Experiences with Combining Pedagogic Theories in the European Global Product Realization Courses
Year: 2009
Editor: Norell Bergendahl, M.; Grimheden, M.; Leifer, L.; Skogstad, P.; Lindemann, U.
Author: Horvath, Imre; Moes, Niels
Series: ICED
Section: Design Education and Lifelong Learning
Page(s): 301-312
Abstract
The European Global Product Realization courses are organized for design and engineering students based on the partnership of five European universities and volatile industrial companies. They focus on new product conceptualization for global realization and use. Four major goals were formulated: exploring and synthesizing knowledge for successful innovation, finding proper solutions for the real life conceptualization problem, realizing the solution concepts in functional and testable prototypes, and mastering the use of media-enriched telecommunication in remote cooperation. In order to enable the students to cope with the challenges and achieve optimum output, a specific course design is applied. It has three major learning components, namely: (i) aggregating and synthesizing disciplinary knowledge, (ii) exploring and scrutinizing product- and stakeholder-specific information, and (iii) conceptualization and prototyping of artifacts and services. These components have been underpinned by different pedagogical theories and methodologies. The mixed use of these principles enabled us to increase the efficiency of the whole course and achieve remarkable results.
Keywords: Pedagogic theories, instructive learning, explorative learning, constructive learning, mixed theory approach, European Global Product Realization courses