Educational offer - University of Padova

Syllabus

Examination methods:	There is a wide range of evaluation approaches. These approaches concern formative and summative objectives. This is in line with targeted learning outcomes that focus on knowledge and insights, application skills and communication in a balanced way. The variety of evaluation approaches is also due to the fact that the courses are offered in combinations with different study programs belonging to different universities. The first group of exams is written and usually, essays are written. This type of evaluation allows a more creative and research-oriented approach. When the essay reflects student research, it must show the ability to clearly formulate research questions, organize and conduct research, apply appropriate methods, be able to collect data in the field and analyze that data. Next, students must be able to discuss the results and include them in the broader scientific debate. Furthermore, the structure and writing of the essay must comply with the correct and academic writing rules. In many cases, the evaluation of the process, peer evaluation and/or presentation are related to the quality of the essay writing. The second group of exams is implemented orally. This way they can be customized and are more interactive. Many courses have a policy of oral exams as a standardized procedure (questions, presentation, peer/self-assessment). This allows students to express themselves actively and dialogically. Oral exams are particularly suited to test understanding/insights and the application of knowledge as they encourage students to produce clear communication and express their personal attitudes. As for the essays, an integrative oral evaluation allows a more creative and research-oriented approach. Intermediate evaluations are generally used in an educational way to provide students with timely feedback, while final evaluations are used in a summative manner. Peer evaluation results can influence an individual's final grade.
Course unit contents:	Through a combination of selected reading, ex cathedra lectures and critical analysis of selected strategic interventions the students are introduced into the roots of strategy and strategic planning, the problems and challenges to be faced by strategic planning, its context, the emerging new discourses on strategic planning, the differences with traditional planning (land use planning, master planning), strategic planning and the change process and the practice of strategic planning. Class discussions on the impacts of value systems and the changing paradigms in strategic planning on the output-product-, the process and on the planner him or herself aim to make the student aware of the highly political role of planning, and to introduce the students in selected topics (such as power relations, diversity, ethics…). Relevant strategic interventions (they may vary from an urban brownfield to regional public transport) will be dealt with through a fixed template. In this way, the critical aspects of the various interventions are highlighted in a roughly comparable way. The established theoretical and practical framework will provide criteria for the template and for a theoretical feedback on the analysis of the strategic interventions. An introduction to analytical planning, implementation, communicative- and representation techniques (included a clear understanding of where, when and how these might be used) and skills combined with OPS must give the students the technical and instrumental skills needed to implement the accumulated knowledge and understanding in the studio. Substantive issues raised will become topics of theoretical reflection during this course (process architecture, programming, analytic and exploratory research, types of plans, framing, strategies,etc.).
Textbooks (and optional supplementary readings)