Relational Learning serves as a foundational principle within this course, underpinning the importance of forming meaningful connections and collaboration among learners, instructors, and the wider community. The seminar sessions are intentionally designed to foster collaborative dialogue, peer-to-peer interaction, and collective exploration of course themes. Structured peer-review processes, where student groups evaluate each other's presentations against carefully developed rubrics, ensure accountability while deepening interpersonal skills and collective knowledge exchange. Weekly group discussions further strengthen relational dynamics by requiring active participation and reflective engagement, allowing students to constructively challenge and support each other's learning processes. The collaborative creation of the interactive digital heritage artefact extends these relational interactions beyond the classroom, positioning students as collaborative professionals who co-create meaningful outputs relevant to community stakeholders.
In alignment with the principles of Assessment for Learning, this course prioritises assessment tasks that are authentic, formative, and clearly aligned with intended learning outcomes. Rather than relying solely on summative evaluations, the course integrates continuous formative feedback mechanisms to support ongoing student development and reflective practice. Reflective journaling, as a central assessment, encourages students to regularly document and critically examine their learning journey, providing them with structured feedback opportunities that promote deeper, more nuanced understanding. The development of the interactive heritage artefact similarly embodies authentic assessment principles, challenging students to apply theoretical and practical knowledge in realistic, professionally relevant contexts. Furthermore, interim presentations and structured feedback loops ensure that students regularly receive detailed formative guidance, enhancing their learning outcomes and reinforcing the continuous improvement ethos of the assessment strategy.
The course strongly emphasises Technology-Enhanced Learning (TEL), leveraging digital tools and platforms to enrich the educational experience and equip students with vital professional competencies. A blended learning model integrates carefully curated online tutorials with hands-on, face-to-face workshops using industry-standard software such as Reality Capture, ArchiCAD, and interactive engines like Unity or Unreal Engine. This digital skill-building approach ensures students gain practical, relevant expertise, preparing them effectively for contemporary professional environments. The creation of interactive digital heritage experiences exemplifies TEL by immersing students in a digital production environment where theoretical knowledge, creative practice, and technical execution converge seamlessly. This approach actively engages students in their learning processes, supporting the development of transferable digital competencies and adaptability in dynamic technological contexts.
Collectively, these teaching and learning methods foster an educational environment deeply rooted in relational trust and collaborative inquiry, informed by ongoing formative assessment and enhanced through strategic integration of digital technologies. By thoughtfully aligning these practices with the University of Auckland’s signature pedagogies, this course aims to cultivate graduates who are reflective, adaptive, ethically engaged, and professionally skilled, capable of effectively navigating and contributing to the evolving fields of digital heritage and architectural practice.
Learning Approach: The course is structured around weekly seminars and workshops. Early weeks introduce key concepts in heritage conservation, digital representation, and serious games for cultural heritage. Mid-semester, the focus shifts to project development workshops, technical labs (for AR/VR, 3D modeling, etc.), and crit sessions to refine designs. Guest speakers from local heritage organisations and digital design experts (tbc) will broaden perspectives. Students will engage in reflective journaling throughout, connecting theory with practice. A field visit to a heritage site may be included to ground the digital work in real “place” (tbc). Collaboration is fostered via group work and peer feedback exercises. By the end of the course, students will have a portfolio piece (the digital artefact) and a deep understanding of how emerging technologies can serve communities in preserving and celebrating architectural heritage.
LOs: Each Learning Outcome is linked to both appropriate assessments and specific MArch(Prof) capabilities. This ensures constructive alignment between what students are expected to learn (outcomes), how they learn it (activities), and how they demonstrate it (assessment). The associated assessments – a group presentation, a reflective journal, an interactive digital heritage artefact project, and participation in course activities – are designed as authentic assessments that emulate professional tasks (e.g. collaborating on a design project, creating a digital heritage experience, reflecting as a practitioner). Aligning assessments with outcomes in this way also supports fairness in grading and gives students clarity on how their work will be evaluated.
Marking Rubrics: rubrics draw on the SOLO taxonomy (Structure of Observed Learning Outcome) to describe levels of performance from surface to deep learning. Rather than using vague qualifiers (e.g. “good” or “excellent”), the rubrics provide specific, actionable criteria at each achievement level, following Orrell’s rubric design guidelines. This approach gives students transparent standards and feedback on how to improve. Each incremental level introduces qualitatively new capabilities, not merely “more of the same”, making distinctions between performance levels meaningful.