Günter Dr.-Ing. habil. Höhne

Application of multimedia in engineering design education

Multimedia applications can provide enormous enrichment to the methodology of teaching, learning and learning by doing. When developing applications for the teaching of engineering design using these means of communication it is important to consider the special features of this field. This contribution gives a report on the experience gained by using multimedia applications in different ways of teaching in the education of engineering design students. In 12 years of using digital media to train students and six years of delivering compulsory lectures by tele-teaching, it has proved that the classic didactical forms such as lecture, tutorial, project work and private studies are still the mainstay of methodology. However, using information and communication technologies (ICT) in basic teaching forms has an impact on the impartment of knowledge itself as well as its perception by the students. This paper exemplifies the didactical forms successfully used in the education of engineering students. The following activities will be reported on: enhancement of conventional lectures and tutorials using multimedia; development of learning software for individual private study and its application; and delivery of tele-teaching lectures, and co-operative work during tele-tutorials.

Cognitive Outsourcing in the Conceptual Phase of the Design Process

Investigations of how the design process actually proceeds have shown (BB it applies, likewise, to the formulating of rules, regulations and critical paths with which it will be necessary to support a methodical approach, and it also applies to their use. Objects being designed are to be represented in a variety of external forms, but, frequently, the full possibilities of such representations are not exploit. For the concrete stages of the design process, technical drawings with their laws and norms are one well-established and useful type of representation. Another is geometrical modelling, whether with two-dimensional or three-dimensional CAD systems. However, there is no set of representational and other support tools to assist in the earliest stages of engineering design. In hopes of closing this gap to some extent, the paper concentrates on cognitive outsourcing (see introduction of the chapter) and helps for conceptual design, with the aim of offering suitable methods and computer-assisted tools which may support the designers conceptual work.

Methods, tools and prerequisites: Summary of Discussion

Session III worked primarily in the area of the following three main topics: Cognitive outsourcing (e.g. allocation of functions between humans and computers) and mental load, Possibilities and limitations of computer aided creativity and Pros and cons of training design methods.