting, organized online by Istanbul Kultur University Interior Architecture and Environmental Design Department, on 25 December 2020 with the theme of "No Contact".
The theme of the meeting, which was held to create a communication environment between universities that provide interior architecture education and to develop solutions by opening disciplinary issues to discussion, was determined as "Contactless" during the pandemic process that the world and our country are facing. With the Covid-19 Epidemic experienced all over the world, interior architecture education goes through similar processes to other design training. We know that Interior Architecture and Interior Architecture and Environmental Design Departments all over the country are moving to distance education at full speed.
So what awaits the “Contactless” Interior Architecture Education?
In this process, activities such as encounters, communication, interaction, and learning from each other provided by the studio spaces where the project courses of application-intensive departments such as interior architecture were carried out in face-to-face education had to be transformed. Transferring the studio culture, which is the focus of design education, to the virtual environment has brought many difficulties.
Stated that this meeting, which allows the discussion of these difficulties with the participation of many academicians on a national scale, is very important especially for the future of the profession this year, Head of Interior Architecture Department asst. Prof. Dr. Yaprak Özel added:
“Transferring the face-to-face application courses to online education without any prior preparation has caused a difficult process for all the trainers. This rapidly developing process has greatly increased the workload of the executives. Although these courses, in which information is shared face-to-face and interactively, and ideas are developed and carried out, are not as efficient as conducting face-to-face in the online environment, this process is tried to be made more efficient with various studies that can increase the participation of students.”
With an intense program at the meeting; various topics such as the functioning of the design studio and other applied courses, which form the backbone of interior architecture education during the distance education process carried out during the pandemic, the change in course content and methods, new experiences in teaching methods and techniques and evaluation criteria were discussed.
“…The biggest advantage of the pandemic process is online meetings where experts and students can come together.”
Within the framework of the "Contactless" theme, Heads of Interior Architecture and Interior Architecture and Environmental Design Departments in many provinces of Turkey, faculty deans, members of the Chamber of Interior Architects of TMMOB, the dynamics of "contactless" interior architecture education during the pandemic process the traditional design studio on the verge of change, contactless design studio, learner-teacher relations-communication-interaction, new methods and tools, possibilities and impossibilities, an adaptation of the education curriculum, simultaneous practices, informal practices, and developed solutions by discussing them.
Head of Interior Architecture Department, Asst. Prof. Dr. Yaprak Özel also stated the following about the problems that arise in the ongoing distance education process during the pandemic process and the situations that can be turned into an advantage:
“At this point, one of the most important issues is that the students can continue their education in the best way possible and that the communication with them is kept at the highest level and they can continue without breaking their ties with the universities where they had their first professional experience. At the beginning of the fall semester, we are trying to ensure that our 1st-grade students, who start their vocational training online without any face-to-face training, are more participatory, especially in this process. The biggest advantage of this process, which eliminates the problems of organizing meetings and participation, such as time and transportation before the pandemic, is online meetings where experts and students can come together. In addition, our students, who can adapt very quickly to technological developments, have started to use these programs more actively to present their studies and create different studies. In this process, both the coordinators and the students are working to ensure that it is spent most efficiently.”
