Abstract:

This paper presents the authors’ reflection on the participation of interior design students in an international design activity, which relies on internal and external team Learning and collaboration. Instructors and students from the Interior Design engineering program offered at Gulf University (GU) in Bahrain have participated in an activity entitled ‘48 Hours to Generate Design Ideas’. The design activity has been organized in collaboration with the National School for Innovation and Engineering Systems ENSGSI, Nancy-France, where Eight Universities from different countries have participated actively in generating design ideas for futuristic design themes within 48 hours’ time span. Each university formed groups for its students and accordingly GU interior design students worked in groups and each group was assigned a design task to develop innovative design solutions within this limited time period. GU instructors have arranged and provided effective range of online communication, informal learning space, and facilities for drawing and presenting design ideas.

The participation in such activity provided a unique opportunity to GU students and instructors to work closely (internally) and communicate with groups from other universities (externally) to develop and enhance their knowledge, skills and attributes such as teamwork, leadership, time management, communication, problem solving, creativity, work under time limitations and competition. The authors observed the students’ engagement, attitudes, reactions and productivity during the participation in the ‘48 Hours to Generate Design Ideas’ activity in order to evaluate the impact of this learning method on students’ motivation and productivity. Additionally, interviews were conducted with the students to seek their responses and feedback in terms of affirmations, remarks and suggestions for improvement.

The paper aims to examine the validity and effectiveness of the approach and implementation details of the ‘48 Hours to Generate Design Ideas’ activity as an innovative learning method. Accordingly, areas for development and necessary modification are outlined and proposed with the aim of introducing and implementing similar teaching and learning methods across the design courses and projects. Valuable range of learning outcomes are intended such as fluency in generating design ideas, innovation, brain storming, building on the ideas of others, visual and verbal communication, ability to work and lead teams, self-confidence, internalization and building relations internally and externally. The developed competencies and attributes shall be reflected during the students’ studies and progression and after graduation in their work places and career achievements and success. The exposure and experience exchange with students and staff from other universities shall also add values and improvements to the academic program at each participated university, in terms of internationalization, futuristic thinking, benchmarking, networking, and develop responsibilities towards local, regional and global societies and environments

Keywords:

Internal and External Learning, Collaboration, Motivation, Productivity, Internalization, Networking.