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Marcela Oliva, B. Arch M. Arch LATTC Arch Tech - Digital Design - Mapping LA - CADD, Professor olivam@lattc.edu
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Marcela Oliva, B. Arch M. Arch LATTC Arch Tech - Digital Design - Mapping LA - CADD, Professor olivam@lattc.edu |
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Access to Architecture and Innovative Technology-Design Curriculum
at Los Angeles
Trade-Technical College gives graduates leverage in
the job market; University transfer rate soars for first time in school’s history.
Los Angeles, CA – February 8, 2003 – As a result of a 10-year effort by Los Angeles Trade-Technical College (LATTC) to innovate its curriculum to keep pace with technology and strengthen its academic standards, job placement for graduates of the school’s architecture and environmental design disciplines has risen 100-percent since 1998. Student transfers to universities are up 100-percent for the same period. LATTC, with an approximate enrollment of 13,000 students representing the diverse population of Southern California, has offered associate of arts and science degrees in vocational disciplines since 1949. African-Americans and Hispanics account for 85-percent of the total student body. In the architecture and environmental design discipline programs, 60-percent of the student population are recent immigrants to the United States from Latin America, Europe and Asia. 20-percent have Bachelor Degrees from their native countries and 20-percent are business professionals seeking additional training. To meet this social and economic challenge, the LATTC Administration embarked on a mission to transform its curriculum by implementing three high-end technology programs and skill certificates under the discipline of Architecture and Environmental Design. These programs are Digital Design, Metropolitan Access Planning System-Geographical Information Systems (MAPS-GIS) and Architecture Technology. Digital Design and MAPS-GIS are cutting-edge computer technology programs introduced at LATTC in 1998. They are the only public, state-approved programs offering interactive mapping using Computer Aided Design/Geographical Information Systems (CAD/GIS) and three-dimensional modeling vocational skills in the fields of architecture and environmental design. The Architecture Technology program, which started undergoing a major transformation three years ago, offers students community-based projects that are innovative and unique. They integrate digital design technologies, design process and internet enable workspaces for buildings and their environments. A key component of these high-technology programs is the creative design process. Students receive a non-traditional blend of state-of-the-art computer technology and field knowledge, resulting in creative design skills that give the students considerable leverage in the job market. Creative design industries in Los Angeles, which include architecture, industrial and environmental design, as well as virtual reality environment and three-dimensional computer game design, account for more than one-million jobs annually in Los Angeles County, according to the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation. “Architecture Technology, Digital Design and MAPS/GIS, historically left only to university programs, give LATTC students access to the study of the ‘design process’ and makes them an integral part of the creative process. Their personal experience and understanding of the city bring new interpretations and augmentations. Through a computer able environment, the student concurrently studies creative design disciplines and graduates with critical thinking skills that are applicable to these careers,” said Marcela Oliva, LATTC Professor of Architecture and Environmental Design and faculty developer for these programs. “Our students graduate with a portfolio that serves two objectives -- job placement opportunities and university transfer requirements. This sets our program apart from other community colleges, trade and private technology schools,” said Oliva. Architecture and design studies are now more accessible careers for minorities and immigrants. Before the computer age, vocational programs in these fields prepared students only for support positions. When technology automated the job, a new type of worker with “knowledge skills” became mandatory. In response to these needs, architecture access and innovative design curriculum programs emerged at LATTC. Through a rigorous process, new entry-level jobs and emerging technologies where identified for the programs and curriculum. Michael Rendler, Architect and faculty director of the MAPS/GIS program, believes LATTC’s newly designed programs give architecture students the opportunity to make an impact on their communities as never before. “Our students participate in the dialog of architecture,” said Rendler. “When grass-rooted in the community, architecture design redefines the cultural landscape.” In addition to field knowledge and computer expertise, the students learn communication and writing skills, problem identification, social perceptiveness, and information-gathering in the field of design. Curriculum integration of this current understanding in computer technology and vocational education has proven essential to this changed marketplace. This new curriculum has also reduced the educational disparities created by race and income and increased the students’ range of employment and educational options. “I think of LATTC programs as a social-economic bridge in the New World economy. Equipped with a greater depth of knowledge and breadth of technological skills, our students are better prepared and empowered to meet new challenges,” said Oliva. In combination with a stronger academic program that focuses on vocational writing and math skills, LATTC graduates who choose to delay entering the job market and enrich their education now have the basic course requirements necessary for transfer to a university. Approximately 68-percent of the school’s high-technology design and architecture students graduate with the intention of transferring to a university. “Our students have the university transfer skills that were absent before implementation of more rigorous academic technological standards,” said Oliva. “Prior to that time, it was virtually impossible for students to make that transfer. LATTC student eligibility to universities has since sky-rocketed, with an acceptance rate of 100-percent.” Today, LATTC students successfully participate in state and national competitions as well as contribute to the city with real projects, which include LAUSD New Media Academies, LATTC Writing Center, LATTC Master Plan, Integrated Furniture - Art Share LA, MTA Bus Stop, MAPS Census Data Studies, Los Angeles Vacant Land Urban Study, Nature Walk for Grand Boulevard, GIS for LA River Study, and published exhibits at the LATTC Fish-Bowl Gallery. “Our decade-long effort to redefine the study of architecture, design, and digital technology has given our students access to a vocational and academic education that is unsurpassed in this country,” said Oliva. “Our goal is to continue to focus on the latest technology and use it effectively in the educational process to meet the new and exciting challenges of the 21st Century. The rapid pace of change demands this.” The U.S. Department of Education has funded LATTC’s Architecture Technology, MAPS/GIS, and Digital Design programs through its National Innovation and Technology Educational Grant. Partnerships with these programs are also being formed with private companies and government agencies. Los Angeles Trade-Technical College is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, which is an institutional body recognized by the Commission on Recognition of Postsecondary Accreditation and the U.S. Department of
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