Educational Development

PROJECTS AT D-ARCH

CURREV Curriculum Revision of the Architecture Programme
Based on D-ARCH’s strategy paper incl. the Curriculum White Paper we are revising the degree programme in Architecture. The process, funded by Innovedum, will start in January 2023, so that the revised Bachelor's programme in Architecture will be introduced in HS25. Through a participatory process involving all stands of D-ARCH, we are working out, among other things, a clear distinction between the BSc and the MSc programme in Architecture, well-structured educational pathways, refined pedagogical formats, appropriate and fair assessment of competencies and learning content, improved distribution of student workload, a coherent teaching infrastructure to create an overall inspiring learning environment. Via mock-ups, we will already test new teaching formats during the revision phase in order to be able to embed them in the curriculum from HS25 onwards.

The revision process is steered by the CURREV Core Team: the Director of Studies Prof. Elli Mosayebi, the Educational Developer Dr. Vera Kaps and Steffen Hägele.

Mittelbau Jour Fixe “How we teach”

Teaching is at the core of our Department as an everyday practice. Still, there is little exchange in a formal setting to share how and what we teach, which learning environment we create, how we work in our teaching team, what works great and what could be improved and what we would like to try out anew in our teaching. We envision to discuss at eye-level and span a network between chairs and disciplines within Mittelbau members that engage in studios, seminars, seminar week, electives, Fachsemester, Master Thesis supervision, and other formats. Therefore, we aim at creating a biannual Jour Fixe with and for Mittelbau.

Vera Kaps together with Matthias Brenner, Grégoire Farquet, Maria Kouvari, Francisco Moura Veiga, Charlotte Schaeben, Nazlı Tümerdem, Reto Wasser

Workshops for Chairs at D–ARCH

Through a series of workshops, we analyze individual competence profiles, teaching methods and formats. The aim of the workshop series is to support chairs in identifying and strengthening a coherent teaching profile with a suitable learning environment, identifying challenges and jointly developing individual approaches to solutions. We adapt the number of workshops, formats and concrete contents individually and in consultation with the chair.

Vera Kaps together with Benno Volk (LET)


Support for Innovedum applications and projects
Through the Innovedum Fonds, ETH provides start-up financing for innovative teaching projects that further develop teaching at ETH in terms of quality and in the long term. I support lecturers at D-ARCH in the conception phase of a teaching project, in the review of the Innovedum application and in the implementation of a successful teaching project into the current curriculum. For other departments I act as an external reviewer.

FURTHER INPUTS ON TEACHING

The LET Blog contains information about teaching services of all kinds by and for ETH employees.

The Refresh teaching – one-hour, practice-oriented events – will show you how to integrate new approaches in your own teaching. Lecturers from ETH give inputs on their experiences and examples of their teaching.

For lecturers at different levels, there is a range of didactic courses aimed at all ETH lecturers: didaktische Weiterbildung vom LET and didactica from ETH and UZH together.

The Kite Award is ETH Zurich's award for particularly innovative teaching projects. It raises the status of teaching within ETH Zurich, its visibility to the outside world and recognizes innovative teaching approaches that increase the learning success of students. The Innovation in Teaching and Learning Fair provides an overview of all submitted projects.