Analysis on the Experimental Teaching Reform of Landscape Design under the New Situation

Gang SUN, Xueli NIU, Wan’gou LIU, Xialan CHENG, Yang LIU

Lingnan Normal University, Zhanjiang 524048, China

Abstract The experimental course of Landscape Design is based on the training of design ability, which breaks the traditional mode of students’ self-completion of homework, and finally changes from the traditional mode of teachers’ comments to the task of real site design to carry out course experiments, making students construct relevant theoretical knowledge in the process of completing specific projects.After professional designers’ in-depth and detailed, systematic analysis and comments, the training of students’ professional ability is highlighted.In the process of the experiment, it focuses on link with the industry and enterprises, and obtains the professional abilities and professional skills needed by the enterprises according to the method of situational learning theory.

Key words Landscape design, Experimental teaching, Reform and innovation

1 Introduction

Landscape Design is the main course of garden major, which focuses on the basic theories and methods of landscape design, the design of the five elements of landscape architecture, the techniques of landscape architecture and plane composition, and the planning and design examples of all kinds of landscape architecture.The experimental purpose of this course is to practice and apply the knowledge taught in the classroom.This paper analyzes the problems faced in the process of experimental teaching.In accordance with the role transformation of taking students as the main body and teachers as the guide put forward by the new curriculum reform to make the classroom become the stage for students, this paper puts forward corresponding solutions and innovates the way of experiment, in order to better improve students’ professional skills and design practice ability, and cultivate high-quality and high-skilled landscape design talents to meet the needs of today’s industry.

2 Analysis of the characteristics of experimental teaching in the course of Landscape Design

The course of Landscape Design has the characteristics of strong professionalism and difficulty in practical operation.Landscape Design is a required course for landscape design major, and the purpose of the course is to cultivate students’ interest in landscape design in the process of teaching and let students master the basic principles and methods of landscape design.And through the establishment of experimental courses, it aims to train and improve students’ planning and design thinking and ability.

Landscape Design has high requirements for the ability of combining design theory with practice.Curriculum arrangement should not only consider the teaching of professional knowledge, but also need to cultivate students’ design ability of practical projects.In the process of teaching, the students are given more opportunities to participate in the practice of landscape design, so as to improve students’ enthusiasm and interest in design, and constantly stimulate students’ creativity and imagination in the process of creation.

3 Problems and reform measures in the experimental course of Landscape Design

3.1 The updating of curriculum materials lags behind the development of the industryThe discipline of design develops rapidly, but at present, most of the classical teaching materials of landscape design majors in colleges and universities are still based on the "Twelfth Five-year Plan" or even the "Eleventh Five-year Plan" teaching materials, and they are rarely updated.As a result, the design thinking learned by students lags behind and lacks innovation.

Therefore, the Chinese Landscape Architecture Society and the Chinese Landscape Architecture Discipline Construction Group should shoulder the heavy burden and take the lead in compiling teaching materials that meet the needs and new trends of today’s landscape architecture discipline development.In addition to inserting pictures, the textbook can also add a QR code.By scanning the code, students can watch the videos, project drawings and real pictures of the project designer in explaining the design ideas, and so on, making it more directly to learn the design thinking and formation process of excellent schemes at home and abroad.

3.2 The major training plan is unreasonable and the teaching focus and objectives are vagueLandscape architecture major is a comprehensive discipline which integrates engineering, agronomy and art.Engineering involves architectural engineering, road and bridge engineering, structure,etc., agronomy involves ecology, botany, soil science, physiochemistry,etc., and art involves painting, plane composition, three major components,etc.The knowledge learned is very numerous and complicated, which leads to unclear training objectives in many colleges and universities, especially in agricultural and forestry colleges.The courses of freshman and sophomore mainly focus on botany and chemistry, and the class period of basic courses related to design is short.It is difficult to learn the main course of Landscape Design offered in the junior year, and even the drawings are still at the preliminary level, full of mistakes and with no sense of beauty.

Therefore, the training plan must have a clear direction, and it can be divided into two major directions: plant research and landscape design.The design direction should be based on design courses, there should be more design experimental courses and professional designers should be hired to guide.

3.3 There is a lack of communication and connection between teachers or between courses and the knowledge learned by students cannot be linked upDomestic colleges and universities with landscape architecture as first-class discipline or key discipline have adopted the teaching model of "project teaching" as the background and the joint guidance of subject teaching and research teams.Due to the unbalanced development of teachers and regional industries, garden majors in most colleges and universities also adopt the traditional mode that teachers assign homework and finally comment in class.There are some problems, such as insufficient site investigation, unexplored local history and culture or cultural expression staying on the surface, the scheme staying in the preliminary design stage, and lack of thinking about the feasibility and actual effect of the scheme from the engineering point of view.

Landscape Design and the courses of engineering construction should be connected and integrated, and an experimental course of comprehensive design and construction can be set up to make students realize the whole process of scheme design-construction drawing design-project implementation.Only in this way can students take into account the operability and actual effect of construction when designing the scheme, so as to design more applicable and scientific works.

3.4 The design thinking is solidified and the scheme formation process is incomplete or wrongDue to the limited teacher resources and uneven development of the industry, there is a lack of communication and connection between teachers and students and enterprises, majors and industries, which solidifies students’ design thinking.Making schemes is more about "piecing together" or following a fixed routine, regardless of the different conditions and attributes of different venues.And after the formation of the scheme, there is a lack of the process of working backward and analyzing the scheme from the point of view of the actual effect, resulting in irrationality or lack of aesthetic feeling of the final scheme.

Therefore, it is necessary to invite professional designers into the classroom, make teachers and students go into the company to communicate with the industry, to broaden the horizons of teachers and students, and activate design thinking in order to better promote the sustained and healthy development of the major and industry.

4 Conclusions

Landscape Design is a course that closely combines theory with experiment.In the process of theoretical teaching, we should always keep up with the progress of the experiment, and constantly strengthen the application and exploration of the theory in the process of the experimental course.In the course, we should take the students as the main body and "project teaching" as the basis to arouse students’ interest in design and promote their design thinking ability.In addition, we should hire enterprise designers to guide the completion of the experiment, strengthen the cooperation and communication between teachers and students and enterprise designers, and between majors and industries, to prevent students from solidifying their thinking and falling into "design set pattern", so that they can be qualified for the design position upon graduation.