Development of an interdisciplinary design curriculum: Preparing the students for final year major design projects

The creation of an interdisciplinary design course, the BSc (Hons) Product Design Technology had been reported in IEPDE04. The academic year 2004/2005 saw the first cohort graduating from this course. Generally speaking, favourable feedback has been received for the performances of this first cohort of graduates who had demonstrated their competency in the areas of engineering design and industrial design through their final year design projects. The individual final year design project is an important part of the final year syllabus in which sufficient time and other resources are made available to each final year student to realise a fully functional product prototype through complete design and manufacturing processes. However, a number of issues had also been identified. In addition, the important issue of product design in a global context had also been highlighted by the graduates who had benefited from overseas placements, principally those in Asia. This paper discusses important issues and briefly presents the developments and enhancements in teaching approaches and design curriculums which have been designed to address the various issues identified, including the influence of globalisation and improve the students' learning experiences and effectiveness.