Modernizing Learning and Teaching for Architecture through Smart and Long-lasting Partnerships leading to sustainable and inclusive development strategies to Vitalize heritage Villages through Innovative Technologies Erasmus Project

Project Title

Modernizing Learning and Teaching for Architecture through Smart and Long-lasting Partnerships leading to sustainable and inclusive development strategies to Vitalize heritage Villages through Innovative Technologies

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for higher education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2017

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Inclusion – equity

Project Summary

“Modernizing Learning and Teaching for Architecture through Smart and Long-lasting Partnerships leading to sustainable and inclusive development strategies to Vitalize heritage Villages through Innovative Technologies” is a project that considers the actual depopulation phenomena in far situated rural areas from urban centers. Depopulation implies lack of economic development, poverty and loss in the field of protection traditional architecture and monuments. On the other hand, architectural education is looking worldwide into new didactic teaching and learning techniques in order to achieve the actual technological level of communication, interdisciplinarity, building techniques and new sustainability standards.
The project proposed a transnational University cooperation that raises the question of high education in Europe and underlines the thematic approach of the complexity of current rural heritage conditions emergencies, actual chances and challenges where the traditional division of disciplines are outdated.
All the participant universities have different approaches and profiles offering diversity in the project. The cooperation supported creativity and the discipline interference sharpen their identity. In this direction, there is a need to face to the complexity of the rural heritage and, in that context, the project offers an integrated approach that is usually neglected through individual disciplines and aims at strengthening the architectural curricula and teaching to face new TEACHING and LEARNING and to be adapted to the new societal and professional situation. This NEW MODULE implied that the knowledge basis, teaching methods and role models transferred in rural heritage education was adapted to a new contemporaneous reality, created a balance between the rural and urban approach in the curricula and reconsidered rural as valuable resource for present education and cultural-social needs.
Objectives:
– Increasing the quality of teachers training and the relevance of competences and skills for students through promoting a STUDENT CENTERED APPROACH for the field of rural environment regeneration
– Developing and testing NEW TEACHING METHODS, formats and instruments in this field of education
– Strengthening the architectural graduates’ ability to face the actual problems of the rural heritage building and thus improve the graduates’ social impact and their employability
– To fill the gap between theory and practice, respectively participating in intensive study programs
– Supporting the EU recognition tools (ECTS) and support the better use of European transparency

Number and profile of participants:
•Teaching partners staff (22) with competence profiles of the teachers in about 15 disciplines
• Students (100):
– Directly involved students following the degree course of each partner university
– Students from rural areas
– PhD with a thesis on evaluation of risks, rural heritage or rural landscape study area
– Students from other 7 countries (32) that participated in collateral VVITA workshops
• Faculty management staff
• NGO-s members
• Public organization representatives
• Researchers (NIRDDD, Museums)
• Representatives of local community
• Professional associations representatives (4 participants).

Description of undertaken activities:
In applying innovation and technology there were two kinds of outputs:
– gathering tutors/mentors, trainers discussing the detailed curricula and support materials
– output as dedicated phase in intensive learning programs for teaching assimilated and tested the development habituation and information, integrated thinking for both theory and practice.

Results and impact attained:
(1) Teaching staff: The new competences of the staff members were multiplied by involving new teachers in the activities. Pedagogical training was also maintained as the part of network activity.
(2) Students: Benefited from the innovative program, gaining multicultural exchange, relevant knowledge and practice oriented experience, contributing directly to their employability.
(3) Faculty management staff: benefited from the synergy across institutional boundaries and could transfer this concept to other fields of study.

During the implementation there were elaborated also progresses and final reports, outcomes of the transnational meetings, of the short-term joint staff training event and intensive programs
longer-term benefits
By using common resources, profit was gained on several levels and the results are: academic benefit by exchange of knowledge; cultural benefit by social and intellectual exchange; economic benefit. There were organized exhibitions with posters and video presentations, scientific and educational papers, conference participation and internal exhibition. The results of the VVITA project were transformed into an educational network for the villages heritage vitalization as part of its sustainable strategy.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 217874 Eur

Project Coordinator

Universitatea de Arhitectura si Urbanism “Ion Mincu” & Country: RO

Project Partners

• NORGES TEKNISK-NATURVITENSKAPELIGE UNIVERSITET NTNU
• UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI CATANIA