A Focus on Pedagogy

Abstract

This paper seeks to present an action-research into my own practice as an educator and researcher. Having researched the relationship between Architecture & Urban Design with online learning and virtual learning spaces for many years as well as having developed my teaching practice in these areas, in face-to-face and hybrid form, I saw the need for fully online teaching & learning in 2020 with a renewed interest. The paper revisits a pedagogical model for online learning I proposed in the past, which is the result of a search for a coherent framework based on pedagogical principles.  Based on a constructivist approach,  the model combines socio-cultural theories and critical pedagogy with a ‘reflective-practice’ based methodology. Having been applied in different contexts and countries, this model is now used as the basis for reflection on my teaching of Architecture & Urban Design developed over the years, and in special the experience within the 2020 Brazilian social context under the Covid-19 crisis. It is argued that Web-based technologies and powerful Internet connections provide a vast array of possibilities for educational technology, however, they do not guarantee the quality of the learning process. Amongst other issues, the socio-economic and cultural context plays an extremely important role, affecting both learners and teachers.