What is Student-Centric

In the United States, many university based architecture schools feature shared learning experiences for beginning students in related applied design disciplines. These shared learning years are sometimes referred to as core studies or foundations studies, and incorporate a structure of communal course work that exposes students to basic design principals and elements. Although many of these disciplines are interdependent and interwoven in the professional realm, they become largely isolated from one another after the initial year(s) of foundational study. This chapter outlines a teaching experiment which addressed the phenomenon of disciplinary isolation by linking graduate level architecture students with undergraduate seniors studying interior design in a joint studio project. The experiment is presented as a case study and provides a basic outline of the course process along with a discussion of the critical successes and failures associated with the experience from the perspective of: the learner, the instructor, and the institution. The chapter highlights the importance of a student-centric learning approach in the design of collaborative course work and offers a candid assessment of the difficulties associated with collaborative teaching, such as: time intensive instructor coordination, shifts in methodology and pedagogy, and rigid institutional structures.