The Transformative Promise of ICTs for the Education of Architects in Taiwan

This paper attempts to answer three fundamental questions about the possibility of using information and communication technologies (ICTs) to transform the delivery of education to professional architects. First, what are the potential benefits of ICT for teachers and students in higher education professional programs such as architecture? Secondly, what are the issues that all too often act as barriers to the full development of an ICT-rich learning environment in higher education? Finally, what are the benefits and issues involved in implementing ICT to transform the teaching of architecture in a rapidly developing nation such as Taiwan? The response to these research questions requires, at the outset, a selective literature review regarding the use of ICTs in professional education, specifically in architecture. The review focuses, first, on the relationship between the rhetoric and the practice of implementing ICTs in educational systems, and, secondly, on important cultural issues involved with this kind of implementation. The literature review will be followed by a compact case study of how ICT has been used in the educational system of Taiwan to date. This, in turn, will be followed by a theoretical grounding of the discussion in the educational paradigm of expanding the learning environment with ICTs and academic benefits of ICTs. A full discussion of the use of ICTs in professional education, particularly in relation to Taiwan, will conclude the paper.