The fourth industrial revolution (4IR) landscape, which encompasses the trend towards more impact of technology, provides both challenges and opportunities for the real estate sector. As educators we carry the responsibility to prepare the next generation of professionals for the ethical dilemmas and societal concerns that this revolution throws up and need to prepare students to deal with its dilemmas and concerns. Concerns are raised that the advent of the 4IR is putting social justice under an increasing threat of unequal access to opportunities. The advent of financial capitalism has already impacted on equitable access to real estate. The process of financialisation and its impact of the real estate (housing mainly) sector shows that it is a fine balancing act of to achieve social justice and sustainability of our cities. The presentation elaborates on a blended course for MSc students at the Faculty of Architecture whereby students debate the topic of financialisation of real estate to stimulate their academic thinking. In the format of a role play of a municipal council hearing, students are expected to advocate (and therefore) understand the impact of financial capitalism of various stakeholders in two different cities, namely London and Cape Town. The impact of the commodification of housing as an asset, challenging equity and therefore social justice is the focus of the debate that is impacted to take place in the ‘municipal council hearing’. Yet the impact can be both positive or negative depending also on the motivations, needs and perspectives of the selected stakeholders. The preparation for this hearing is based on blended learning format which uses online and face-to-face session to prepare and organize for the debate. Students are expected to engage with the dynamics of the stakeholders that they represent; familiarize themselves with either the dynamics of London or Cape Town and make active use of materials develop in a blended format. For this the course also draws from a series of educational videos developed under the collaboration TU Delft and the IHS of the EUR which captured open access in a Blended platform. The materials developed here also more broadly cover social justice and societal challenges that lie ahead for the next generation of professionals. Advancements in blended learning for lecturers are supported and embedded into the framework of TU Delft, by inter alia learner development in online trainings offered under the Digitel Pro and the EMBED project.
The MSc course discussed here has been developed with the aid of three ‘platforms’ that are supported by the TU Delft. These showcase also the institutional framework that is provided for lecturers to develop blended education. All materials developed here are open access.
- Blended platform weblink: https://www.blendededucation.
- Digitel Pro: https://digitelpro.eadtu.eu/ [DigiTeL pro is about professional development for digital teaching and learning].
- EMBED: https://embed.eadtu.eu/