- Dionysis Goularas
- Yusuf Can Semerci
This project aims to create an alternative architectural history teaching and
learning tool (Timeline Travel) that would trigger visual cognition with the help
of a timeline and a map. Accessible through a web-page, this tool will be
designed so that it could be used both as an e-learning platform and as a
teaching/learning/research companion. Timeline Travel will initially be
prepared for two historic cities: Istanbul in Turkey and Ravenna in Italy. It will
give the learners the chance of making time travel while studying architectural
history. Accordingly, the primary target groups of the project are higher
education students and teachers of architectural history; and approximately
150 students, 100 academicians from partner institutions and 150
architectural historians within Europe will be directly reached via project
activities.
Another objective of this project is creating a cultural and historical awareness
among the citizens of Europe thorough architectural histories of their cities
and countries. By making this tool available and easy-to-use for a wider
audience from a K12 student to an elderly, the project aims to reach almost
every individual through the project website, and it is ambitious to become a
global tool for learning and discovering architectural histories. Another
significant objective and long term benefit of this project is to develop the
Timeline Travel in a flexible way so that it can be adapted to other fields, such
as history, art history, archaeology or urbanism, in the near future. Thus, the
impact and EU benefit of the project will be greater.
Interdisciplinary nature of the project blending software technologies,
architectural history and education science required a transnational,
enthusiastic, innovative and energetic team. Each partner institution and all
members of the project are experts in their own fields and produce five
intellectual outputs collaboratively: Timeline Travel tool for visualizing data; its
prototype content, i.e. architectural history databases of Constantinople/
Istanbul and Ravenna; Timeline Travel e-learning platform; new curricula
designed and tested for this platform, and a user profiling software to improve
success of learners.
The project is also highly innovative as it will be able to semi-automatically
create architectural history databases for other historic cities such as Rome,
Berlin, Athens or London. It will also be adaptable to other fields and likely to
create many spin-offs at the end of the project, including literature (e.g.
timeline of writers where you can browse through book covers), urban
planning (e.g. timeline of urban expansion of cities), evolution (e.g. timeline of
species and their distribution over the world), etc. The power of data
visualization will create its own magnet in academia as it will improve learning
speed significantly.
The expected impact of the project is a significant improvement in
architectural history learning capacities and ability to make novel
interpretations and analyses. As the students –as well as teachers- would
save time in learning architectural history, they will have opportunity and
ability to establish connections with the architectural works and political,
social, economic and cultural developments, since the buildings reflect
evolving constraints of their time with different styles, scales and types.
Another significant impact will be the ability of students to study and learn
architectural history on their own and without the need of an instructor.
Timeline Travel aims to reach every individual at local, regional, European
and international level, as it can well be used as a companion to discover
architectural histories of cities, or adapted for other uses, such as a visual
diary.
Website: http://timelinetravelproject.gantep.edu.tr/
START: 2017
END: 2019
ID: 2017-1-TR01-KA203-046818
FUNDING INSTITUTION: Erasmus+ Program of the European Union
STATUS: Completed