Learning from an interdisciplinary and intercultural project-based design course

Abstract

As globally distributed product development becomes increasingly common among major companies of today, educational tools for preparing our students for such work environment are increasingly needed. As one of the most effective tools for such a purpose, industrial design and mechanical engineering departments of a Korean university and a mechanical engineering department of a German university have jointly conducted a project-based, interdisciplinary, and intercultural product development course for four years. This paper presents observations made by the instructors and students during the project, and lessons learned from the analysis of those observations. It is hoped that these lessons will serve as useful guidelines for other institutions that are planning similar courses to cope with the ever increasing globalization and inter-disciplinary product development processes.