Thesis (M. Arch.)--University of Hong Kong, 2000. / Includes a special report study. Title from added title leave :A Students' Park, HKU. Includes bibliographical references.

Online education’s potential to “scale-up” the traditional lecture-based, face-to-face course while maintaining or improving the quality of instruction attracts the attention of university administrators, faculty, and policymakers interested in opening access to higher education and expanding access to faculty experts. However, previous research has focused on distance education and not online education offered through campus-based institutions. As such, this dissertation used a qualitative, phenomenological approach to examine the lived experiences of students enrolled in online courses offered through a major research university (MRU). This study employed student engagement and developmental ecology theories to present the perspectives of 11 students through the analysis of student interviews, journals, and questionnaires; course syllabi; and faculty interviews. The significance of this study lies in its capacity to capture student perceptions and behaviors to better understand how online courses, and specific components of such courses, promote or discourage undergraduate student engagement in the modern research university. The interview and journal data indicated that online courses have the capacity to promote active and collaborative learning, academically challenge students, and contribute to a supportive campus environment at an MRU. Students related an enhanced sense of being independent and responsible for their own learning to online courses’ physical and transactional distance. Further, they considered anonymity as crucial to honest interactions with peers and teaching assistants and strengthened their commitment to one another. With regard to student-faculty interactions, students in the synchronous courses tended to form meaningful connections with faculty through intimate, face-to-face interactions rather than through online activities. The study also found that the perception held by some students that online courses equate to an “easy ‘A’” and mandated course enrollment negatively influenced participants’ investment of time and effort in their online courses. Given these findings, this dissertation calls for instructors and policymakers at major research universities to integrate key online and face-to-face components into online course designs and dedicate the necessary resources to engage students across the physical and transactional gap. For their part, students may consider how settings beget certain behaviors in their selection of physical workspaces and strategically utilize in- and out-of-class activities as active and collaborative learners. / text

published_or_final_version / Architecture / Master / Master of Architecture

published_or_final_version / Architecture / Master / Master of Architecture

published_or_final_version / Architecture / Master / Master of Landscape Architecture

Sustainable Built Environments Senior Capstone Project / The campus environment faces many of the same challenges of building quality pedestrian experience that urban environments do. Environmental psychology, related to the built environment, investigates how elements of the built environment affect the mental image and pedestrian experience within places. This study aims to investigate the planning history of the Historic, Science, and Highland districts of the University of Arizona campus, and what elements of each district influence the mental image for pedestrians, and what can be done to better each district. Pedestrian-scale architectural features, accessible natural features, and cohesive pedestrian-oriented plans with mixed uses were found to create successful districts or the lack there of to reduce the quality and use of districts on the University of Arizona campus.

Guidance from theory for a more holistic approach to achieving greater sustainability in urban landscapes has yet to be derived for many settings. Often extensions of their surrounding cities, campuses provide a finer scale for experimental design. This study developed a quantitative assessment to guide the transformation of campus landscapes into more instructive demonstrations of social and ecological concern. A Framework for Assessing Sustainability over Time (FAST) was created through an integrative research review and synthesis of validated models: Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, Local Climate Zones, and Impervious Cover Model, and measurable indicators: patch size and connectivity. This framework was applied to the University of Guelph to test the relative quality of landscape components, where principles prescribed by urban ecology were identified and operationalized to improve the environmental sustainability of the campus design. The framework will inform ecological sensitivity in campus and urban design that can influence user awareness.

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