![Sample our Engineering & Technology journals, sign in here to start your access, latest two full volumes FREE to you for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5933/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Engineering-Tech.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
This paper presents the experienced difficulties of students participating in the multidisciplinary, remote collaborating engineering design course challenge-based innovation at CERN. This is with the aim to identify learning barriers and improve future learning experiences. We statistically analyse the rated differences between distinct design activities, educational background and remote vs. co-located collaboration. The analysis is based on a quantitative and qualitative questionnaire (N = 37). Our analysis found significant ranking differences between remote and co-located activities. This questions whether the remote factor might be a barrier for the originally intended learning goals. Further a correlation between analytical and converging design phases was identified. Hence, future facilitators are suggested to help students in the transition from one design phase to the next rather than only teaching methods in the individual design phases. Finally, we discuss how educators address the identified learning barriers when designing future courses including multidisciplinary or remote collaboration.
Acknowledgements
One of the goals of the CBI experiment is open collaboration not only in teaching but research. We owe a special thanks to all professors, researchers, coaches and students who participated in the collaboration as well as contributed to the data collection. Aalto University (Finland), ESADE Business School (Spain), Istituto Europeo di Design (Spain), Polytechnic University of Catalonia (Spain), Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Norway), Swinburne University of Technology (Australia), UNIMORE Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia (Italy) and IdeaSquare at CERN all played a crucial part in putting this research together.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes on contributors
Matilde Bisballe Jensen; M.Sc. in Engineering Design from the Technical University of Denmark is now working at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering as a Ph.D. candidate. Her main topic is in investigating the role of prototypes in early stages product development – the fuzzy front. This include experimenting with materials effect on the prototyping output as well as teaching larger Norwegian companies to become more prototype rather than requirement driven.
Tuuli Maria Utriainen is an Aalto Design Factory alumni and she has conducted studies in Information Networks program at Aalto University and Communications at Helsinki University. At Aalto she ran various product development projects. She also worked at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts setting up a design-thinking structures and transferring knowledge on human-centred design methodology. Currently, she is working at CERN as a part of new initiative, IdeaSquare, where she is striving to facilitate a human-centred approach for creating radically novel technological solutions (e.g. CBI and THE Port hackathon.)
Martin Steinert is Professor of Engineering Design and Innovation at the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). He teaches fuzzy front-end engineering for radical new product/service/system concepts and graduate research seminars for Ph.D.s engaged in topics related to new product design and development. Various research projects are usually multidisciplinary (ME/CS/EE/Neuro- and Cognitive Sc.) and often connected with industry. The aim is to uncover, understand and leverage early stage engineering design paradigms with a special focus onto human-machine/object interactions.