A Framework for the Design Studio in Web-Based Education

Design education should integrate design concepts and skills with practical and theoretical knowledge through collaborative learning. Computer-mediated communication systems used in web-based education systems are quite appropriate for this principle by enabling global access to course material as well as allowing interaction of participants at distributed learning environments at anytime. Course design broadly requires the organization of time, space and activities considering the tools and methods used. Based on these issues, this study proposes a framework for the design of a webbased studio course with respect to the nature of the design process. An implementation of a sample web-based course design is included to support the idea. Considering the benefits and limitations, the nature of web-based design courses is explored first. Then, the sociological, ideological, epistemological and pedagogical aspects of a design studio are examined within the framework of objectives (why), objects (what), methodology (how) and management (who) with special emphasis given to synchronous and asynchronous communication.