Development and Evaluation of a Novel Technological Product Development Tool for Education and Industry

Authors

  • Jack Frank Rutherford University of Strathclyde
  • Ross Brisco University of Strathclyde
  • Robert Alexander Lynch

Keywords:

product development tool, product development process, 6-3-5 brainstorming method, design method, concept generation, online design collaboration, brainwriting method

Abstract

Few digital product development tools are used in industry and academia compared to their historic paper-based counterparts. This is surprising as many parts of the product development process have digitised such as communication and Computer-Aided Design. Therefore, a gap in knowledge was identified which informed the development of a novel digital product development tool which allows users to undergo the 6-3-5 ideation process to generate concepts. The digital product development tool was tested with participants to gather insights and feedback. The experiment involved focus groups using the digital product development tool alongside the paper-based equivalent to generate concepts and compare both methods. Participants were then asked to complete a survey to receive feedback on the tool. The results indicated that two-thirds of the respondents favoured the digital product development tool compared to its paper-based counterpart. This preference was influenced by the application's capability to store and export concepts, as well as its potential for enhancing learning. Moreover, the digital environment allows for easy storage and reuse of concepts post generation activity, increasing the efficiency of the design process. Additional, lessons learnt for future digital tool development has been highlighted. The use of this tool has promise to support a greater efficiency of design process and ease of learning about the tool and method.

Author Biography

Ross Brisco, University of Strathclyde

Ross is a Lecturer at the Department of Design, Manufacturing and Engineering Management. Ross's research interests include; Computer-Supported Collaborative Design, Design Engineering Education, Strategic Technology Selection, Collaborative Design Technologies, Product Design, development and realisation. 

Ross is responsible for the Design Management, Postgraduate Individual Projects class in the department and the Undergraduate Research Studies class. 

Ross is the DMEM 1st-year advisor of studies. 

He is the Social Media champion and Student Industry Projects champion within the department. 

Ross has been a member of the Design Society since 2015 and supports the Design Education Special Interest Group and Collaborative Design Special Interest Group in workshop facilitation, strategic planning and conference organisation (E&PDE conference series).

Ross has been a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy - Advance HE since 2021.  

He has produced and conducted CPD courses regularly on Strategic Technology Selection for the engineering sector in Scotland with NMIS. 

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Published

2024-12-17

How to Cite

RUTHERFORD, J. F.; BRISCO, R.; LYNCH, R. A. Development and Evaluation of a Novel Technological Product Development Tool for Education and Industry. Design and Technology Education: An International Journal, [S. l.], v. 29, n. 3, p. 56–80, 2024. Disponível em: https://openjournals.ljmu.ac.uk/DesignTechnologyEducation/article/view/2448. Acesso em: 20 dec. 2024.

Issue

Vol. 29 No. 3 (2024): Design and Technology Education: An International Journal

Section

Research

License

Copyright (c) 2024 Jack Frank Rutherford, Ross Brisco, Robert Alexander Lynch

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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