Titled “Practical Preservation Series”, this digital learning resource is prepared as an elective course for undergraduate architecture students. Aimed at either first year or second year students (the bachelors in architecture is a 5 year degree program), it would be an introductory program in historic preservation with the city of Mumbai as a learning laboratory. I have earlier conducted this course in 2006 as a completely live and on-site program, with more or less similar teaching modules. I have included some of my handwritten methodologies in a previous post, and this time around have worked out all the sections in a word document – not very digitally advanced but still handy.
The 2023 version is interspersed with on-site visits and synchronous on-line meetings, and the 3 month program is divided into 3 major modules:
- Urban History (UH)
- Architectural Conservation (AC)
- Cultural Historic Preservation (HP)
Each of these modules are further divided into sections, which have students view web-sites, listen to podcasts, respond to activities and read papers. UH deals with understanding the development of Bombay from a group of 7 sleepy fishing islands called Heptenesia, to the restructured Urbs Prima in IndisĀ (or the first urban city of India) during the colonial rule to the financial capital of the country – Mumbai. It consists of sections on reading maps, understanding urban changes and learning about the varied architectural typologies visible in the city. The on-site component involves a visit to a museum, which holds one of the oldest maps made of the city in the form of a 1770 commissioned drawing. Students can also view the same exhibits on the museum web-site through google arts and culture. The architectural styles are demonstrated on an actual walking tour of the city, where students are expected to take photographs of key monuments in the same view corridors such as those in archival images (these would be provided ahead of the walk). The module ends with a mapping assignment and a before-after photography activity.
The AC module is quite tricky, in the sense that it involves some deft managing of the on-site component of teaching students to undertake condition surveys. When I had conducted this course for the first time in 2006, I had taken the students to site and had them mark out the defects and issues affecting the built fabric onto printed drawings. Since I would not be onsite to actually teach them how to do it, it would need certain amount of creative thinking.
And this is where I currently am: trying to transcend the limitations of not being physically present in Mumbai to teach this extremely hands-on component, with the unlimited potential of digital resources available. Will I be able to overcome this hurdle on which hinges a rather delicate issue of making teaching just as accessible digitally, without compromising the quality of material? Nearly every other component within this program has been worked out by me with an eclectic smorgasbord of digital resources, with both scholarly material and some engaging content. It remains to be seen if I can treat this section of the elective in an effective way.
While going through past digital projects, most of the students reiterated the need to keep it simple, setting expectations and focusing on perhaps one aspect of the final project. The range of digital teaching projects from the elaborate Virtual Angkor, to more simplistic designs but technically sound resources was interesting. I particularly liked looking at the projects by Nashieli Marcano on political cartooning and Devon Hardy’s Women Lighthouse keepers; both refreshingly different and insightful. Just goes to show what rabbit-holes historians can dig into and what vast treasures can be uncovered in the process. Conveying this convincingly and simply is also key and it seems has been achieved in several of the student digital projects.