Instructional methods in landscape design: A survey of academic horticulture programs

Landscape design courses are a major component of landscape horticulture programs at both community colleges and universities in the U.S. Traditionally, landscape design courses have focused on teaching students how to create landscape plans by hand drawing. However, it is becoming increasingly more common that landscape professionals use software programs to create their designs, and it is necessary that students be trained in this area prior to entering the job market. A survey was developed to (1) compare the use hand-drawing and design software in landscape design courses at community colleges and four-year institutions in the U.S. (2) determine if community and four-year institutions are taking the same approach with respect to methods used in landscape design courses, and (3) determine if instructional methods used in landscape design courses have any relationship to a student's future job prospects.; Results suggest that software based design courses are playing a significant---but not dominant---role in landscape horticulture curricula at academic institutions. Both community colleges and four-year universities offer a greater number of classes that use hand-drawing than use design software. In addition, only half of the academic programs surveyed have a requirement that students, prior to graduation, complete a course that uses design software. There is evidence that use of design software will increase over time, with greater than half of surveyed programs having a goal of expanding course offerings in this area.; Community colleges and four-year institutions are similar in the way they utilize hand-drawing and design software in their landscape design courses. However, class size is typically greater at four-year schools, and landscape design instructors at these schools have usually obtained the terminal degree (Masters in Landscape Architecture (MLA), PhD) in their field. There is some indication that four-year schools put greater emphasis on software-based courses than community colleges, but this may be due to greater resources and larger staffs.; All instructors, at all institutions, feel that students with experience using design software are more marketable to employers than those without this experience. In fact, most instructors consider this experience a "necessary requirement" for graduating students who are entering the workforce.