Mina Tahsiri

Bio: Mina Tahsiri is an academic researcher from University of the West of England. The author has contributed to research in topics: Praxis & Dialogic. The author has an hindex of 1, co-authored 1 publications receiving 1 citations.

Dialogue in the studio: Supporting comprehension in studio-based architectural design tutorials

Abstract: This article examines perceptions regarding the purpose and delivery of tutorials in the architectural design studio that can support how students comprehend feedback. It draws on literature on ‘dialogic feedback’ and theoretical accounts of ‘dialogue’, framing the notion of the dialogic as one in which meanings and identities are realized through a multi-voiced state, questioning the extent to which studio-based tutorials can be considered dialogic. The study uses thematic analysis to reflect on 212 accounts of educators and students at a UK-based architecture school. The article highlights that a comprehension-oriented praxis as opposed to an assessment-oriented praxis can better enable dialogic practice, allowing learners to realize, position and comprehend their own voice amongst the divergent views. The article extends the critical body of work dedicated to evaluating feedback delivery in one-off review sessions, to the context of tutorials and their longitudinal implications on the learning experience.

Dialogic enquiry and aspects of interaction in architectural design review of undergraduates : classification of principal oral feedback typologies

Abstract: In an architect’s education, the design review is an event where students present a design scheme in front of a panel of critics, in order to receive feedback. The nature of feedback is usually more evaluative than informative, and its delivery is predominantly instructive and in the form of monologues. In an environment that appears to be more authoritative, students often feel intimidated, and some are reluctant to participate in a dialogue and interact. This thesis through the observation and classification of oral feedback in undergraduates’ architectural design review, explores dialogic enquiry as means of teaching and assessment that can promote interaction. The research draws on the method of Grounded Theory to identify three principal feedback typologies: Direct Suggestions, Reflecting Questions and Abstract Suggestions, and a principal comment typology, Clarifying Questions. Based on empirical evidence, four student-presentation factors seem to influence the typologies’ frequency: Well Comprehended Scheme, Poorly Comprehended Scheme, Less Communicative Student, and Well Developed Scheme. Students' and critics’ participation duration was also documented. A new method for recording design reviews produces coded transcripts designed to accommodate these objectives. The results assist in understanding dialogic enquiry as a condition that promotes interaction, which can constitute design review a social, participatory, and experiential activity. The outcomes suggest the need for more dialogue and more questions, and more importantly, a shift in the general mentality of approaching design reviews from ‘fault-finding’ and prescriptive feedback, to a more exploratory learning situation that sets an example on how to be critical of someone’s work and share ideas in a professional and social environment. The research proposes a concise theoretical framework predicated on dialogue and enquiry for design tutorials and reviews that can become part of the training for design teachers in Schools of Architecture, as well as Schools of Design.

Learning environments and the role of feedback in sculpting lessons

Abstract: At universities and academies, teaching and learning occur in a range of environments as art students continue to develop their skills. The aims of the study were to determine how art students evaluate the role of their learning environments in achieving their learning goals, and what kind of feedback they consider important for their artistic development. Therefore, ten university students were interviewed. They were advanced art students who had successfully completed different courses in sculpting. The findings indicate that during studio learning the students addressed technical or formal problems related to their artworks, as well as how to implement their artistic intentions, with the help of feedback from lecturers and fellow students. All participants referred to experimentation and trying out different materials, forms or motifs as central to their artistic development and said that exhibiting their own artworks in public as part of university projects motivated them to continue.

Designing with the Dialogic Self: A Framework for a Polyphonic Practice of Architectural Design

Abstract: This paper questions the degree of inclusivity and equity in the treatment of voices at play in the architectural design process and advocates for an approach whereby architecture can be realized as a harmonious and polyphonic composition of multiple voices and values. Based on a dialogic ontology, the paper examines how a designer’s sense of self can contribute to their method of practice and proposes a new methodology (Narrative-based Dialogic Design-NDD) that can allow a decentralization of the sense of self to facilitate the uptake of narrative positions of others.