Temple University - Templar Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

Page 27 text:

™ 1 — -m y Ml J t f

Page 26 text:

I ARCHITECT I I Three Temple architecture students transcended the traditional classroom boundaries by spending the month of July 1997 in Bosnia as part of Project Mostar 2004, an international architectural aid mission. The goal of Mostar 2004 is to design and implement a plan to rebuild the civil war ravaged Bosnian city of Mostar by the year 2004. Temple juniors Michael T. Euker, Ira Jones, and Heather Freeman Radel, along with architecture professor Brooke Harrington, joined 20 other student researchers from various universities to help the people of Mostar rebuild their lives. Temple students contributed a detailed design and site plan for an International Center for Aid in Reconstruction. The design consisted of a communi- ty center to serve as a hub for residents and architects working on the reconstruction project, a resident counseling area, housing, studios, several courtyards and adminis- trative space. The students integrated traditional Bosnian architectural features, such as earthquake resistant design, with modern materials, such as precut concrete slabs and metal roofs. Project Mostar 2004 is supported by the United Nations and the Bosnian gov- ernment. It attracts students from leading architecture programs world-wide, placing Temple architecture students among the best in the world. - Marcetas Decatur .. ■

Page 28 text:

the Wanted: Students to take courses in their pajamas, to complete their degrees from home and trade campus-based meetings for ones in cyberspace. Think of it. You ' re taking a required 3-credit architecture course but you don ' t ever venture on campus. You are within reaching distance of your own personal food truck (the refrigerator) and you can turn in that tough writ- ing assignment at 3:00 a.m. Sound like Utopia? It was just that for over 400 Temple students who have signed up for courses through the Online Learning Program since its inception in 1996. Distance Learning courses are nothing new but the technology that fuels them has changed rapidly in the last decade. What was once a highly complicated and specialized area of teaching has become a substantial part of many university ' s ' curricula. Never one to be behind the curve on technology, Temple ' s Online Learning Program has enjoyed exponential growth. Just over a year ago, the department began offering two online courses to about 20 students. From this mod- est beginning, computer and videoconferencing-based courses now offered at Temple number over 65 classes from a variety of disciplines. But exactly what is involved in register- ing and attending an online course? Students sometimes have misconcep- tions about taking a course completely via a computer, says Catherine Schifter, Ph.D., Director Faculty Fellow of the Online Learning Program and an Associate Professor of Occupational Therapy. Sometim es students believe that a course without actual class meetings will be less work than a traditional one but nothing could be further from the truth. Photo by Bri.in Krislel