Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Course Summary
Developing skills in communicating with design professionals is undertaken in
this practical applications course. The ability to understand the language of
design, and to use the communication tools utilized in professional
architectural, design and engineering practice will be presented, through
hands-on exercises and assignments.
This course will meet once per week, and include a substantial amount of
independent work by class participants. Online resources, web-based tools
and other communication technologies will be used to provide students with the technical skills needed to
understand how architects, planners, designers and engineers communicate their ideas and specifications
to practicing professionals in other disciplines. The students will be expected to develop a final project
that will incorporate many of the tools and skills developed during this 8-week course.
Required Tools
The textbook for this course is Plan Graphics for the Landscape Designer: With Section-Elevation and Computer
Graphics by Tony Bertauski; ISBN-9780131720633. Also, the following tools will be required in order to
complete the assignments and fully participate in the class assignments. Please check the course website
for the specific requirements for tools that will be needed. At a minimum he following items will be
needed to initially participate in the course: 12” Triangular Architect’s Scale, 12” Triangular Engineer’s
Scale and a Section Pad with 10 Squares, Quadrille Rule, Letter Size (8.5 x 11) or on-line generated
equivalent.
Additional Course Details
Topics to be introduced during this course cover a wide of interest areas, and include:
Learning Goals
It is anticipated that students, who fully engage themselves in the content of this course, will acquire new
knowledge, skills and perspectives on how to communicate with design and engineering professionals. In
addition to familiarization with the course topics noted above, it is hoped that students will learn additional
skills related to group dynamics, collaboration, public speaking and organizational methods. These skills are
not unique to this particular course, but this course will encourage exploration of these facets of peer-base
learning, professional development and project management.
Methods of Instruction
The course will be conducted in a seminar format, which will include discussion, lecture and some student-led
presentations. Because of the large amount of materials that will be covered in this course, lecturing will be
kept to a minimum, and increased emphasis on discussion and presentations will be stressed. Each student is
responsible for staying abreast of the readings, which will vary in length and depth by topic areas, and being
prepared for in-class discussions and presentations. Participatory Learning, which encourages involvement by
all students will be encouraged and will provide the framework for the course’s seminar sessions. At least one
of the class seminars will be delivered by an internet webcast session.
Instructor Availability
My office is room 130 Holdsworth Natural Resources Center. You are welcome to drop in any time during
my office hours, or contact me via e-mail to make arrangements to get together at another time. My office
phone is 545-3755. My e-mail address is bloniarz@nrc.umass.edu
Course Requirements
• Attendance and participation in all seminar sessions.
• Reading of all assigned materials.
• Completion of all Take-home assignments
• Submission of (3) Summary Briefs on assigned reading (typed, and in proper format).
• Final Exam/Project - Preparation and submission of a final project or exam to determined by the
progress flow of this particular course.
Academic Honesty
Honesty is essential to learning and inquiry. Participation in the life of the University implies a commitment to
honesty and integrity in all academic work. Academic dishonesty is a violation of the spirit and the regulations
of the University, and will not be tolerated. Any student in our class found to be in violation of University
academic honesty regulations will automatically receive, at a minimum, a failing grade (F) for the course.
Examples of academic dishonesty include: Plagiarism, Cheating, and Fabrication. For further information on
academic honesty regulations, please consult Academic Honesty Policy for 2009-2010, which can be found at
the following website - http://www.umass.edu/dean_students/codeofconduct/acadhonesty/
Wk # Date Topic
1 01-20-2010 Course Introduction and Semester Outline
2 01-27-2010 An Overview of The Vocabulary of Design
3 02-03-2010 Using the Engineer’s and Architect’s Scales
4 02-10-2010 Reading & Understanding Architectural and Engineering Drawings
5 02-17-2010 Computer Aided Design Tools
6 02-24-2010 Digital Photography, Imaging and Workflow
7 03-03-2010 Application of Google Sketch Up, Google Maps and Google Earth
software tools.
8 03-10-2010 Preparing Presentation & Communication Materials