GAMIFIED PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT IN INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATIVE ENGINEERING DESIGN COURSES
Year: 2024
Editor: Grierson, Hilary; Bohemia, Erik; Buck, Lyndon
Author: Kessing, David; Löwer, Manuel
Series: E&PDE
Institution: Institute for Product-Innovations, University of Wuppertal, Germany; Department for Product Safety and Quality Engineering, University of Wuppertal, Germany
Page(s): 515 - 520
DOI number: 10.35199/EPDE.2024.87
ISBN: 978-1-912254-200
ISSN: 3005-4753
Abstract
Design thinking is a well-established framework for structured innovation in various business sectors, particularly in the field of engineering design. The need to comprehensively teach this methodology to students requires innovative pedagogical strategies. The use of industry-relevant simulations with authentic interdisciplinary and international teamwork offers a compelling approach. This paper examines the ""Collaborative Product Development in Automotive Engineering"" course, known as CoPro, a cooperation between the University of Wuppertal, RWTH Aachen University in Germany, and Hongik University in Seoul, Korea which has been established in 2007. This unique course provides the mentioned preconditions to develop students' skills in design thinking methodologies and has been further developed over the past 15+ years to integrate new methods and tools, addressing the need for new skillsets, changing trends and societal evolution. CoPro consists of five multidisciplinary teams, each consisting of six students from German and Korean universities in the majors of mechanical engineering and product design. The yearly changing topic is given by automotive OEM to support a realistic use-case scenario. The course's distinctive cross-cultural dynamics and the application of design thinking principles to authentic challenges together form a robust course setting. Gamification, a contemporary methodology in motivational and interaction design, has received considerable attention in the past years. Gamification's core strength lies in its ability to analyze user behavior and product usage motivation and thus, gives a potential improvement to existing methods in engineering design. This paper explores the benefits of incorporating gamification principles into the product development process as part of the 2022 CoPro course. Specifically, one team was given the opportunity to use gamification methods to introduce novel product features into their concept. The usage of the new methods created a transformative shift in the students' product development process. Gamification acted as a catalyst, facilitating the team's ability to conceive of novel product features that not only addressed the challenges posed by the OEM, but also embodied a pioneering approach to real-world problem solving. The results of this experiment showed that the team made significant progress in conceptualizing innovative product features and optimizing the performance in comparison to the other teams. This research highlights the transformative impact of integrating gamification elements into traditional design thinking processes and underscores the potential for future applications in educational and industrial contexts. It emphasizes the growing importance of interdisciplinary and pioneering approaches, reinforcing a holistic understanding of design thinking, while highlighting the value of international collaboration in addressing complex challenges in the field of automotive engineering. The CoPro course 2022 serves as a compelling example to the synergy between design thinking and gamification, offering valuable insights to educators, students, and industry practitioners alike.
Keywords: Product development, Product design, Gamification, International collaborative courses