FROM SYSTEMATIC DESIGN PROCESS TOWARDS TEACHING PRODUCT DESIGNER’S TOOLKIT
Year: 2018
Editor: Erik Bohemia, Ahmed Kovacevic, Lyndon Buck, Peter Childs, Stephen Green, Ashley Hall, Aran Dasan
Author: Lehtonen, Timo Artturi; Juuti, Tero Sakari; Rättyä, Kaisu Johanna; Pakkanen, Jarkko Tapani; Vanhatalo, Mikko Johannes
Series: E&PDE
Institution: 1: Tampere University of Technology, Mechanical Engineering & Industrial Systems; 2: University of Tampere, Finland
Section: Design and Engineering Education Practices
Page(s): 92-97
ISBN: 978-1-912254-02-6
Abstract
In higher level of engineering education, the training of single development process in the field of product development is no longer sufficient, because our students are employed in such jobs that they need to be able to understand the customer's perspective and the company's business goals in addition to the technical design process. Our purpose is to educate engineering professionals for the future who have a design method tool kit, from which they select tools with apt combination for the future task. The focus of this study is to prototype different learning solution, in which the learning goals and education approach is changed. The learning goal is that every student is skilled with ten methods, familiar with at least 30 methods and is able to find even more methods. The students are trained to identify the key approach of the method and evaluate its suitability for the present task. In the beginning of the course, students are allowed to choose the subject for their product concept. In the second design session, we make an intervention by presenting “Six Deadly Sins in Product Development”. Then we motivate the students by explaining that the methods help to avoid the common pitfalls. In the design studio, descriptions of 30 different methods have been placed on the walls. The methods are grouped according to their purpose to enable efficient choosing. We ask students to choose methods for a tool kit that they can answer to all mentioned common pitfalls.
Keywords: Product design education, Design methods, Problem based learning, Metacognitive skills