The architecture studio: Its implications for instructional design education

Instructional design has organized its professional education programs on rationalist rather than humanist design principles. As a result, the field has been marked by indifference, if not aversion, to spontaneous and strikingly imaginative design practices. In contrast, the studio model of architecture education is an exemplar of preparation for original design. To investigate how instructional design education might be refashioned along architectural education lines, a semester-long study of an architecture studio course was conducted at Columbia University. Based on an examination of video recordings, student and instructor interviews, and observations of the studio class, seven principles of pedagogy were derived for creative instructional design. Finally, a potential curriculum for an instructional design degree program that integrates the seven principles is outlined.