Tracking Project Health Using Completeness and Specificity of Requirements: A Case Study (original) (raw)

Investigating Information Loss in Collaborative Design: A Case Study with Capstone Design Project

This paper discusses a case-study for investigating the loss of design information in collaborative design projects. The case-study was conducted with senior mechanical engineering students at Clemson University working collaboratively on a semester long Senior Design Capstone project. The case study findings indicate that there is a potential loss of design information in collaborative groups. The design information, if archived systematically, can help future designers to review the past design and build upon the existing ideas to come with better or new solutions. Engineering design problems and projects are increasingly becoming more complex with the advancement of technology and rising global economy. Thus, design of complex engineering systems is increasingly becoming a collaborative task 1 . In most cases, designers and the design teams are not located in same organization but collaborate from different organizations or even different parts of the world 2 . The type of data e...

Arts and Design Studies A Successive Approach to Multidisciplinary Teamwork in Undergraduate Design Education: From Dysfunctional to Functional Teams

The broadening scope of design is changing ways of engaging with stakeholder groups outside the design disciplines. The multidiscipline collaborative space is acknowledged as being essential for design students to experience whether in practical terms in a design project or when engaging in research-based inquiry. While more research is now available introducing various aspects of successful collaborations in design education there is still a lack of studies that explore how multidisciplinary teamwork can be introduced in undergraduate design education in practical terms. This paper reports on the introduction of a successive approach to multidisciplinary teamwork in an undergraduate media design degree. It provides unique insights on practical implications when preparing design students for a multidisciplinary and collaborative work environment in the workplace. The study explores multidisciplinary team functionalities, the effectiveness of the successive approach and hence explores whether changes in students learning occur though introducing students multiple times to multidisciplinary teamwork. A pragmatic research paradigm was applied to this study which reports on a three-year trial. Perspectives from 235 second and third year media design students who participated in three multidisciplinary subjects are explored. Media design students were surveyed anonymously, using online questionnaires that collected quantitative and qualitative data. Findings suggest that through building on each learning experience students develop greater confidence to participate in multidisciplinary collaborations and learn to work with challenging people. Although some media design students felt they had been part of a dysfunctional team, it was the minority of students across the three subjects. Fleischmann, K. (2015). A successive approach to multidisciplinary teamwork in undergraduate design education: From dysfunctional to functional teams? Journal of Arts and Design Studies, Vol 35, pp. 25-35, November 2015. Retrieved from http://www.iiste.org/Journals/index.php/ADS/article/viewFile/26862/27554

Improvements to a University Capstone Design Program Through the Use of Industrial Mentors and Increased Milestone Deliverables

This paper reviews some recent major changes made to the Senior Mechanical Engineering Capstone Design Program at UBC. The program now consists of a two-term senior level design sequence where student teams work on open-ended design problems sponsored by outside clients. In order to reinforce relevance and ensure that practices parallel those of industry, the Department recruited local senior engineers to serve as engineering mentors to the students and work in concert with the course instructors. Several milestones were established during the duration of the program year to reinforce good design practice beginning from an agreement on client needs and proceeding through concept generation, selection, analysis and finally ending with prototype construction and evaluation. The paper highlights the improvements made to the program as a result of these changes and presents an example of a student design project developed under the new model.