GILDA

GILDA is an emerging research group of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. It was born from the concerns of several architecture professors who were taking the programme for teacher training and teaching innovation for university teaching staff organised by the UPC’s Institute of Education Sciences (ICE) between 2011 and 2012. Those concerns about educational research and the implementation of new active learning methodologies were shared with architecture professors from other Spanish universities, and this is how this cross-disciplinary group was born, with members who belong to different departments and areas of knowledge (Architectural Design, Architectural Representation, Urbanism and Regional Planning, etc.).

GILDA’s goals are focused on the following five items related to educational research and innovation in architecture:

1. Training
- Promoting improvement, innovation and constant reflection on teaching the discipline.
- Receiving and promoting specific training for architecture professors.

2. Research
- Encouraging research on specific learning methodologies for architecture.
- Collecting all research and innovation initiatives in teaching architecture.

3. Debate
- Encouraging all kinds of meetings to promote debate and the exchange of innovative teaching experiences in architecture.

4. Teaching innovation
- Developing teaching innovation projects.
- Promoting collaboration in teaching between all the departments linked to the Barcelona School of Architecture (ETSAB) and the Vallès School of Architecture (ETSAV), as well as with other national and international universities.

5. Dissemination
- Disseminating the teaching experiences applied in architecture classrooms by attending conferences and publishing papers in specialised journals.
- Promoting the participation of the architecture teaching staff in innovation and educational research activities.