Collaborative learning in technological project design

The POWERTECH contest in Taiwan was established in an attempt to promote inventiveness and technology to elementary school pupils. The POWERTECH contest is designed as a collaborative learning system for project design. Project design is comprised of technical processes, which include the construction of an artifact and improvement of its functions. Thus, pupils learn scientific and technical knowledge through a collaborative design project. The purpose of the study was to examine how collaborative learning could be facilitated in technological project design, and whether and how pupils working collaboratively were able to share their design ideas. The study was carried out by analyzing the design portfolio compiled by a team of four elementary school pupils who were engaged in a collaborative design project that focused on making a robot rat for the POWERTECH contest. A portfolio analysis was used in this study to help researchers assess the actual collaboration process among the team members. The study indicated that collaborative learning in a contest facilitated the sharing of knowledge and resources among the team members. Furthermore, reflections essential for problem-solving among the team members were often raised during the design process. These reflections were also conducive to the reduction of mistakes during the contest.     

Design expert’s participation in elementary students’ collaborative design process

The main goal of the present study was to provide insights into how disciplinary expertise might be infused into Design and Technology classrooms and how authentic processes based on professional design practices might be constructed. We describe elementary students’ collaborative lamp designing process, where the leadership was provided by a professional designer. The video-recorded lessons on lamp designing and the “Lamp Designing” view of the project’s database constituted the data sources of the study. A data-driven qualitative content analysis was conducted for categorizing the scaffolding activities of the designer. The results indicate that the designer’s participation opened up the world of designing for the students. This enabled the students to engage in embodied design practices, and to gain new insights of the professional mechanisms of designing. Having the professional designer working with them, provided students with the opportunity to gain the full potential that solving complex design problems can offer to learning.     

A conceptual model for knowledge dimensions and processes in design and technology projects

The present study sheds new light on the knowledge dimensions and processes that occur when designing new concepts and prototypes in higher education. In particular, this study aims to develop the conceptual understanding of activities and processes that help students to gain new knowledge and understanding while designing new products and services. I employed two data collection phases among undergraduate students with qualitative abductive data analyses in order to create a conceptual framework for understanding how new knowledge is created and managed in students’ social interactions. This framework also enables us to distinguish the user, business, technological and methodological knowledge dimensions that constitute the elemental perspectives for design processes. This study emphasises the need for students to use diverse methods to gain new knowledge for inventing and designing new technological solutions.     

Students’ knowledge sources and knowledge sharing in the design studio—an exploratory study

Architectural design is a knowledge-intensive activity; however, students frequently lack sufficient knowledge when they practice design. Collaborative learning can supplement the students’ insufficient expertise. Successful collaborative learning relies on knowledge sharing between students. This implies that the peers are a considerable design knowledge source for the students. However, students are involved in grade competition. Students may not be willing to share because knowledge is a critical resource for students’ performance. The web technology has been used to facilitate knowledge exchange among students; nevertheless, the convenience of technology may tempt free riding behavior and impede the development of a knowledge sharing culture. The purpose of this exploratory study is to probe whether the peers and a web forum are the students’ primary knowledge source by investigating students’ knowledge sources during the design process. The results demonstrated that (1) studio-mates were a primary design knowledge source for the students, (2) the ill-defined nature of design problems may be the main contributing factor encouraging knowledge sharing behavior, (3) the shared web forum was not a primary knowledge source for the students and did not have a significant influence on the knowledge sharing culture, and (4) we can estimate the knowledge sharing culture in a design studio through investigating students’ knowledge sources. Furthermore, several additional findings and implications are elaborated.     

Figuring the world of designing: Expert participation in elementary classroom

The purpose of the present article was to analyze the interaction between elementary students and a professional design expert. The expert was present in the classroom, facilitating a collaborative lamp designing process together with the teacher. Using the notion of figured worlds (Holland et al. 1998), we explored how learning could be expanded beyond traditional schooling by bridging the world of professional designing and the world of the inquiry-oriented classroom. The data consisted of video-recorded design sessions (N = 11) and the “Lamp Designing” view of the project’s electronic database. A qualitative content analysis was conducted for categorizing the social settings, the design inquiry phases, and the designer’s activities during the sessions. Three distinctive foci of the participants’ activity were identified in the present study: (1) Design rationale, (2) Design practices, and (3) Design community. The results indicate that, with the designer’s support, relatively young students became aware of the rationale directing the design practice, and were able to solve multifaceted, complex design tasks. The figured world of designing was collaboratively created in the classroom during the continuous interaction between the designer and the students. This enabled the students to recognize the meaning of the diverse design activities and practices they were learning. The figured world of designing was perceived as a world of possibility for the students, providing them new insights for learning within the world of schooling.     

Learning by collaborative designing: technology-enhanced knowledge practices

The purpose of the present article is to examine the knowledge-practice based approach to technology-enhanced learning. Toward that end, the article reports the efforts of an elementary-school teacher and researchers in promoting genuine inquiry at the 4th and 5th grade of a Finnish elementary school. We will describe implementation and social organization regarding ‘The Project of Artefacts––the Past, the Present and the Future’ that engaged students in collaborative inquiry and design across 13 months (almost three semesters). Knowledge Forum (KF), a virtual platform for the interchange of information, provided tools and practices that facilitated creative working within participating students and teachers. This was accomplished in a meaningful social setting which was culturally rich and where material and conceptual artefacts played dominant roles. In this article, the analysis of the teacher’s project diary and the contributions to the KF database provides an overview of the knowledge practices enacted during the project. The distribution of knowledge-creation activities during the project reveals that the teacher assumed a role of organizer concerning shared knowledge practices instead of controlling all aspects of students’ learning. Simultaneously, however, students were not left working without guidance; the teacher structured their collaborative efforts with the help of KF and by directing classroom activities.     

Line by line,part by part: collaborative sketching for designing

While sketching has an established role in professional design, its benefits and role in design education are subjects that invite research and opinions. We investigated how undergraduates studying to become design educators and textile teachers used sketching to generate and develop design solutions in a collaborative setting. The students were given an authentic design assignment involving three detailed tasks, one of which was 2D visualisation by sketching. Adopting a micro-analytical approach, we analysed the video-recorded visualisation session to understand how teams used sketching to collaborate and to generate and develop design solutions. To that end, we set three research questions: (1) What ways of collaborative working are reflected in actions of sketching? (2) In what ways do sequences of collaborative sketching contribute to designing? (3) What kinds of collaborative sequences of sketching advance designing? Our analysis identified three collaborative ways of sketching (co-ordinated, collective and disclosed) and confirmed that sketching is an important facilitator of mutual appropriation, adaption and adoption. Next, we identified three ways of contributing to designing, as well as three functions and six capacities for advancing designing. Our analysis shows that sketching can lead to invaluable advances in designing, although each team had its own way of using and benefiting from sketching. We further consider that the teams’ diverse sketching processes and rich content owed, at least in part, to the task structure and imposed constraints. We continue to see sketching as an important design tool, one among many.     

Collaborative Prototyping: Cross‐Fertilization of Knowledge in Prototype‐Driven Problem Solving

This paper presents an inductive study that shows how collaborative prototyping across functional, hierarchical, and organizational boundaries can improve the overall prototyping process. Our combined action research and case study approach provides new insights into how collaborative prototyping can provide a platform for prototype‐driven problem solving in early new product development (NPD). Our findings have important implications for how to facilitate multistakeholder collaboration in prototyping and problem solving, and more generally for how to organize collaborative and open innovation processes. Our analysis reveals two levels of prototyping. Besides the more formal managerial level, we identify the informal designer level, where the actual practice of prototyping takes place. On this level, collaborative prototyping transforms the act of prototyping from an activity belonging exclusively to the domain of design engineers to an activity integral to NPD, with participants from within the organization (different functions and managers) and from outside (consultants and users). In effect, this collapses the discrete steps in the prototyping process (at the managerial level) to an essentially continuous process of iterative problem solving (at the designer level) that is centered around the collaborative prototype, which allows participants to see their suggestions implemented and exposing them to the design constraints. The study, moreover, shows how, at various stages of the prototyping process, the actual prototype was used as a tool for communication or development, thus serving as a platform for the cross‐fertilization of knowledge. In this way, collaborative prototyping leads to a better balance between functionality and usability; it translates usability problems into design changes, and it detects emerging usability problems through active engagement and experimentation. As such, the collaborative prototype acts as a boundary object to represent, understand, and transform knowledge across functional, hierarchical, and organizational boundaries. Our study also identifies some constraints in involving the appropriate stakeholders at the right time. The paper specifically elaborates on the role of users in collaborative prototyping, which is important in order to cover all phases of the problem‐solving cycle but triggers an interesting challenge due to the “reverse empathy” that a user may develop for the design constraints—parallel to the designer empathy for the user context. Finally, our study shows that despite the continuous nature of the (designer) practice of prototyping, there are certain windows of opportunities (at the managerial level) during which the collaborative prototyping approach actually leads to changes in the product design.     

Mapping the journey: visualising collaborative experiences for sustainable design education

The paradigm of design is changing. Designers now need to be equipped with the skills and knowledge that will enable them to participate in the global move towards a sustainable future. The challenges arise as Design for Sustainability deals with very complex and often contradictory issues. Collaborative learning experiences recognise that these complex issues can be addressed with the pooling of diverse knowledge, perspectives, cultures, skills and tools. Unless, however the process of collaboration is explored in detail, the opportunity for reflection, learning and improvement is lost. This paper proposes that by introducing and analysing collaboration within third level design education, the capacity for responsible design practice can be developed, leading to a transformative shift in how designers are taught as students and subsequently practice as professionals. Over two multidisciplinary projects devised and undertaken by design students from the University of Limerick (Ireland), Hogeschool Utrecht (Netherlands) and Virginia Commonwealth University (USA), the collaborative path is mapped and critical junctions identified. From this process of mapping and visualisation, collective narratives of the overall project experience are constructed (through the eyes of the participants and planners). This leads to a greater understanding and appreciation of the benefits and limitations of the collaborative experience.     

Virtual display design and evaluation of clothing: a design process support system

This paper proposes a new computer-aided educational system for clothing visual merchandising and display. It aims to provide an operating environment that supports the various stages of display design in a user-friendly and intuitive manner. First, this paper provides a brief introduction to current software applications in the field of computer-aided clothing display design. Second, it describes the structure of the process-based clothing display design system (PCDDS) as well as the function and workflow of display design. Finally, a user evaluation was conducted using quantitative and qualitative evaluation methods. The quantitative evaluation was conducted using the responses to a questionnaire on system usability from six instructors and application tests on PCDDS. The qualitative evaluation was conducted by interviewing six instructors and through the students’ experience reports. Evaluation results showed that most of the instructors agreed that the five modules (i.e., storyboard module, model database module, display design module, scene screenshot and animation module, and evaluation module) could help students and instructors to complete the entire display design process from the conceptualization to the evaluation of specific design solutions and to improve teaching quality. Results from the students’ report indicated that the employment of PCDDS in training could give them a better understanding of clothing visual merchandising and display.     

Effects of web-based versus classroom-based STEM learning environments on the development of collaborative problem-solving skills in junior high school students

Collaborative problem-solving skills are one of the key competencies required in the twenty-first century. In this study, researchers attempted to compare the effectiveness of web-based collaborative problem-solving systems (wCPSS) and classroom-based collaborative hands-on learning activities (cCHLA) in the development of collaborative problem-solving skills in junior high school students who were learning science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)-related subjects. A quasi-experimental, nonequivalent pretest–posttest control group design was employed, and 241 junior high school students were invited to participate in the study. According to the results, a wCPSS-supported environment with teacher guidance was found to be more effective than either a wCPSS-supported environment without teacher guidance or a cCHLA-facilitated environment in developing students’ collaborative problem-solving skills in STEM fields. The study suggested that a web-based collaborative problem-solving system with teacher guidance can be used in developing junior high students’ collaborative problem-solving skills in STEM education.     

The individual vs. the group? Individualization and collectivity among students in collaborative design

The various modes in which individuals relate to the collectivity of a group have been fruitfully explored in research on group dynamics. The present paper applies a phenomenological interview approach to understand how this dynamic relationship plays out among design students in a collaborative design situation. Through deep-interviews with the members of a temporary design group, a number of dimensions for this relationship were uncovered. These individual-group characteristics related to instrumentality of engagement, experience of ambivalence and threat and finally to the process of individualization in which the group enabled an individual “design self”. After having presented the theoretical underpinnings and the empirical results of this study, the paper ends with suggesting a synthesis perspective of the individual-group relation in collaborative design.     

The Transformation of the Innovation Process: How Digital Tools are Changing Work,Collaboration, and Organizations in New Product Development*

Over the past several decades, digitization has invaded all areas of human activity, including innovation. The result of digitization of existing tools for design and collaboration, and the introduction of entirely new digital tools, is a far more substantive change of innovation than previous generations of tools enabled. It affects not only the quality of the output and speed of its generation, but it affects the innovation work itself, changes work content, collaboration patterns, decision authority, organizational set‐ups, governance structures, firm boundaries, and ultimately entire ecosystems. In this paper, the digitization of New Product Development (NPD), a subset of innovation, is studied to pursue two research questions: (1) How has the digital tool landscape in NPD changed over the past 15 years, and (2) how have these changes affected how firms innovate? This research uses a longitudinal multi‐method, qualitative approach to deep dive into actual use cases of digital design tools such as computer‐aided design CAD and new tools such as collaborative information technology (CIT). The changes in these tools and observations into how these tools are transforming the very nature of how things are designed is the research focus of this study. These tools have become increasingly more sophisticated while being easier to use and are integrated earlier in the design process. As a result, digital tools have a far broader reaching impact than previous generation of tools. Not only do they affect output and process efficiency, but they also increase depth and breadth of the work of individual innovators, they lead to rearrangement of the entire innovation processes, enable new configurations of people, teams, and firms, and rewrite the rules on how knowledge management acts as a critical competitive capability. The progression of digitization is laying the groundwork for changes to what firms are and do and points to different ways of organizing, specializing, and training for NPD professionals.     

The role of Web 2.0 in collaborative design: an ANT perspective

International Journal of Technology and Design Education - This paper analyses Web 2.0 facilitated collaborative design among undergraduate engineering students. The study used the...     

The Paradox of Openness: How Product and Patenting Experience Affect R&D Sourcing in China?

External R&D sourcing may help firms compete in an environment characterized by rapid technological changes. Yet, prior studies have produced conflicting findings on how a firm's technological experience affects the extent to which the firm engages in external R&D sourcing. Although many highlight that firms with extensive technological experience are equipped with more technological knowledge, collaborative skills, and absorptive capacity, encouraging greater levels of external R&D, others suggest the opposite due to potential exchange hazards and partnership conflicts. Adopting an external partner's perspective, the current study reconsiders this “paradox of openness” by analyzing how a focal firm's product experience and patenting experience affect an external partner's tendency to provide external R&D services to the focal firm. Specifically, this study explore how a focal firm's knowledge protectiveness and tacitness embedded in its product and patenting experience influences the external partners' motivation for knowledge transfer. This study predicts that a firm's product experience increases the focal firm's external R&D sourcing because it provides high levels of knowledge tacitness and external openness and can encourage external partners to share and exchange knowledge with the focal firm. In contrast, a firm's patenting experience decreases the focal firm's external R&D sourcing because it denotes knowledge explicitness and protectiveness and may discourage external partners to share and exchange knowledge with the focal firm. This study further predicts that patenting experience has a negative moderating effect on the relationship between product experience and external R&D sourcing. Using a data set of 575 high‐tech firms in China, this study finds support for our predictions. Our findings contribute to the growing literature on the knowledge‐based view and technology entrepreneurship in emerging markets.     

A ‘Knowledge Trading Game’ for collaborative design learning in an architectural design studio

Knowledge-sharing and resource exchange are the key to the success of collaborative design learning. In an architectural design studio, design knowledge entails learning efforts that need to accumulate and recombine dispersed and complementary pieces of knowledge. In this research, firstly, ‘Knowledge Trading Game’ is proposed to be a way for promoting students’ design knowledge exchange, dissemination and refinement. Twelve students are randomly chosen as experimental participants. And secondly, ‘virtual value’ is used for students to trade their design knowledge. In this game, students buy others’ design knowledge to extend their design problem space; students decrease their design solution space through their sold design knowledge. Finally, ‘protocol analysis’ is adapted as the research methodology to examine the results of implementation. A positive outcome is identified that Knowledge Trading Game encourages collaborative design learning.     

Design and technology productions among middle school students: an Indian experience

The focus of this paper is students’ design productions as they engaged in designing and making a windmill model to lift a given weight. This work is part of a project on the development of design and technology (D&;T) education units and its trials among Indian middle school students (Grade 6, age 11–14 years) in different socio-cultural settings. Since D&;T is not a part of the Indian school curriculum, the students had no earlier experience of design. Our trials included an exploratory phase followed by groups of students producing technical drawings and a plan for the making action (procedural map) before engaging in making the windmill model. The paper presents findings from a qualitative analysis of urban and rural students’ pencil and paper productions, complemented by observations from video recordings of the collaborative engagement of these naïve designers. Students used graphical symbols, analogical, spatial and functional reasoning in their design activities. Choice of materials and tools, the nature of exploratory sketches, variety in design and attentions to issues of stability showed differences between the urban and rural groups. Some potential implications of D&;T units for classroom learning have also been discussed.     

面向能力培养的男装课程教学方法

本文以温州大学服装设计与工程专业为例,以温州大学人才培养模式创新实验区为依托,结合温州男装人才市场的实际需求,提出了面向能力培养的服装类院校男装课程体系教学改革方法。针对男装课程的具体特点和要求,在分析授课内容,总结实践教学经验的基础上,提出以课程项目为驱动,开展专项性与综合性相结合的教学设计,以此提升学生的学习兴趣,提升学生对男装的设计整合能力。     

Sparking self-sustained learning: report on a design experiment to build technological fluency and bridge divides

In this article we report assessment results from two studies in an ongoing design experiment intended to provide a single school system with a sequence of secondary school level (ages 14–18) computer technology courses. In our first study, we share data on students’ learning as a function of the required introductory course and their pre-course history of technological experience. In order to go beyond traditional assessments of learning we assessed two aspects of students’ “learning ecologies”: their use of a variety of learning resources and the extent to which they share their knowledge about technology with others. In our second study we present patterns of course taking by male and female students who have almost completed their secondary schooling. In addition, we share case studies of students who elected to take more technology classes and leveraged their course experiences for internships, further education, and jobs. The quantitative and qualitative data are consistent with our hypothesis that students would become more technologically fluent and that their learning ecologies would diversify as a result of their project-based experiences.     

From the islands of knowledge to a shared understanding: interdisciplinarity and technology literacy for innovation in smart electronic product design

In the context of the evolving Internet, a balance between technological advances and meaning change is crucial to develop innovative and breakthrough “connected electronics” that enable the Internet of Things. Designers and technologists are key enablers of this process respectively, ensuring adequate users’ needs and technology development, inside the evolving context of social environment and human relations. Smart electronic product design must be a truly interdisciplinary process, in which technologists are aware of how much their decisions impact the user-product relationship and designers understand the full potential and associated limitations of technology involved. Shared knowledge and communication are essential in this scenario, but, due to their technological limitations, designers are often excluded from high-level decision processes. In this paper, we address the design of constructivist tools and associated strategy to enhance the technological literacy of designers, as a strong foundation for knowledge-based dialogue between these realms. We demonstrate its effectiveness in a long-term multidisciplinary Project-Based Learning application with Design and Electronics students. We present the cases from 2 years’ experimentation (with the first year as control group) that demonstrate improvement in the quality of teamwork; in learning results; improved performance of the students reflected in the quality of the projects developed; and positive teachers’ and students’ evaluations. We conclude that the use of the proposed tool not only provides the designer an active voice in the process of designing smart electronics, but also promotes an effective common language between these two worlds.