Adaptation of Interior Design Course to Distance Education During Covid 19 Pandemic Period

In a period when the changing living conditions with the Covid-19 pandemic are effective in all areas of life, this research is an example that investigates how the second-year undergraduate Interior Design I applied course, which is carried out in Hacettepe University (HU), Department of Interior Architecture and Environmental Design in formal education, can be efficiently adapted to distance education and develops methods on this subject. A mixed research method combining qualitative and quantitative approaches was used to analyse students’ adaptation, motivation and project outcomes. In the research, it is aimed that the Interior Design I course, which was conducted online in the early period of the pandemic, will contribute to the related courses in case of a transition to distance education system due to different reasons. The course was divided into five different sections. Each section was taught by a different lecturer and a teaching assistant. In addition to the fact that the topics of all sections were the same, the requirements, evaluation criteria and exam dates were designed simultaneously. The research was conducted through the students (16) who chose this course in Branch II and their project studies. Various methods were developed to ensure the efficiency achieved in formal education. In line with the opinions, feedbacks and project outputs of the students who are the subjects of this process, suggestions for the adaptation of distance education to interior design courses have been developed. The findings revealed that students successfully adapted to online design education and achieved creative results comparable to face-to-face learning. The study focused on the adaptation process of traditional hand drawing to the digital environment applied in the distance education period. This study provides insights that can guide the development of flexible and sustainable design education models for future crisis conditions.