Online industrial design studio experience design for graduate students

Abstract

The advantages of online learning are its flexibility, accessibility, and interactivity that enable students to access learning materials and services from anywhere at any time. Those benefits make online design education no longer a novel concept. As the center of design education, online studio education is currently being discussed broadly by researchers. However, the difficulties of involving physical product development have made industrial design online studio a total blank area. To fill in the gap and create an effective learning experience leveraging current technologies, an LMS-based course model of an online industrial design studio integrating 3D printing and shipping service was proposed based on the understanding of characteristics of industrial design education, online learning, as well as LMS systems. A testable prototype was developed on Canvas based on the model, and the usability of the prototype was evaluated qualitatively and quantitatively. The results of this evaluation indicate that this online industrial design studio has potential to deliver an equivalent learning experience although the usability of the current system should be further improved. Based on the feedback from the evaluation, the prototype was revised, and a guideline for delivering online industrial studio was created.