Curriculum 3.0 enabling democracy in tertiary design education at a University of technology in SA

Abstract

It is expected that by 2035 over one billion people will be living and working as digital nomads. Moser (2014) considers “Architecture 3.0” as a new disruptive economic model for the architectural professions made possible through digital technologies. Today’s architects and interior designers need to be entrepreneurial, resourceful, innovative and resilient with the ability to simultaneously access various mobile technologies and use multimedia in non-linear ways. We therefore question: How do we prepare our students for careers in hyper-connected globalised economies? Web 3.0 enables a space in which the machine forms part of the meaning making process. In “learning 3.0”, learning occurs increasingly between people and their hyper-connected devices. In a “limitless symbiotic relationship between human and machine” (Wheeler 2012) our mobile devices are able to connect data, applications and people though cloud computing, and therefore as we learn from our devices so too do our devices learn from us. Using a literature review and a comparison of learner attributes, the findings are discussed and presented as catalysts for alternative approaches to design curricula. In keeping with principles of rhyzomatic learning, flexible responses are sought to the challenges of student protests regarding the cost of education and the relevance of westernised curricula. Flexible models of information exchange mean that students need to be taught how to learn and curate their digital learning environments with the lecturer as facilitator and mentor.