Transformative design practices: Comparing face-to-face and technology-mediated design experiences among engineering students

Digital technology has become a central element of how students learn and engineers work. This paper presents findings from a naturally occurring quasi-experiment that compares the design experience of two sophomore-level engineering design teams and their use of technology. Both teams met regularly during normal class hours, but outside of class one team exclusively used technology for collaboration whereas the second team met face-to-face. The collection of data occurred over the course of a semester and included in-class and out-of-class video, logs and transcripts of online interaction, and focus groups. Analysis consisted of an iterative examination of the data followed by grounded analysis to identify students' collaborative practices. It was determined that the interaction patterns among the teams lead to designs that were similar in nature but were reached through varying processes. While there were reports of several benefits for collaboration, technology was seen to affect students' thinking and design process. The results from the study shed new light on role technology plays not only in supporting traditional design processes but also in creating novel practices. It highlights the support technology can provide to designers in industry and the classroom.