Digital-Gamified Suitability Test

Project Lead: Kirk McCormack, Head of Architectural Technologies and Programme Chair, BSc (Hons) Architectural Technology (TU831)

School: School of Architecture, Building and Environment (SABE)

Faculty: Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment & Apprenticeships

Contact details: Kirk.McCormack@tudublin.ie | 01 2206836

Project Description: 

I’m developing a pre-application “taster” for applicants to Architectural Technology: a short, browser-based set of interactive puzzles that let a prospective student experience what the discipline actually involves before they apply. Each puzzle hides a real building-physics principle, the control of heat, light, air and water, inside a simple, elegant game, so applicants learn by doing and by consequence rather than by being told. The aim is to reduce early first-year drop-off by helping applicants understand the course and judge their own fit for it before they commit, and to reward curiosity rather than prior ability. This round of funding builds a two-level proof of concept, as the basis for a fuller version.

Why am I running this project?

Too many students arrive into first-year Architectural Technology without a clear picture of what the discipline is. It is routinely confused with architecture, engineering or construction management, and some find only weeks in that its way of working does not suit them. The CAO system matches applicants on points, not suitability, so nothing prompts an applicant to find out what they are signing up for. This project moves that moment of understanding to before the application is made: it informs applicants, lets them self-select, and frees the place for someone better matched when the course is not for them. It also models a digital, practice-based way to address suitability and transition that other programmes could reuse.