PLANNING, ACCOMPLISHING, AND EXAMINING OF AN INDUSTRIAL PROJECT-BASED COURSE WITHIN THE FIELD OF PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

Participating in product development course requires not only learning the theory delivered in the lectures but also how to combine the knowledge developed in previous courses with the system way of thinking to take right design decisions. This aim is achieved in a best way if the educational process is accomplished in cooperation with the industry.

Organization of a course based on industrial projects is not an easy task. The most difficult issues are to find suitable projects for the topic, adequate for the size of the course, and to fit the background of the students. Before starting such course, it needs huge efforts to plan and prepare right proportions of theories, examples, seminars, and project group consultations.

Although everything would be planned and scheduled in details, many problems may show up during the running of such a course. The problems can conflicts and miscommunications within the groups, and/or miscommunications between student groups and companies or teachers. The mixture of program- and international students with different cultural- and educational background does not always make the situation easier.
The fair assessment for individual students needs different approaches from the teachers’ side when the examinations of the projects are based on the reports prepared by groups.

This paper is presenting experiences from teaching a project based Product Development course with real projects from the industry. The course is given in English for program- and international students.