Describing and assessing co-design competences

1999

In 1994, a multi-disciplinary faculty team developed a course on Invention and Design at the School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Virginia . This course has been taught every year since, and has undergone significant changes in that time.

2018

An increasing number of universities offer user-centric innovation courses based on the principles of design thinking. Lecturers combine a plethora of design thinking elements in design thinking course syllabi and thereby adopt teaching styles that range from autonomy-supportive to structured. Using a balance between these two teaching styles seems most suitable to optimally engage students and provide guidance through the innovation process. To develop a syllabus for innovation courses, we draw on best practices currently being undertaken in universities worldwide and examine 11 design thinking syllabi from different departments (Engineering, Design, Business, and Information Systems). We identify 17 common and 18 unique elements of design thinking courses and related course materials. Based on our results, we propose a design thinking syllabus that includes suggestions for course objectives, course setup, assignment design, and team composition using a balance between autonomous-s...

Volume 6: 15th Design for Manufacturing and the Lifecycle Conference; 7th Symposium on International Design and Design Education, 2010

Over the past few years, academic institutions have become aware of the importance of innovation in education, as well as its broader role in strengthening the economy. Both creativity and innovative thinking are not easy to teach in the classroom, but they can be developed by practice and experience. Evaluating innovation as part of product design courses has thus become very important to increase the probability of students becoming innovators in the real world.

2011

We introduced a skills and capabilities standard into two teaching modules at XX university. Four skills were defined from knowledge of the design activity, from which 32 capabilities were derived. The modules deal mainly with functional analysis and TRIZ tools for technical problems solving, but the relative proportion of TRIZ differ, as well as student's backgrounds in design. Students were asked to evaluate each of their own capabilities. This set of capabilities was easy to understand by students. The scattering seems contained, and comparisons between the series of data show differences between capabilities, skills, populations of students, and modules contents. The results show that a learning session can make students more aware of their (average) initial level and also reveal overestimated as well as non recognised initial capabilities. Moreover, all the differences we observed can be explained by the modules or students features such as students' backgrounds or amou...

Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Higher Education Advances (HEAd'18), 2018

Innovation education involves a different approach both for professors and students. It requires understanding people, technology and business to develop truly innovative solutions that can succeed in the market. The aim of this paper is to analyze the benefits, learning outcomes and selflearning perception about innovation from students participating in an innovative learning experience co-developed by an Electrical Engineering School, a Business School and a Design Institute. Challenge Based Innovation (CBI) is a program created by CERN to host educational projects where multidisciplinary teams of students tackle innovation challenges. The objective is to design solutions to social problems through Design Thinking. It was observed that engineering students, after this learning experience increase their understanding of user's needs and the relevance of focusing on them when approaching innovation challenges. Also, they improve their ability to ideate breakthrough solutions thanks to a better understanding of the relationship between people, business and technology due to their indepth interaction with management and design students. Furthermore, their self-confidence is significantly increased along with their entrepreneurial skills. The level of engineering student's understating of innovation as a whole is higher with this approach compared to standard design-build projects performed at the Engineering Schools.

The evolution in design research has shifted from a user-centered design approach to co-design approach. With co-designing, roles of designers and users have changed. In growing co-creation and co-design notions, user is seen as a partner, not as a passive object of study. In current undergraduate industrial design education in Turkey, user research is done in limited steps during design process. User observations that are required for students during their design processes are done outside of studio courses with the students’ own opportunities. Yet students face difficulties in design process of the products especially the ones they have not experienced before. This study aims to apply ‘designing with users’ notion instead of ‘designing for users’ into a practice in education field. The goals of this study are; to benefit from users who are experts of their experiences as teammates during the design process and to satisfy user’s expectations with the end product by using an alternative approach in design education. Two design projects were conducted with 12 third-year industrial design students from Gazi University and six volunteer users in 302 Industrial Design course. Three groups, each consisting of six (four students and two users), were formed to design products according to project briefs. Users participated in the problem definition and idea generation sessions as codesigners during design process. A questionnaire and interviews were used to collect data about students’ remarks on participation of users. Students evaluated what they learned from co-designing and how users contributed to design process. The results of the surveys reflect that efficiency of design process can be improved with participation and collaboration of users. Users can play large roles from idea generation to concept development. Consequently, it was observed that co-designing can be efficiently implemented into undergraduate industrial design education.

The International Journal of Design Education, 2019

This study charts the design and development of a pioneering design-led multidisciplinary innovation Master's degree; a degree in Design Thinking. It reviews a decade of delivery of the programme and considers the contextual factors that influenced its original design and subsequent iterations. The study uses a critical participatory action research methodology and draws on previous research conducted on and through the programme in question, together with stakeholder surveys and interviews. The programme in question has evolved from its original manifestation as a teaching programme to an entity that acts as a locus for education, research, and practice in design-led innovation. As such, the study identifies four essential stakeholders-students, partner organisations, society, and academia-whose priorities have formed the contextual elements that have driven the programme's introduction and development. It considers their influence on the programme design and the values derived by each from the programme. Furthermore, the study reveals the underlying pedagogic principles and aspects of delivery that have ensured that these values are delivered.

Education Sciences , 2019

In Secondary Education, students need innovative skills and competences that the current education system does not sufficiently offer. Also, educators need pedagogical support to develop teaching to respond to 21st century skills requirements. In order to achieve these goals, an experimental culture of learning needs to be implemented in practice. The aim of this paper is to introduce and pilot a pedagogy for teaching innovation, collaboration, and co-creation in secondary education. The proposed pedagogy is based on a designerly way of thinking, digital competences, and entrepreneurial spirit, together with an experimental culture of creating, making, and collaborating in order to improve students' innovative, co-creative and collaborative way of thinking and making. The main finding is that the proposed pedagogy enhanced innovative, collaborative and co-creative student competences. Moreover, digital and entrepreneurial skills gave the ability to the students to create new valuable products and services.

21st IPDMC International Product Development Management Conference, 2014

Some researchers have proposed that the creative industries (CI) could be a source of innovative management practices. In particular, the integration of design thinking to management education has been increasingly popular with the launch of dedicated programs. Yet, these programs' effectiveness is not measured. Based on the study of such a program, and building on a view of innovation as the transformation of ideas into social artifacts, we develop an assessment framework based on the measure of artifacts created by participants during the program. The two dimensions of measure are the complexity of the artifacts and their social dimension. We contribute to the education, innovation and design thinking literatures.

2003

Successful competition in the global economy is increasingly dependent on new products and services that reveal new business and infrastructure possibilities. New products and services must be regarded not only as commodities in a marketplace, but as social actors constraining or enabling the quality of our life. In recognition of these two perspectives, Product Design and Innovation (PDI) is a three-year old undergraduate dual degree program educating students for new product invention and development. PDI satisfies the requirements for the Bachelor of Science programs in Architecture and Science, Technology and Society (STS); or Mechanical Engineering and STS. Design programs played a lead role as the PDI curricular model for integrated and studio teaching, linking all three dimensions of the programÐthe technical, the aesthetic, and the socialÐwith an emphasis on creativity, the imaginative application of new technologies and materials, and the social and political dimensions through design.