Architecture Unit Online

Valencia Modernist Architecture

Activities

Unit VMA - Syllabus - Evaluation Plan - Videos
Architecture Dictionaries - Web-Based Tools - Yahoo Group

On this page, you will find the week by week activities designed to accomplish the objectives for this unit.
You may use the following table to navigate this page.

1. Week 0	2. Week 1	3. Week 2
4. Weeks 3 and 4	5. Week 5	6. Week 6

WEEK 0

Activities:

During this week, the students will complete the following activities:

1. Since they already have their Yahoo ID (activity completed in a previous class with the f-2-f facilitor, and they have already been registered by the e-moderator), they will go to the Yahoo Group to read the welcoming message in the Messages section.
2. The f-2-f facilitator will prompt the students to explore the Yahoo site.
3. They will find a first assignment in the Files section, the instructions to create a Yahoo profile page. You can also find the instructions for this assignments here.
4. Students will then, read their second assignment, watch the video: Modernist Architecture in Barcelona. Previously, they will complete the previewing exercises.
5. After watching the video, they will do the postviewing activities, which contain three interactive exercises, the last of which will be submitted online to the e-moderator.
6. For homework, students will write a journal entry. A short paragraph expressing their feelings toward this online sessions. They will find the instructions for this activity in the Yahoo Group Files section, in the folder Weekly activities, Week 0. You can also read the instructions here, This journal will be posted in the Journal folder of the Files Section, before next class.
7. During this week students, individually, will be invited to chat with the e-moderator. Different schedules are posted in the calendar.

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WEEK 1

Activities:

1. Students get into groups of maximum 5 people.
2. Each group member will select a picture from the picture folder that corresponds to his/her group from the Photos Sections - Architectural Elements at the Yahoo Group. Each student will select a different picture (there are 5 pictures for each group)
3. Each student from the group will individually write a paragraph (100-200 words), describing the element selected.
4. The paragraph will be written on a Word document, to be posted in the folder created for that purpose, in the Files sections of our Yahoo Group. A copy will be given to the face-to-face professor.
5. Below the descriptive text, students will write the new words they had to consult (look up in dictionaries, ask a classmate, ask the classroom or e-moderator, or other), specifying:
   a. The source used, and
   b. The meaning of the words. If the students are comfortable with the creation of hyperlinked comments in Word, they can use this feature to specify the source used and the meaning of the word. The meaning can be expressed with an explanatory sentence, a synonym or the spanish translation.
   
6. The deadline for this assignment is Friday, June 28.
7. During this first week, each student will communicate at least once with the e-moderator, if not done during week 0, through Yahoo or MSN messenger.
8. Students will be able to consult online architecture dictionaries. The links to these dictionaries are posted in the yahoo group, under "Bookmarks", in the Architecture Dictionaries folder. These dictionaries are also available here, where there is also an online general dictionary and thesaurus.
9. Remember that the criteria for evaluating each activity can be found in the Files section of our English for Architecture Yahoo Group.

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WEEK 2

Activities:

1. Each group will have 5 buildings to select from. Each student of the group will select one of the five building descriptions.
2. The f2f teacher will suggest the student with a higher level of English to select the longest reading. Some students will get two short descriptions instead of a long one.
3. While reading, the student has to write down the words that had to be looked up in the dictionary, consulted to a teacher or classmate (this information will be asked in this and next week’s task). The text will be written as a Word document, thus, hyperlinks with meanings can be done (highlight the word, click on “insert”, then on “comment” and in the text window, write the information about the word). If the student does not want to use this feature, the words can be written at the end of the paragraph, and the words consulted should be highlighted.
4. Each student will summarize the characteristics of the building selected.There are pictures of each building posted to the Photos section of our Yahoo Group, to help understanding the written text.
5. This summary will be posted in the FILES section, in the corresponding folder. The dead-line for posting is Wednesday, July 3rd. for the Wednesday section, and Friday, July 5th , for the Friday sections.
6. It is important to follow this deadline because, this summary is the base for the next two weeks’ activities. Please, bring a printed copy for your next online class.
7. Remember to use Arial or Times New Roman, as your fonts for the Word document. Do not include the picture of the building in your document.
8. A copy of this work will be given to the f2f facilitators.

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WEEKS 3 and 4

Activities:

Week 3 (july 1-5):

1. Each member of the group will read their group-mates summaries from the groups files (Yahoo groups).
2. The group will select a date (day and time) to meet at yahoo Messenger chat, or the MSN one, to discuss the summaries written by each, and to decide which are the characteristics shared by all the buildings they each described. Notify moderator, by E-mail (or posting a message to the yahoo group), about the date for this chat. The online moderator will be present at this chat, to offer help.
3. If the group gets to read all the paragraphs in the classroom session, they can do their group discussion there. Open a conference window, and invite me to your conference window.
4. One of the students in the group will write a document with the conclusions from the chat as a Word document. That is, a short text with the characteristics shared by all the buildings each member described. This student, then, will send the document as an attachment, to another member of the group, who will edit (give comments and correct language), at the end of the document, writing his/her name. Then, this student will pass the document to another group member who will also edit the document and pass it to another member. This goes on until the document gets back to the student who wrote the first document.
5. This student will send this document (complete with all the comments) to the online moderator, via E-mail, as an attachment. and to the rest of the group-mates, so everybody has a copy of the whole document.
6. The deadline to do this is Tuesday, July, 9, for the Wednesday section (3). For Sections 1 and 2, Thursday, July 11.

Week 4 (July 8-12):

1. With a copy of this document, the group will get together in class, and using the comments from each of the members, will write a final document, which will be sent to the e-moderator via E-mail, as an attachment.
2. The deadline for this is Tuesday, July 16, for section 3, and Thursday, July 18, for sections 1 and 2.
3. A copy of these documents will be given to the f2f facilitator.
4. Each group member should have a copy of this document, on paper, for next class (Week 5: July 15-19).

Reminders:

• Students, individually, or in pairs, will set dates to chat with the online facilitator (at least once in these last 2 weeks). Remember that you need to have at least 3 individual chats with the e-moderator (not during class time).

• Remember that the criteria for evaluating these documents can be found in the Files section of our English for Architecture Yahoo Group.

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WEEK 5

Activities:

1. Students will form new groups. Each group will be conformed with a member of each of the previous groups. That is if we called each previous groups as 1,2,3,4, and 5. We will call these groups A,B,C,D, and E. So, group A has to be conformed by one member from group 1, one from group2, one from group 3, one from group 4, and one from group 5; and so will the other groups.
2. Each individual will bring to the new group the document each previous group wrote about the shared characteristics of the buildings described.
3. In a conference chat, each member will present the findings of his/her group to the others.(5min./each). The on-line facilitator should be invited to this chat, or the f2f facilitator.
4. Then, students will discuss the similarities and differences found.
5. As a group, they will get to the conclusions which will be saved in the chat.
6. Each member should keep this chat conclusions (send a copy to e-moderator).
7. Each Student, will write his/her conclusions, and post them in the FILES section of yahoo groups, in the corresponding folder (Conclusions).
8. These conclusions, are to be written in an essay form (title, introduction, body, conclusions). Deadline: the following class. The title should be something like: “Characteristics of Valencian Modernist Architecture”.
9. Chat session optional to students’ needs, and in case the three required chats have not been completed.

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WEEK 6

Activities:

1. Oral presentation in the classroom.
2. 2nd. Journal Entry: Students will write their second journal entry, evaluating the online unit, according to the instructions which are posted under FILES-Weekly Activites-Week 5 in our English for Architecture Yahoo Group. They are also here. Deadline: August 5.
3. Self Evaluation: Students will complete a self evaluation about their performance. To complete this Self-Evaluation form you will need a course ID, a password, and your university ID number.You will receive this information in your e-mail. Deadline: August 6.
4. Group Work Evaluation: Students will complete a form about the process of group work online. Posted to the yahoo group: Group Work Assessment folder. You can also see this instrument here. The instructions for posting are at the bottom of the instrument's page. Deadline: August 6.

NOTE: Since the Wimba Voice board service was suspended, the 2 points corresponding to that activity, will be redistributed: The second journal will be worth 2 points (instead of 1.5), the self evaluation 2 (instead of 1), and the group work assessment 1.5 (instead of 1)

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Unit VMA

Architecture Topics

Index