September 8 2019

FAFU Landscape Architecture Student Success:

Framing Eastern vs Western Design, Context, and Culture in Learning Success

During the past year, I have noticed specific skills which seem to be lacking,
generally and overall, among the FAFU students within the two studio courses:
1. vocabulary - important design terminologies & landscape
architecture concepts
2. public speaking confidence and facility
3. contemporary theory and sustainable approaches to design
(recognise the work of others to inform their work)
4. justification of design decisions and direction for their work (per #3)
5. accountability for inadequate work
6. skill development (scale understanding, sketching, sheet layout,
graphics, etc.)
Reasons for this are many and potentially include:.
• Copy and paste work/data without comprehension.
• Differences in word meanings.
• Differences in teaching and learning strategies (cultural)
Pretext
Universities in Canada – as in many other Anglophone countries – have
benefited from an influx of full fee paying international students. The design
disciplines are an increasingly desirable education prospect and career for
these students. However, their educational and cultural differences impacts
their learning experiences and academic success within these ‘western’
Universities.
I have spent some time reading, researching, analyzing and talking with
colleagues to better understand the student/learning culture of landscape
architecture within Chinese programs in order to better temper my expectations
and modify learning objectives for our FAFU Students. Below are some of those
notes.

What educational condition will best encourage good learning?

How can we connect our teaching to the students?
What pedagogical changes can I make to better enhance intercultural learning?

R. leBrasseur Cultural Teaching 1

 Delivery of Material
This aspect is perhaps the most challenging, particularly from a cultural learning standpoint.
It is accepted that Chinese students learn differently…
“Confucian-Heritage Cultures” (CHCs)

The FAFU student’s approach to learning and thus their way of thinking is di erent. They
prefer clear-outcome learning or didactic teaching (objective information). They expect an
authoritarian teacher - a guide. Knowledge is the goal - NOT critical thinking to get to that
goal or subjective discourse.

They like facts to memorize. The prefer to be told exactly what to do and not have to
‘ gure things out’ on their own. They like tests and exams - clear answers which can be
found in text or memorized.

Also, there is a somewhat high degree of ambiguity of terms and language. Word
meanings are culturally di erent.

Try to make intercultural connections in your delivery and learning objectives. For
example, their learning frameworks Teacher = Expert (knows all).

They want equitable grading; though somewhat di cult in a studio design course with
subjective assessments, they want consistent and clear grading. Having a clear rubric
may be key to this. Show them the rubric. There are examples of design rubrics out there -
I am working on developing one which quanti es and objecti es a design.

Choosing what to grade is also important. Allowing for revision might also be a good
approach.

They prefer a transparency in expectations (and thus grading). “What do I need to do to

get a good grade?” is their PRIMARY CONCERN.

Provide clear examples of what a high grade product looks like.

Question and discussion formats (e.g. salient points) should include constructive
questions. Give them the context clearly and help them argue for and against.

The reading material provided to them should be digestible content - i.e. easy to
comprehend. Blogs and newsclips are often this sort of writing style.

Utilize bullet-form material to organise ideas and develop into a narrative. Students can
respond similarly.

Be sensitive to their cultural transition. Autumn is a heavy semester for these students.
The student experience for this semester is ‘hectic’ and ‘not joyful’.

R. leBrasseur Cultural Teaching 2

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 ACTIVE LEARNING:
Socratic Thinking is not their way (no dialogue)
Confucian Thinking is their comfortable way. (didatic)

Didatic teaching includes clear delivery of information with no need for students
to organize their work and depend of teachers for instruction. They are passive
listeners. This is a traditional lecture format and is followed by a traditional
external test.

Do not like or excel in critical thinking or challenges.

Do not like oral discussions, oral answers, public responses.
Excel in rote learning and memorization
Prefer didactic teaching (science - maths)
Teacher is unchallengeable. Teacher is Expert (no critical review)

QUESTIONS:
How to ensure students ‘understand’ the knowledge delivered in a Studio
environment which focusses on problem solving and self-directed
leaning?

What is an effective teaching methodology then?

Is repetition effective? within Didatic learning…

Copy-Paste
I have found that FAFU students will consistently copy-paste data and text into
their work. This includes definitions, qualitative descriptions, scientific
descriptions (site analysis), and the use of powerpoint or autocad templates.
Important skills are thus not being learned and practiced.

Bruce Sharky, Thinking Landscape Architecture, 2016, Routledge

Concepts of Interpretation
Though we may give clear design directions or suggestions, it may be
interpreted differently as design vocabulary and design concepts may have quite
different meaning. For example - “The design needs to be more natural
looking”. A qualitative term for sure. However, the design sensibilities in China
are quite different and the same preferences are not held between both

R. leBrasseur Cultural Teaching 3

cultures. Chinese design prefers “clipped and pruned plants into nice layers
and shapes. They do not like the unruly look of plants allowed to grow without
being reshaped”. The native drought tolerant plant materials along the
highways in California, for instance, would be considered unattractive.
Similarly, the High Line in New York with its loose and native/naturalistic wild
plantings would ben considered “unruly and not very beautiful”.

When Chinese students say the ‘quality’ of the landscape, or they are working
on the qualities of the landscape, they still may mean functional quality, artistic
quality, ecological quality.

Lan Chen, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University

Comparison of Sino-Canadian Teaching Strategies: Impression and Experience
at Dalhousie University
Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA) May 2017, Beijing, China

Critical thinking is not a desired outcome of traditional Chinese education

particularly in hands-on exercises and activities where the culture does not
utilize self-directed learning.

Student-Instructor Relationship in the Classroom

Confucian culture dictates that instructors are considered to be authorities and it
refers to silence among students in the classroom which takes a great toll on
student collaboration. In contrast, Socrates tended to think of instructors as
facilitators and helpers, so the North American teaching strategy is more like a
student-conducted style.

R. leBrasseur Cultural Teaching 4