Evaluating the integration of digital design and prototyping tools in a problem-based learning tertiary level course

This paper presents an example for tertiary level education institutions to establish and develop a digital design and prototyping course in a problem-based learning environment. The paper reports on a developed framework that was used as a basis for a computational design course involving a mixed cohort of architecture and industrial design students. Using a practical design brief, students went through a design process with an object (either physical or virtual) as an assessment submission, including providing an appropriate solution to an identified problem. This design scenario, involving the investigation of a range of possible outcomes, evaluates specific realisation tools that are currently bound in the academic domain and yet to be utilised effectively by industry. Outcomes of the course included a range of perception-challenging forms and a thorough evaluation of the course from the students’ experience of using both familiar and unfamiliar design tools. A quantitative analysis of the students’ self-reflection enabled the course leaders to refine the course structure, design brief, teaching methods, project context and outcomes that will improve the learning of successive years of students