Abstract This paper will present interim reflections on an ongoing pilot educational project being undertaken with the 2013-2014 new undergraduate cohort of Planning students in the three existing programmes at the Bartlett School of Planning (BSP) in University College London (UCL): Urban Planning, Design and Management (UPDM), Planning and Real Estate (PRE) and Urban Studies (US). The main purpose of this project is to enhance the University-level agenda for key transferable skill development (academic; self-management; inter-personal, but most importantly, communication) via active production of design (e-)artefacts of paramount value for employability in the Built Environment – the (i-)portfolio. It also aims to contribute to wider pedagogical and theoretical debates on the nature and value of the use of technology in Built Environment higher education. The project is developed in two stages, over the academic year. During terms 1 and 2 (October-December and January-March), the project will pilot the use of iPads as a dynamic learning tool in graphic communication, and will explore the potential of technology-enabled features and utilities to improve student engagement and foster individual learning. In terms 2 and 3 (April - June) the project will pilot the use of iBooks as a dynamic learning resource in phenomenological pedagogy, with the aim of building on the capacity for our graduates to become ‘reflective practitioners’. It will do so by promoting the co-development of i-portfolios as design (e-)artefacts that enable and reinforce the values of self-regulated and flexible learning and ongoing personal/career development.

1. Using iPads as a dynamic learning tool
to develop skills in graphic communication
and enhance spatial awareness
IHE 2014
20th March 2014, Paphos
Bartlett School of Planning, UCL
Dr Elisabete Cidre (e.cidre@ucl.ac.uk)

2. Project AIMS to:
• enhance UCL’s agenda for key transferable skills development
mainly (visual) communication
via active production of (e-)artefacts, (i-)portfolio
• explore the potential of using iPADs in design studio classes
as a dynamic learning tool in graphic communication
• explore the potential of technology-enabled features and utilities
to improve student engagement and foster individual learning
• contribute to wider pedagogical and theoretical debates
on the nature and value of the use of technology in HE

3. Learning through Images/Graphics
Formal (in class)
Studio classes | Once or twice a week Presentations (crits)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Informal (accidental, in site visits and field trips)

4. iPAD features and utilities
BSc year1 Term1, Graphic Skills
To develop skills in:
Drawing (4s)
and
Photoshop (2s)
Combining the use of:
sketchbook
iPAD
Urban Skills Portal https://extendstore.ucl.ac.uk/catalog?category=3

5. Mixing traditional + technology tools
BSc year1 Term1, Graphic Skills
• Sketchbook + iPAD + Urban Skills Portal
• Encouraged formal and informal dialogue
• Infuse collateral learning and the desire to go on learning
(Dewey (1938: 49, in Carver and Enfield, 2006: 57)
• The quality of the experience … greater if/when lessons learned impact
(positively) on future ones, when a reflective process has taken place
(Brockbank and McGill, 2007: 85)

6. What students told us:
December 2013
• 87% response rate
• 75% have iPAD (or tablet) OR borrowed iPAD from the School
• Used on weekly basis
• For Graphic Skills AND other coursework,
mainly Making Cities and History of Cities (project-based modules)
• Mostly used for Maps (digimap), Photos, Google (earth), Adobe Ideas,
SketchBook Express, combining and sharing elements and files
• Scale of 1 (not at all) to 5 (very useful)
Graphic Skills – 3.5
Studies Overall – 3.5/4.0

7. iPAD as dynamic learning tool
BSc year1 Term2, week 1
• Field trip to Barcelona
• 3 day analysis of urban square
Urban Design module
(58 Planning students)
• 3 day professional visitor guide
Making Cities module
(+ 97 Architecture + 31 Construction and Project management students)
2 groups from PLANNING did iBooks

8. Urban Design
in the Web
e-resources as environment and as tool
MyPortfolio Urban Images group*
Experiential & behavioural qualities category is
‘challenging and contentious and more open to subjective interpretation’
* funded by BSP and HEA 2012-13
Urban Design
Images Archive
• Web links
• Projects and
think-tanks
• Still images
• 6 categories

9. Student experience = interaction with activities
Moving Narratives* project is shaped!
piloted with BSc year1 2013-14 Urban Design students
• beyond the stillness of photography
• images and sound narratives
• 6 month period / 2 sites (Sloane Square and Greenwich Park)
• filmed with iPad 3 attached to CamLink tripod with TheJoyFactory tournez
• aims to enhance the understanding of not only spatial but also phenomenological
awareness, ‘shorten[ing] the road to self-experience’ (Findeli, 1990).
• as referential of the different uses by different users within the same setting.
• to illustrate the influence that intangible elements such as weather changes, sound
and smell have on the sensory perception and consequent use of those spaces.
* funded by BSP and UCL ELDG 2013-14

10. Experiential & Behavioural Qualities of Space
‘MyPortfolio was really helpful for my project at concept stage’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dhj2q8iJzmo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26GzevUN2dY

11. Student Outputs
Drawing Project
Photoshop Project
Proposal for Urban Square Project
Comparative Analysis of Squares Project

12. What next?
• to encourage undergraduate students to take an active role in the
iterative production of (their) design (e-)artefacts
• by producing their own e-portfolio(s)
• their own iBook showcasing their work
• i-portfolio will help building their own employability skills
Dependent on funding:
• Term 3 workshop on ‘how to do your own iBook’
• Term 3 (Summer?) iBook of Experiential&Behavioral Qualities of Space

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THANK YOU!
Some references that helped the journey