Best Practices for Team-Based Assistive Technology Design Courses

Blended teaching is based on Internet technology and online open courses, which combine online learning as well as offline lectures. SPOC is a small-scale restricted online course that is widely promoted and used in schools, and Mu Classroom is a blended teaching tool that seamlessly connects to the school cloud. The combination of the two can bring into play the "student-centred" teaching concept and cultivate students' ability of independent learning and active thinking.This paper takes the exploration and practice of blended teaching in the Product Innovation Design and Development course as an example, making the teaching effect digital by citing the online resources of China University's MOOC platform as well as offline with the use of MU classroom teaching tools. This not only improves the efficiency of the classroom, but also enhances the teaching effect. It also explores new teaching mode ideas for the product design course.

– Inconsistent transfer policies, lack of articulated syllabi, and subsequent differences on the delivery of comparable courses are a few examples of the obstacles that Ontario students face when trying to change programs. This study sought to develop a framework to support transfer between engineering and engineering technology programs in Ontario using explicit and implicit course outcomes to help develop and define new pathways. Primarily focusing on program expectations in introductory design courses this study compared the content and context of design projects in different institutions and programs across the province. The contextual framework, namely the “Outcome Comparison Framework for Engineering and Technology”, synthesized relevant elements from existing frameworks which can collectively identify the differences in the context of learning in engineering and technology disciplines. This framework looks into disciplinarity, use of tools and design thinking required to successfully finish a design project. We collected design projects from 5 technology programs and 4 engineering programs across the province and coded them based on the content targeted by the project description and the three dimensions of the framework. Content analysis for design courses showed an overall low percentage of alignment between the learning outcomes and the project descriptions across the board. It was found that engineering design courses were more focused on principles of engineering design (problem definition, stakeholder needs, idea generation, decision making) and development of professional characteristics (workplace communication skills, ethics, etc.); but technology design courses, focused on the use of more “hands-on”' skills (building/implementation, troubleshooting, etc.)

The School of Mechanical, Industrial, and Manufacturing Engineering at Oregon State University is home to one of the largest academic Mechanical Design groups in the country. As a leader in undergraduate design education, we have been able to keep in touch with a large group of mechanical design graduates, and as such are capable of assessing how students retain information learned in undergraduate coursework to see how this understanding is employed in real-world engineering practice. However, the principles governing the design of sustainable products and processes are relatively novel and are only now being integrated into the undergraduate and graduate mechanical design curriculum. It is our hypothesis that particular means of learning and understanding sustainable design — via lectures, homework assignments, design projects, and the use of various sustainability-related LCA tools — will enable the highest retention of sustainable design understanding, and a higher likelihood that this sustainable design knowledge will be propagated into design practice in industry. Multiple curricular studies that explore dissemination and retention of sustainable design skills are being explored, including a junior-level introductory mechanical design course and a graduate level sustainable product development course. In the junior-level course, baseline sustainability knowledge is tested by allowing students to make sustainable design decisions by applying varied skill sets, including general principles, a list of sustainable design guidelines, and an innovative online survey (The GREEn Quiz). The graduate-level course, which employs sustainable design principles within a larger product development architecture, will capitalize on more “expert” knowledge. Future work will also be discussed, including planned validation studies and curriculum improvements, as well as the means of quantifying the retention of sustainable design information.

This study examines the effects of indirect training provided by apparel design and product development courses on spatial visualization skills. Spatial visualization skills are measured by using the Apparel Spatial Visualization Test, a domain-specific measure of spatial visualization, and the Paper Folding Test, a general measure of spatial visualization. In a pretestposttest comparison group design, 128 students completed the two tests at the beginning and end of semester courses. Test scores indicate student improvement on both tests of spatial visualization during the course of a semester. Students in Beginning Clothing Construction improved significantly more on the Apparel Spatial Visualization Test than students in Flat Pattern and Computer Aided Design. Students in Computer Aided Design improved significantly more on the Paper Folding Test than students in Beginning Clothing Construction and Flat Pattern. Results support the viability of indirect training provided in these courses as a means to improve spatial visualization skills.

This study investigated the potential of inclusively designed adaptive apparel discovered within a historic costume and textile collection to inspire contemporary inclusive and adaptive apparel design in a product development course. This study employed object-based learning as the theoretical framework, focusing on the tangible examination and analysis of historical garments as educational tools. A descriptive analysis qualitative methodology was used to identify the key inclusive adaptive apparel design features that could potentially inform inclusively designed adaptive apparel in the present day. By examining a diverse range of historical garments, this study aimed to uncover design elements that transcend time and cultural contexts, providing valuable insights for contemporary product development students seeking to create inclusively designed adaptive apparel collections. The findings from this study suggest that historic costume and textile collections are a compatible and significant source for integrating inclusive design features into the apparel design classroom.

Perspective: ten years of experience teaching a multi-disciplinary product development course

This paper reports on a longitudinal study of lessons learned from a graduate-level New Product Development course taught at the University of California at Berkeley, comparing lessons learned by students during the course with alumni perceptions one to ten years after graduation. Previous research on student learning outcomes in New Product Development (NPD) found that on the last day of class students identify working in multifunctional teams and understanding user needs as their most important lessons learned. This study raises the question of whether or not students maintain the same emphasis on learning outcomes once they have moved on to careers in industry. To answer this question, we conducted 21 in-depth interviews with alumni who took the course between 1995–2005 and are now working in industry. A qualitative and quantitative analysis of the alumni interviews reveals that former students still highly value what they learned about team work and understanding user needs, but see more value in tools for concept generation, prototyping, and testing after gaining work experience. The results reaffirm the value of engaging students in multidisciplinary design projects as a vehicle for developing the professional skills needed in today’s competitive new product development environment.

Appears in: INTED2019 Proceedings Publication year: 2019Pages: 8371-8380ISBN: 978-84-09-08619-1ISSN: 2340-1079doi: 10.21125/inted.2019.2083Conference name: 13th International Technology, Education and Development ConferenceDates: 11-13 March, 2019Location: Valencia, Spain

Subject area Entrepreneurship, Strategic Marketing, Innovation, New product development (NPD). Study level/applicability This case is suitable to be used in advanced undergraduate, and MBA/MSc. Case overview This case illustrates the challenges related to commercializing an innovative product, the coconut dehusking machine in the Malaysian market. It revolves around the issues pertaining to the pre and post-lunch activities and bottleneck of the coconut dehusking and defibering (CDD) machine which was developed by Md Akhir in July 2003. Md Akhir, the senior research officer at Mechanization and Automation Research Centre, Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI), believed that it was the first coconut dehusker in Malaysia. During 2000, farmers used to dehusk coconut manually, as there was no readily available machine to help them. Thus, Md Akhir felt the necessity to innovate such a machine that could help the farmers to dehusk efficiently in comparatively less effort and time. From 2003 to 2005, he presented his innovation in several national and international exhibitions and received accolades for such innovative product. In 2005, MARDI signed the memorandum of agreement of five years to license the CDD with Phytofolia Sendirian Berhad without having Md Akhir’s consent. Phytofolia was a comparatively new company owned by two entrepreneurs – Azmin Samin and Abd Hamid. During 2007, Phytofolia changed the specification of the CDD without informing to Md Akhir. Furthermore, two machines were sold to a company in Papua New Guinea, but no feedback was sought about the performance of the modified CDD. The price of CDD was set very high and thus the local farmers refused to buy it. In 2009, Hamid left Phytofolia due to disagreement with his business partner. He collaborated with Mr Sigiarno a venture capitalist from Indonesia and offer MARDI RM200,000 up-front to buy the IP of the CDD. At the end of the contract, Phytofolia failed to pay the royalty to MARDI and the contract ended in 2010. By seeing the fall of memorandum of agreement, MARDI asked Md Akhir to decide the next step whether to sign new agreement with Phytofolia, to sign agreement with Hamid’s newly formed company Kelapa Gading, to giving up commercialization and provide this machine to the farmers free of cost or to create a start-up company, fabricate and market the CDD. Md Akhir was really confused about which way to go! Expected learning outcomes Using this case, students can learn how a small and/or medium scale company can strategize its new product launch. Based on the given industry scenario, students can realize the potential challenges that are related to launching a new product. Furthermore, this case demonstrates that producing a high-quality product is not enough to succeed in the market; right strategy also plays an important role in making it successful. Finally, it can be also learned that proper marketing strategy, good coordination and communication with support companies as well as internal harmony are three important factors that contributes in any business success. Overall, entrepreneurship students will learn how to use the opportunity and manage the innovation. On the other hand, strategic marketing students will learn the importance of adopting proper strategy, while the students who are undertaking the new product development course will be benefited by seeing the practical situation of a new product launch, its rise and its fall. Supplementary materials Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes. Subject code CSS 3: Entrepreneurship

"Product Innovation" is a 7-month product development course, conducted at the Institute of Innovation and Industrial Management with international and interdisciplinary student teams. A close connection and interaction between industry, students and research has been an important part of this project-based learning course. Due to the COVID19 pandemic and the worldwide occurring lockdowns, students were not able anymore to interact and conduct their projects in the proven manner. Being in a critical phase of the project, the course concept had to be reorganized and transferred to online conduction by using computer supported collaboration work within a few days. Both observations and surveys were used to compare changes in student´s behaviour and results of the project. This paper will describe 1) the original situation and course concept, 2) show how the course was transformed to online conduction, 3) describe the observations made and 4) analyse how the students experienced the transformation.

Designers employ a range of tools to gather, create, explore, sort, and act on user needs and conceptual design information. However, designers work both individually and collaboratively. This research is a descriptive study of technologies employed by designers to individually capture and collaboratively share user needs and conceptual designs. In this paper we examine the range and affordances of tools used by designers, and how they use these tools to share design information. We do this by looking at data gathered in interviews with practicing designers and design researchers, as well as documents produced in undergraduate and graduate-level new product development courses. We gather a wide range of tools from our informants, and analyze them based on sharing semantics and formality. We then introduce a model of sharing as a cycle of capture, reflect and share. Finally, we provide design recommendations for future information tools that support both personal and collaborative user needs and conceptual design information.

Authentic design activity is a complex enterprise that entails a range of analytical and constructive activities spanning different domains (Lawson, 2006). These activities are multifaceted and open-ended, which can pose difficulties for students (Quintana, Eng, Carra, Wu, & Soloway, 1999). Designing learning technologies is complex because of the need to integrate design, learning, and content issues (Quintana, Soloway, & Krajcik, 2003). For example, typical design activities involve:Analytical activities to develop technology requirements, specifications, s and constraints. This involves determining the audience for the technology, the learning goals and activities for that audience, and the types of necessary learning support. Conceptual activities to develop effective solutions for the learner s audience by using descriptive tools such as scenarios, storyboards, and prototypes to describe the design. Implementation activities to turn the conceptual design into a s tangible product. This includes iteration through activities of analysis, conceptualization, and implementation to refine the technology.

Many undergraduate IT programs recognize that their graduates will find jobs as software developers. As such, software development (analysis and design) courses are often a core requirement of IT undergraduate degree programs. This paper presents an analysis and comparison of the content of software development courses at several colleges and universities. In particular, the software development methodologies presented in the courses are examined. The comparison is based on two main criteria; the development methodologies presented through the textbook assigned to the class, and the development methodologies presented through the class lectures.A software development methodology is "a recommended collection of phases, procedures, rules, techniques, tools, documentation, management, and training used to develop a system" (Avison 2003). There are hundreds of software development methodologies. An ongoing debate has existed for several years as to what methodology is best. Prior research has shown that no methodology is best all the time and that practitioners are modifying methodologies to suit their needs. This research shows that IT software development courses have not been modified to reflect current trends in the practical application of development methodologies and students may not be learning the tools and techniques that they need to become successful practitioners. Key inadequacies and the associated pedagogical significance are discussed.

The preservation of Bengkulu's traditional Bay Tat cake faces the challenge of attracting attention among Generation Z. Currently, Bay Tat only has two variants (pineapple and coconut kernel), even though the potential of Bengkulu's local food ingredients is very diverse, allowing for the development of new flavor variants. However, the perception of Generation Z as future consumers towards the potential of Bay Tat innovation is unknown, including whether Generation Z will be interested if Bay Tat cake is innovated. This study aims to describe the perception of Generation Z in Napal Village towards the potential of Bay Tat cake innovation based on four questionnaire indicators: motives, willingness and expectations, stimulus intensity, and stimulus repetition. The method used is descriptive quantitative with 81 Gen Z respondents (junior high school students, high school students, university students, and workers) who are familiar with or have consumed Bay Tat. Data were collected through a closed questionnaire with a Likert scale of 1–5 and analyzed descriptively using Microsoft Excel. The results show that Generation Z's perception of the potential of Bay Tat innovation is in the positive category, marked by the dominance of "Agree" and "Strongly Agree" answers in all indicators. The 85% approval rate indicates that the younger generation is open to the development of new Bay Tat flavors, thus offering the opportunity for innovation in this traditional product to remain relevant to young consumers. The implication of this finding for the world of education is that it can be used as a real-life example in Product Development or Culinary Entrepreneurship courses to help students understand how to develop traditional foods to make them more appealing to the younger generation.

The design and commercialization of assistive technology (AT) is fraught with many challenges, including market uncertainty and the constraints of low-volume production. AT refers to products or services that help individuals with disabilities sustain or enhance their abilities, whether functional or cognitive. Orphan AT, characterized by a smaller target market and production volume, exhibits high rates of market failure. To understand how Orphan AT developers navigate the process of creating commercially viable products, semi-structured interviews were conducted to identify key factors influencing their product development decisions. This case series pinpoints the obstacles said developers encounter and the strategies they use to overcome commercialization barriers. The interviews included questions regarding their activities and decisions throughout the entire product development process, from conceptual design to manufacturing and production. Many AT developers acknowledged the value of market research and stakeholder engagement but struggled to execute these effectively, instead focusing on manufacturing considerations. Insights gained from this study have helped identify fundamental input parameters for a data-driven AT design tool that aims to support developers in making informed design decisions and reduce the probability of market failure.