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EVALUATION REPORT 2015
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Masters students expressed their wish to have the opportu-
nity to choose some courses from other disciplines in NTNU.
They felt that the architectural School is rather separated
from the rest of NTNU and there is no information on the
course offerings of other faculties. Not all the students have
opportunity to work in interdisciplinary courses, teams or
learning environments during their studies. Students men-
tioned that most of the teachers are architects, there are
very few guest lecturers or censors from other disciplines or
professions.
Masters students do not seem to have any clear idea of
what courses or course combinations they should choose,
in order to achieve certain kind of competences at the end of
their studies. In the students’ view the courses are not relat-
ed and there is no aim on the part of the School to support
students to integrate what they have learned. In the Bach-
elors program the sixth course in the last term is a kind of
‘capstone’ course summarizing and integrating all that has
been learned during the program. In the Masters program
this kind of possibility to reflect on and to get support for the
integration is not provided.
One student summarized the views of others well: ‘To have
freedom is good. But to have only freedom is not good.’
Follow up and guidance
During Bachelor studies the curriculum structure directs
the students and there is no need to give guidance for
choosing the courses. In the Masters program the curric-
ulum structure gives unlimited possibilities to choose and
gives students responsibility to direct their studies.
Students seem to have very good contact and opportunities
for discussion with their teachers. Some students use this
opportunity to discuss issues other than those related only
to the course and/or project. However, it became obvious
that there is no systematic guidance for students related to
their studies, learning skills, development of their compe-
tences (eg career planning) and for choosing courses at
Masters level. There is no follow up or guidance for student
progress and professional growth.
Some students were comfortable with the freedom and
lack of guidance. However there seem to be students who
thought, as one student put it, that: ‘Bachelor studies are
really good but in the Masters there is a lack of direction and
you are left alone.’
Design (practical assignments) and theory (knowledge)
In the Bachelor program some theory is taught. Students
commented that it does not seem to be so important and
‘you don’t take it so seriously – you just study for the exam’.
The Masters program consists of design and a related theo-
ry element (a course? a module?). The idea is that a theory
course will support working on design assignment. Howev-
er, student interviews brought up some major problems:
• In some cases there is no connection between design
and the theory part of the course. Theory seems
irrelevant, totally separate or not useful for the design
task.
• In some courses theoretical input has been weak and
students were not able to get enough new information
or widen their knowledge about the theme. Students felt
eager to have more knowledge.
• Sometimes theory lectures consist more of ‘slide shows’
than academic content
• The pedagogical methods used are often reminiscent
of a monologue i.e. a one-directional flow of
information. Active learning methods are not commonly
used.
• In some courses the promised theory part is not
organized at all.
• Many students wished to have more theory of Art,
Architecture and Aesthetics
International students and internationalization
There are some interesting courses at Masters level that
offer assignments abroad. There are also international
field trips and students seem to assign considerable value
to those. International students bring a global perspective
to education. That perspective is not used as much and
as systematically as it could be. Some international stu-
dents felt that the School is very local and focuses only on
the Norwegian context or represents a Eurocentric view.
Students pointed out that because the world is global and
the profession is international, it could be useful to have a
basic understanding of different climatic conditions and their
effect on designing architecture.
Assessment of learning and feedback
Students were critical of the grading of projects. They
felt that grades determine their learning and make them
concentrate on the final project and presentation instead of
on the learning process. It was unclear for the students how