Breaking New Ground: Athabasca University and the RAIC Partnership
There are colleges and universities now though that is trying to instate an online degree for students interested in architecture, viewing the advantages as outweighing the disadvantages and wanting to modernize all aspects of their curriculum. The partnership between the Athabasca University and the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada is one such attempt at creating an online degree for students interested in architecture. The Athabasca University is using the resources of RAIC to build their own online curriculum and thus have something to offer above the competition.
The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada is an organization of students and teachers to focus specifically on the practice of architecture and to make certain that people know it matters to the well being of civilization. The institution offers a thorough education in architecture, including historical programs about architecture, and offers many continuing education classes as well so architects can keep up with upgrades and changing conditions in their field. The RAIC is just over 100 years old (established 1907) and takes a great deal of pride in their history as well as what they offer their students. Now, they prove their dedication to the continuation of emphasizing change by beginning a partnership with the Athabasca University to promote online architectural degrees. This is in conjunction with the importance that the RAIC already places on crossing borders in the pursuit of a thorough education for all students.
The RAIC has already done much through the internet, offering the purchase of course materials and some courses. The RAIC intends to further their website whenever possible in order to encompass even more courses and eventually work towards an entire online degree. However, the RAIC also wants to help other colleges and universities do the same thing and so with the ideals of crossing borders with information to trade, they enter into partnerships such as the one with Athabasca University to expand both curriculums.
The Athabasca University is an ideal university to begin online architectural degrees with because the university already prides itself on its on-demand courses and distance education. The university has built its curriculum and degrees around the idea that its students would prefer distance education to that of the traditional classroom education. However, architecture is still a degree that even the Athabasca U does not yet offer, though the university is making strides to rectify this situation.
The Athabasca University and RAIC are beginning a partnership online whereby information on architecture is shared freely for students of both schools to use. The RAIC is in the process of modifying its curriculum to share with its partner school and Athabasca U will approve of the curriculum before offering it to its students. The Athabasca University is known for its ability to provide distance education and so filling in the gap as far as architecture is concerned is not only a point of pride, but also one of necessity to maintain their reputation as being ‘online friendly.’ This partnership will pave the way for more online courses (since the partnership has to be done online in order to save costs, paper, and attract more students and because Athabasca U is largely a distance education university) and show what more needs to be done in order for more courses to be feasible. It also provides an example and a foundation for other schools interested in doing the same thing.
This partnership will provide an alternative to the master’s degree of architecture and is geared towards students from cities and towns where the available schools don’t offer a degree in architecture. This is in response to the fact that there are only ten universities across Canada which offers an architectural degree and none of them offer it online. Students would do most of the coursework online and build their projects virtually rather than by hand, using the latest graphic and design programs, then submit them electronically. Any hands-on work would still be done under the supervision of a certified architect, much like having a practicum for teachers or an apprenticeship in trades. Creating this alternative program is expected to be very popular and allow the field in Canada to expand which would help the job market. Of course, it will take time and experimentation to create a workable syllabus, but students are not going to pass the opportunity by simply because it’s new.
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