Knowledge Base Repository
In addition to research papers, the Design Society is developing several valuable resources for those interested in the study of design. These include a repository of PhD theses, a library of case studies and transcripts of design activities, and an archive of our newsletters. Please note that these resources are accessible exclusively to Design Society members.
Speaking Design: Development of Cross-Disciplinary Understanding in Design, Business and Engineering Education
Karjalainen, Toni-Matti; Heiniö, Sanna; Graff, Daniel; Koria, Mikko; Salimäki, Markku
Type:
Year:
2011
Editor:
Kovacevic, Ahmed, Ion, William, McMahon, Chris, Buck, Lyndon and Hogarth, Peter
Author:
Series:
E&PDE
Section:
Multi-disciplinary perspectives
Page(s):
472-477
Abstract:
In this paper, observations are presented from an educational program that has 15 years experience in teaching the multidisciplinary approach in design, business and engineering. We first discuss the concept of "functional wall" that is often formed between disciplinary experts. Next, the approach of problem-based learning is introduced as a solution to break such walls within multidisciplinary teams. To illustrate PBL in practice, we explore a multidisciplinary student project on package design. In the project a team of 4 students was assigned the task of studying communicative elements of packaging and providing new innovative package design solutions. The paper presents a successful approach to train and manage multidisciplinary teams, providing students with the ability to understand the approaches, special know-how, and terminology of other discplines: the ones with which an expert is supposed to work together in the future.
Keywords:
