Analogue/Digital: Gathering Student Points of View

As an architectural design instructor, I try to balance innovative techniques with fundamental skills, and make judgments regarding the amount of time devoted to particular methods. This is especially true with regard to analogue and digital design process tasks. These judgments are guided by my personal experience and the work of other educators. I also respond to the desires of students, to provide the type of instruction that best sparks their interest. I have taught classes in both digital and analogue methods for design, and have observed renewed student interest in analogue graphic skills. I want to understand where students are coming from, and to avoid making assumptions. As educators, we can make up our minds about the relative values of analogue and digital approaches to design. But what do students think, and why? I administered a survey to solicit student points of view regarding analogue and digital methods of communicating design ideas. The survey was originally conducted in March 2005, with 53 responses, and again in March 2008, with 201 responses. The respondents included first- through fifth-year architecture students, and the survey gathered statistical and anecdotal evidence of student opinions on a variety of topics, for example: How much training do students feel they need with analogue and/or digital tools? How do media choices correlate to curricular choices? How do students feel about the results of their work with analogue versus digital media? Data gathered from surveys will be presented in the paper in a simplified format, and selected quotes will be presented for discussion and analysis. The conclusion will summarize the work and speculate on the pedagogical implications suggested by student responses. The research method will be critiqued for its apparent strengths and weaknesses, such that future studies of this kind might be more refined.