Digital natives and the digitalization of interior design studio

Abstract

The methods and tools that comprise the education landscape are continuously evolving and bringing new progress. Every year the student profile differs from the previous year; each year students are increasingly becoming more comfortable with the digital environment. This indicates that continuously evolving technology and user profiles demand the education process to answer this situation. In design studio courses, students negotiate design decisions with the instructor and shape his/her design decisions accordingly. This process demands that every student has individual attention which introduces time management problems. Therefore, tracking the teaching process becomes difficult for the instructor. Additionally, the newly emerging technological tools go unnoticed whereas mostly, traditional teaching methods are employed. The interior design process is also evolving and integrating the digital teaching processes and increasingly accommodating the digital domain. Studies have been conducted that transmit the design education process to the digital environment. These studies vary from online courses to design education in virtual worlds. In this study the interior design studio models that employ digital technology will be analyzed and discussed. The advantages and disadvantages of these models will be examined and the transformation of interior design education will be discussed