On the Importance of Handling Objectives in Design Education Project Work
Year: 2010
Editor: Boks W; Ion, W; McMahon, C and Parkinson B
Author: Albers, Albert; Quentin, Lohmeyer; Thomas, Alink
Section: INDUSTRIAL CONTEXTS
Page(s): 438-443
Abstract
This paper gives a review of the course of Integrated Product Development (IP) which was presented in a former E&PDE conference and is evolved in its concept since 1997. The IP is a course conducted for 42 Students and for an industrial partner where research, education and strict praxis orientation come together to provide a solution for the contradictory objectives. After introducing the course of Integrated Product Development the paper provides background of objectives in product development. Reasons for the difficulty of taking up, interpreting and communicating objectives especially in early phases of product development are reviewed briefly. In the further sections the measures for handling the definition, communication and controlling of objectives in IP are shown up. The evaluation of the measures in the past project of IP gives an overview of their usefulness. In the end it is shown that “misunderstood” objectives can lead to failures in the project work and thus lead to frustration. However, the measures taken work very well within IP, but also cause a huge teaching effort.
Keywords: Project-based learning, objectives, communication, coordination