Analyzing reasearch data under sociocultural perspective:

The collected data were in the form of a written dialogue. Using the method of ‘conversation analysis’ several representative extracts were analyzed and interpreted under sociocultural perspective. The analysis revealed the following issues:

·         Issue 1: Students’ previous background might influence their attitude towards the subject. 

Students (L), (B), (E) explained that the course was difficult and complicated because the technique was new to them and they had never done something similar before.

The representative extracts are presented in Appendix (D.1.a) 

Two students argued that because they have taken similar drawing courses in the past, the perspective-drawing course was quite easy for them. Thus students brought understandings from previous experiences in order to make sense of the new experience.

Representative extracts in Appendix (D.1.b)

Another student (I) said, that although she has taught the technique of perspective drawing before, however this didn’t helped her very much.  

Representative extracts in Appendix (D.1.c)

·         Issue 2: Students learning is influenced by the way individuals draw on cultural legacies, on what constitutes valued knowledge, on the connections made by prior generations.

Students experience their learning as a process of ‘becoming’ members of a bigger community, of taking the identity of the interior designer and thus they are influenced by the beliefs of the bigger community of professional designers. Four students related the subject of perspective drawing with the image of the successful interior designer.

Representative extracts in Appendix (D.2.a)

Students’ (D), (G) and (A) were influenced by their close environment and what their environment perceived as valuable knowledge.

Representative extracts in Appendix (D.2.b)

·         Issue 3: Students attitude towards the subject (perspective drawing) is affected by the degree of participation and reification.

Five students commented that they needed more time, slower pace and more help from the teacher in order to consolidate better new knowledge.

Representative extracts in Appendix (D.3.a)

Students (H), (F) and (K) commented that the course was not supported sufficiently by written instructions (reification)

Representative extracts in Appendix (D.3.b)

·         Issue 4:  Students’ attitude towards the subject might affected negatively because the kind of ‘knowledge’ that is taught in the institution is separated from everyday life and practice.

The valuing of a subject can change historically because of changes in the needs of societies. Five students raised concerns that the practice of doing a perspective architectural drawing by hand is an outmoded technique, obsolete and not useful in the current professional practice.

Representative extracts in Appendix (D.4.a)

Four students highlighted the developments of the computers and the impressive outcomes of digital technology.

Representative extracts in Appendix (D.4.b)

As a summary, I would note that the interview was a fruitful experience that helped me negotiate several educational issues with students. However, the following difficulties were occurred:

- The research produced a lot of qualitative information and a more thorough analysis would require much more time and effort.

- Inevitably, only some representative extracts were analyzed .

Representative Extracts form the interview

D.1.a (L): It was difficult and we haven’t done it in the rivate school.  It was not in the syllabus.  I got confused with all these lines… (B):  In the way you presented it. No, I haven’t done it before; now I see it’s ‘a real mess’ (E): The perspective drawing was not included in the syllabus. At the beginning I though it was like the axonometric, but it had nothing to do with it.

D.1.b (M): Well it didn’t seem to me as confusing as they say. I have learned ‘perspective’ in the painting course. It is almost the same like sketching. It only needs to learn the rules and how the lines are going.  (A): I draw from when I was a little girl and this was normal

D.1.c (I): I remember a little from the ‘frontistirio’. We have seen perspective but superficially. The head himself came to teach us once.

D.2.a (E): A good professional must know good hand-drafting. But in the job nobody hires you if you don’t know how to make good 3ds with a computer (J): I know that the customers are impressed by computers. I have worked this summer in a kitchen store. You can make a fantastic, realistic view, unbelievable (M) Hand drawing is always going to be more impressive. An advantage. We are going to de designers, if we don’t know drafting what kind of designers we will become? (C). Floor plans and section are the basics. Probably a simple sketch, an axonometric will be useful. But this is too much trouble. I don’t think we’ll have the time in the future to do such time-consuming drawings.

D.2.b (D): My father (civil engineer) is fifty-five years old and he uses computer, that he has learned completely by him self, by practicing …. He emphasized this to me: ‘first you have to learn good hand-drawing and then AutoCAD’’  (G). Many things, I know them from photography. My father is a photographer. And I participate in expositions. I work a lot with photography (A): A pair of architects is going to give me their drawing table. Just, good friend of my parents. They are well-known architects. They told me that they don’t need their drawing table because they abandoned completely hand-drawing. They now use only computers. All their employees in their office use computers

D.3.a (I): I work a bit slowly, at my own pace. I think that I am always left behind, that I can’t follow. I understand that we have not much time (K): You are only one teacher and you can’t run around all students. Some of us we are left behind. (F): In order to cover everything, we are doing everything to fast.

D.3.b (H): Can’t you give us every time written notes? (K): I didn’t finish the project in class and I took it at home, but I didn’t do anything much. If I had some notes probably I would finished it

D.4.a (G): who still does hand-drawing on the job? Only some old architects (A): This is the only year we have to do this and we are never going to see again. We close it and we forget it. That’s it. (J): Are we going to use it again? (F): In what way, they are going to be useful all these triangles and rapid-graphs we have bought? It was a waste of money.  (E): I think it is useful that we have learned this basic method but only for our study period. And in other courses, drawing by hand is necessary. In other cases, no I don’t think it is useful.

D.4.b (V): In the age of computers who is going to get impressed by this. This is just an image, and need so much effort in order to be completed. The customers are getting impressed if you show the images on the computer. They want to see their house in computer (I): I’ve seen how much easier is to do everything in computers. You can change things. You save time. (A): With all these medium that are available, I doubt if someone is going to get impressed by a piece of paper. It seems so ‘poor’. And if it is to paint it, needs even more time and not to mention that the pencils are expensive. (H): it doesn’t give you the freedom to draw the spaces as you have them in your mind. It is strict.