framework for the implementation of a virtual design studio model in ...

students were encouraged to ask questions and wander freely to
discover the surroundings. The afternoon lectures acted as an aid for
the students to observe examples of metaphoric thinking. The re-mixing
technique also encouraged the student to adapt and build on each other
ideas, share vision and identify their goals.
The use of technological tools was limited to the traditional CAD and
basic drawing software that are located in the labs nearby.
5.16 The University of Sharjah Case Study
� Participants
Three faculty members participated in the project. One of Dr. Hassan
Radoine (a Moroccan) was the head of the Architecture department in
the University of Sharjah, and his participation lent importance to the
project. He also helped inject ideas that brought participants back to
reality after the studio coordinators set them to fly high in their
imagination when conducting the studio tasks. The other members Dr.
Lomker (a German Instructor) and Randa Taher (Canadian female
Instructor) specialised in design. The German lecturer specialised in the
Virtual Design Studio applications and the Canadian lecturer specialised
in creativity in design which served as a good participation for the
project.
In the evaluative stage of the final phase (Phase Three) the data is
collected by the researcher and an assistant. The researcher‟s role was
to lead the focus group sessions for the students, interview the
instructors and observe the students‟ behaviour as they were working on
the project in their groups. The assistant‟s role was to take notes in the
interviews and the focus groups. Since the data was collected mainly by
the researcher some subjectivity is expected. The assistant‟s role was
important in the sense that it minimised subjectivity enforced by the
researcher.
Beside the researcher and the research assistant there are many faculty
members plus the students aged between 18 and 23, studying
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