Using Digital Libraries to Enhance Distributed Design Team Performance (original) (raw)

DIDET: Digital libraries for distributed, innovative design education and teamwork. Final project reportl

2008

At the University of Strathclyde, project direction was given by William Ion (formerly Neal Juster) and the project was managed by Caroline Breslin (formerly LouMcGIll) who also provided information specialist support. The Academic Leader was William Ion, and the class lecturers were Andrew Wodehouse and Hilary Grierson. The LauLima system was developed by Andrew Lynn and Anu Joseph and evaluation work was also done by Hilary Grierson. Work on developing a specification for the digital library was carried out by Dennis Nicholson. The following staff also provided input as members of the DIDET Project Team at Strathclyde.

Creating an information‐rich learning environment to enhance design student learning: challenges and approaches

British Journal of …, 2005

The use of technology with engineering design students is well established, with shared workspaces being particularly supportive of the collaborative design process. This paper reports on a study where a design knowledge framework involving three learning loops was used to analyse the effectiveness of shared workspaces and digital repositories in supporting design education. The issues discussed include the relationship between knowledge and information structures, the importance of integrating information literacy support, and the need for different systems within the learning environment to support formal and informal storage of resources. These issues are explored within the context of experiences of working in a multidisciplinary team with different approaches, research methodologies, and discourses.

Enhancing design learning using groupware

International Journal of Engineering Education, 2007

Project work is increasingly used to help engineering students integrate, apply and expand on knowledge gained from theoretical classes in their curriculum and expose students to 'real world' tasks [1]. To help facilitate this process, the department of Design, Manufacture and Engineering Management at the University of Strathclyde has developed a web±based groupware product called LauLima to help students store, share, structure and apply information when they are working in design teams. This paper describes a distributed design project class in which LauLima has been deployed in accordance with a Design Knowledge Framework that describes how design knowledge is generated and acquired in industry, suggesting modes of design teaching and learning. Alterations to the presentation, delivery and format of the class are discussed, and primarily relate to embedding a more rigorous form of project-based learning. The key educational changes introduced to the project were: the lin...

Overcoming the Challenges of Global Collaboration Through Design Education

DS 95: Proceedings of the 21st International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education (E&PDE 2019), University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. 12th -13th September 2019, 2019

The challenges of integrating technology in global design classes have been published in the literature, but it is unclear if this knowledge makes its way back to the classroom. This paper investigates knowledge transfer by documenting the results of four workshops across two institutions and two distributed design classes. Participants were asked to identify the challenges of distributed design, the functionality of technologies to overcome the challenges and guidance on how best to perform distributed design to best help future students. 17 challenges, 10 functionalities and 8 guidelines were developed. The identification of challenges, functionalities and subsequent guidance created can be utilised to assist future students and educators of distributed design. Analysis of gaps in the knowledge identify where theories have not been transferred from literature to the classroom and will help to identify how best to fill the gaps in knowledge. The workshops also present a novel way to engage students in analysing their own collaborative work practices.

A framework for design engineering education in a global context

Artificial Intelligence for Engineering Design, Analysis and Manufacturing, 2010

This paper presents a framework for teaching design engineering in a global context using innovative technologies to enable distributed teams to work together effectively across international and cultural boundaries. The Digital Libraries for Global Distributed Innovative Design, Education, and Teamwork (DIDET) Framework represents the findings of a 5-year project conducted by the University of Strathclyde, Stanford University, and Olin College that enhanced student learning opportunities by enabling them to partake in global, team-based design engineering projects, directly experiencing different cultural contexts and accessing a variety of digital information sources via a range of innovative technology. The use of innovative technology enabled the formalization of design knowledge within international student teams as did the methods that were developed for students to store, share, and reuse information. Coaching methods were used by teaching staff to support distributed teams a...

Outcomes from a distributed design studio

2007

This exhibition aims to demonstrate the specific outcomes which have been generated by students participating in the Globally Distributed Design Studio course conducted across three universities, Delfit, Napier and Northumbria. The exhibition of the specific student outcomes from this course such as prototypes, models, design development concepts and briefs provides conference delegates with additional data regarding the Globally Distributed Design Studio course, thereby supplementing the accompanying paper which evaluates students' learning within this course. The Globally Distributed Design Studio course was developed with aim of providing students with skills in distance communication and distance teamwork. The basic idea was to set-up experiential learning environment and to link student product development teams around the globe in 'designer' and 'client' roles. It was anticipated that taking up the roles of both 'client' and 'designer' would...

Building A Design Engineering Digital Library: The Workflow Issues

2006

Over the past 2 years the Design Manufacturing and Engineering Management Department at the University of Strathclyde has been developing a digital library to support student design learning in global team-based design engineering projects through the DIDET project [1]. Previous studies in the classroom have identified the need for the development of two parallel systems – a shared workspace, the LauLima Learning Environment (LLE) and a digital library, the LauLima Digital Library (LDL) [2]. These two elements are encapsulated within LauLima, developed from the open-sourced groupware Tikiwiki. This paper will look at the workflow in relation to populating the digital library, discuss the issues as they are experienced by staff and students, e.g. the application of metadata (keywords and descriptions); harvesting of resources; reuse in classes; granularity; intellectual property rights and digital rights management (IPR and DRM), and make suggestions for improvement.

Embedding an integrated learning environment and digital repository in design engineering education: lessons learned for sustainability

British Journal of Educational Technology, 2007

This paper describes how a system comprising a learning environment and digital repository is being embedded into the teaching and learning of Design Engineering at the University of Strathclyde. It then maps out the issues that have been encountered, how these have been overcome and how other departments or institutions would be affected if they were to roll out and scale up the use of such tools. These issues are categorised as technological, pedagogical and cultural, and include the adequate provision of support, creating a critical mass of resources, ensuring quality and integration with other technologies. Successful embedding and sustainability requires that senior managers reflect on these key issues at a departmental and/or institutional level before implementation. approaches when they are scaled up from the localised context of their, often pilot, implementations. Large-scale implementations involve managing change effectively, and the approach required will be dependent on the individual institution . Institutions must consider their individual profile, size, culture and so on to determine the best approach. This paper examines technological, pedagogical and cultural issues related to use of a shared workspace and a digital repository within the Distributed, Innovative Design, Education and Teamwork (DIDET) project.

Teaching Design Through International Collaboration

International Conference on E-Business and E-Government, 2000

There is a growing need for engineering graduates to have an appreciation for the issues that must be addressed when working on international collaborative projects. By combining this appreciation with the experience of working in virtual teams, students can develop skills that will enable them to perform effectively in such settings. This paper describes a collaborative effort involving an industry-