From Bauhaus to Britney: A Catchall Timeline

By Kurt Holfeld, Dawson College

At a Glance

Discipline

  • Applied arts

Instructional Level

  • College & CEGEP

Course

  • Design & the Built Environment

Tasks in Workflow

Social Plane(s)

  • Individual
  • Group
  • Whole Class

Type of Tasks

  • Collecting & seeking information
  • Discussing
  • Debating

Technical Details

Useful Technologies

  • Miro or any whiteboard tool (see Tips)

Class size

  • Small (20-49)

Time

  • Multiple class periods (2-3 classes)

Inclusivity & Accessibility

  • Diversity of engagement
  • Variety of representations

Instructional Purpose

  • Preparation & knowledge activation
  • Application & knowledge building
  • Consolidation & metacognition

Overview

The purpose of this activity is for students to consolidate prior knowledge and to build upon it collaboratively.

Students practice making connections between historic and contemporary ideas, and how to situate architectural movements in cultural, economic, political, and artistic contexts.

Students collaborate on a shared artifact, freely populating it with content that interests them. This content may come from prior knowledge or instructor prompts, but students are encouraged to cast a wide net of inquiry. The loose structure facilitates discovery, and the introversion or extroversion of participants doesn’t impact the quality of their contributions.

This activity works well at the midpoint of the semester, offering an activity that students can pace themselves through and use as a study guide for later quizzes.

Instructional Objectives

Students will be able to identify distinguishing features of Western architectural movements within their socio-cultural contexts.

Workflow & Materials

Workflow

Activity Workflow

View on CourseFlow
Interactive media

Timeline Template

Kurt Holfeld

Contributor's Notes

Benefits
Challenges
Tips
Benefits

Students hidden passions (literature, art, pop culture, fashion, technology) may emerge, prompting new discussions with peers and instructor. This can act as a confidence builder, especially amongst more introverted students in an ALC setting.

Challenges

Gauging the pace and how long to stay on the activity. The instructor has to read the room – sometimes students treat it as a heads-down break, while other times it can spark debate and discussion. It can take some time for students to find their rhythm in the exercise and it requires a bit of patience from everyone before enough data emerges to begin making connections and sharing discoveries as a class or in small groups.

Tips

Any whiteboard tool will do, but there are certain features of Miro that make it well suited to an Applied Arts discipline.

Recommend –  All participants collaborate on the same artifact. Miro is an effective cloud-based tool that allows enough options for the instructor to build a framework and enough freedom for the students to choose how to communicate their findings.

Applied Strategies

Concept Mapping

Visual representation of knowledge