Conference Agenda

Engineering education primarily applies scientific and mathematic principles in order to research and develop applied solutions for technical problems, whilst research methodology refers to the process of applying systematic procedures and techniques to resolve research questions. A lack of scientific training, in research methodology, and an unfamiliarity with human data can be detrimental for engineering students when addressing real world challenges. Therefore, the motivation of this paper was to explore innovative teaching methods, to enhance the education of engineering students on a newly developed Postgraduate research methods module. Said module had a view to expanding student understanding and knowledge through planning and conducting qualitative and quantitative research. This paper explores the differences seen between two cohorts of research methods students, delivered within the first term of study across three MSc Engineering courses. Qualitative findings associated with student feedback are presented considering the unique teaching and assessment challenges of delivery to a predominantly international cohort of Postgraduate students. Innovative pedagogic approaches were considered based upon student satisfaction feedback, assessment results and the occurrence of academic irregularities. This study aims to share the module design, the approaches used in teaching, a summary of lessons learned from the two cohorts and suggestions for further enhancement of the module.

In recent education reforms in Japan, one of the emphases is how 21st-century skills should be implemented into practice. Fukusho High School collaborated with the SDGs Design School in Kyushu University, Faculty of Design, to launch the SDGs Challenge Project as Period for Inquiry-Based Cross-Disciplinary Study for all 3rd-grade students in 2021. In 2022, the SDGs Challenge Project was again implemented for all 3rd-grade high school students. Consisting of 18 lessons, the project applies the design process, adopted mainly from product design practices, in the learning activities for each lesson. Through problem identification, ideation, and design concept development, this project develops students with 21st-century skills and increases awareness of sustainability. The study aims to clarify the necessary interventions for supplementing teachers’ knowledge and skills related to the design process to facilitate the design-based learning activities in the SDGs Challenge Project. This study highlights the importance of supporting teaching and learning practices for Japanese high school students in design education.

The SDGs Challenge Project is studied as a case study by comparing data collected in 2021 and 2022. The data collected was from a pre-project survey and post-lessons surveys from 7 lessons that involved problem identification and ideation. The study participants were teachers involved in facilitating the SDGs Challenge Project in 2021 and 2022. In 2021, 27 teachers were involved in the SDGs Challenge Project. In 2022, 27 teachers, including some who were also involved in 2021, participated in facilitating the project. The teachers who participated in the project came from different subject backgrounds. Before the start of the program, there were no formal training sessions for the teachers.

Comparing the pre-project survey in 2022 and 2021, teachers’ understanding and teaching experience in the design process have improved due to additional online resources. In addition, teachers who were involved for the second year might have gained more familiarity with the design process. However, in general, teachers’ understanding and teaching experience of the design process remained low. As a result, teachers’ main concern was that they were unclear on how to facilitate the design activities.

The post-lesson surveys indicated that teachers lacked knowledge of the design process. Other concerns surfaced as follows.

1. The worksheets provided to the teachers to facilitate the project were not well designed. Teachers found it difficult to connect the different stages of the design process.

2. Teachers could not understand the educational purpose of some activities stated in the worksheets provided.

3. Lack of exemplars for the design activities done in this project.

In conclusion, the current design of the worksheet resources requires improvements. In addition, providing online resources is not sufficient. The following improvements can be suggested.

1. The worksheets design should be more coherent with the design processes used in the project.

2. A teaching handbook that offers different design methods and educational strategies should be created as a form of just-in-time knowledge and skills to supplement teachers’ existing skills and knowledge.

3. Exemplars should be created to provide clear student outcomes and expectations.

The Japanese national syllabus has put ESD (Education for Sustainable Development) into the latest TE (Technology Education) curriculum guideline. Although many TE teachers are willing to implement ESD, few have done so. One of the reasons is that many do not know how ESD can be implemented in TE. ESD is integrated into TE curricula in some countries through product design-related activities, such as Europe, North America, and Australia. This study refers to such product design-related activities as ESD design activities. ESD design activities require students to find, think and solve the issues related to sustainability through the design thinking process. However, in Japan, TE as a form of general education is mainly conducted in junior high school, focusing on teaching technological knowledge and skills, with almost no elements of design learning activities. The study aims to clarify the challenges TE teachers faced in Japanese public junior high schools when implementing ESD design activities in TE. The study will first clarify the current situation of ESD design activities in TE. Next, the study will identify the barriers TE teachers faced that prevent them from conducting ESD design activities. The current study employed a qualitative research approach, using 4 public junior high schools in Nara as case studies. The reasons are 1) selected schools are typical public junior high schools; 2) teachers who are willing to implement ESD design activities. In this case study, quantitative and qualitative data are collected and used to analyze each case. The main participants of this study are four TE teachers who are teaching in the target schools. Each target school has only one TE teacher.

According to the findings, TE teachers are not doing any ESD-related design activities in lessons. The main barriers faced by teachers are 1) limited lesson time; 2) high teaching workload, and 3) low understanding of ESD and the design process. Several suggestions can be proposed in this study to counter the barriers faced by teachers. Firstly, ESD design activities do not need to be implemented as new learning content. ESD can be integrated into existing problem-solving activities by setting the problem tasks to evolve around sustainability issues. Integrating sustainability issues in existing activities may not require additional lesson time and will help to manage teachers’ workload. Secondly, the teachers may also redesign the curriculum to integrate several teaching objectives into a series of sustainability-related design projects. More importantly, teachers need to be trained to have a clear and accurate understanding of ESD and the design process, to facilitate ESD design activities.

The purpose of this feasibility master's study is to develop a framework for evaluating object attachment in a digital space. The article examines product design development through a game studies lens, making use of cross-disciplinary references. The research question was greatly influenced by current multidisciplinary studies on digital object attachment, emotional attachment to game characters, and attachment to virtual possessions in games. In particular, work by J. Burgess + C.Jones, and B. Koles + P. Nagy. It seeks to fill a research gap by investigating the effectiveness of digital user engagement with object attachment via the research question, 'How can digital interaction be utilised to evaluate object attachment?' This research investigates the usefulness of a virtual environment in assessing user attachment to objects in a digital space, through a prototype experience and personalised interviews. Notes and data from the play experience were triangulated with qualitative data from interviews, to provide a robust analysis of opinions on object attachment inside the designated virtual environment. The aim of this research is to propose novel, inventive, and alternative methodologies for investigating user opinions of designers' and engineers' works. It examines the study's efficacy for digital designers, as well as the benefits it may have for physical designers who want to examine digitised versions of their work. This research will allow students and faculty to analyse user feedback on designs - using an emergent method - through an under-represented perspective within product design education. We discuss the flexibility for educators to apply other design theories to the framework, such as kansei engineering. Finally, the study will examine the benefits and applications of this framework for students and educators of product design in a sustainable and collaborative context.