Ar. Shweta Choudhary is the founder and Centre Head at Centre for Design Excellence, CODE-VGU, Jaipur. She completed her B.Arch. in 2004 and has finished her Ph.D. in architecture. She pursued an enriching career as an educator of Architecture at various places across the country. She is a keen design academician and has been teaching architecture for around 14 years now. She is a certified professional for GRIHA and GEM green building certification councils and is an Executive member of ASSOCHAM Green building Council, Rajasthan chapter. She also works as an Energy Expert at Vivekananda building Science Centre co-founded by her as a unique organization working closely with Niti Aayog.

CODE VGU

What are the various programs that you are offering in your institute for students' benefit?

“Undergraduate and postgraduate courses in Architecture, Design, Journalism and Mass communication”

CODE is a dynamic forum for exchanging ideas, methods and professional experience. The programs which we offer are undergraduate courses like B.Arch, B.Des (Fashion and Textile Design, Interior and Product Design, and Graphics and Communication Design), BJMC (Bachelor’s in Journalism and Mass Communication), Diploma Courses in Fashion and Textile Design, Interior and Product Design, Event Management. Also, Post Graduation courses like M.Des (Sustainable Design and UX Design), Doctoral courses, Ph.D. in Design and Architecture. All the courses deal with content with high industry interaction along with theory-based learning.

How is the institute tackling the operational challenges posed by COVID?

“Open-source digital learning solutions and Learning Management Software”

Online Education has been a Strategic Priority at CODE-VGU since the outbreak of COVID. We invested in our learning design resources, by hiring instructional designers. Also, by reorganizing campus learning organizations into integrated units to be able to manage the digital transition. The Cisco-WebEx platform is used at the university levels to ensure accessibility of learning for the students. Within a few days, digital learning became our new normal. 

What are the challenges of distance learning amid the pandemic?

“A flexible curriculum, investing in blended curriculums and online learning”

Quality internet learning is an asset and time-escalated. Customary online projects are planned over a time of numerous months. In March of 2020, colleges had only days (and in some cases hours) to rotate from private to far off learning. Colleges that could succeed in the direction of remote learning more effectively were those with a history of running online courses. Colleges that struggled are those with no online learning programs. A key to a win-win situation is a well-defined educational plan with mixed and hybrid learning.

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How do you ensure the quality of education in online mediums?

“Regular upgradations and reliable feedback mechanism”

Teaching methodology has changed a lot when it comes to online learning. Shifting to digital platforms like Cisco-Webex, the virtual classroom is accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Time efficiency is another strength brought by the online learning format. Asynchronous communication through online conferencing programs allows the professional to juggle work, family, and study schedules to participate in class discussions. The online format allows a dynamic interaction between the instructor and students. 

It is easy to include well-known guest experts from all over the world for online sessions. Furthermore, today students have access to resources and materials that may be physically located anywhere in the world.

What will be the impact of COVID on the industry 5 years down the line?

“The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need to design and build fast in emergency situations”

For the architecture and design community, post-COVID-19 might mean they have to design for a world that will never be quite the same. The way public spaces are designed could change in a post-pandemic world, along with how they’re prioritized in urban areas. As the healthcare industry continues to be overwhelmed, the demand for more facilities such as hospitals, quarantine centres, testing sites and temporary lodgings has never been so high. Fashion-ready face masks could become mandatory work booming the fashion domains. Standard 9-to-5 office hours could become a thing of the past and home offices would become more common. 

How does the program ensure that students are being prepared for the future?

“We prepare them to lead productive and successful lives once they leave the institution”

We continually endeavour to set up our students for this present reality that exists around them. We show them how to peruse, compose, and figure. The courses present students with situations in which they need to figure things out for themselves – where skills that they have already developed can be drawn upon and applied to help them figure out a problem. To best prepare students in this area, more than just the typical teamwork is required. Instead of simply getting into a group and splitting the tasks with each other, students should instead be encouraged to take on different roles within their group for each task within the project. 

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What are the benefits and career options after pursuing courses from CODE?

“The theoretical course offers the current trends and framework for the dynamic industry”

The students during the course acquire skills through a combination of lectures, seminars, workshops, studio and reviews, and field trips. These are led by academics and practitioners in the sustainable field and related disciplines

Benefits of our courses:

  • Industry-ready curriculum
  • State-of-the-art infrastructure 
  • Challenging conventional ways of learning through fieldwork, industry-ready lectures, collaboration and dissemination.
  • Learn via live virtual classrooms
  • Best in-house faculties with frequent guest lectures by highly experienced professionals
  • Advanced design pedagogies, advanced industry-oriented curriculum and Module based teaching
  • Internship and placement assistance on-board

Job Opportunities:

  • Design Experts who develop sustainable products or system urgencies in a public or private company.
  • Process Consultant who produce innovative processes
  • Consultants
  • Self-employed entrepreneur
  • Architecture/ Fashion/ Interior Design Journalist