Measuring the Effectiveness of Simulation-Based Education (SBE) in the Performance-Based Design Studio

Simulation based-education (SBE) is becoming increasingly widespread among architectural design studios worldwide. SBE supports students with an innovative and effective learning environment. Its overall objective is to allow students an experimental environment for design testing, and to enhance the transition of the skills learnt to real life professional practice. The effectiveness of SBE is related to a variety of factors that may be either student or faculty driven, tools and technology driven, curriculum driven (i.e. related to the time of offering or mode of application) or a hybrid of all. To measure the effectiveness in a core course offered half way in the architectural program, a study was conducted to identify the studio learning challenges and accordingly the proper metrics that can be identified to construct future performance indicators for instructors that can quantify the effectiveness of the teaching methods used. Several questionnaires, focus groups sessions, and evidence-based analysis of student work came together to form the research design. The findings validated earlier assumptions in similar previous studies, and recommended the use of a common structure for effective measurement of learning outcomes and teaching methods, with recommendations for future consideration.