Abstract
During the past four years, academics from the School of Design at Northumbria University have developed and implemented an innovative international collaborative teaching and research model named ‘the Global Studio’. The Global Studio provides a response within Higher Education to shifting trends taking place in manufacturing and the related emergence of globally networked organisations. This paper examines the challenges of establishing and maintaining teaching and learning relationships with international partners. During the past four years seven international collaborative research projects involving high profile overseas universities and multinational industry partners have been undertaken within the Global Studio. A focus of the Global Studio is developing a better understanding of product development processes that are conducted by globally distributed and cross-cultural design teams. The Global Studio is enabling staff and students at a university located in the UK to work in a cross-disciplinary and cross-institutional context with staff and students from the participating partners based in countries such as Australia, the USA, the Netherlands and Korea. The cross-institutional collaboration is enabling the intersection of various disciplinary approaches which are facilitating the development of innovative practices. In this paper we explore some of the complexities associated with conducting the Global Studio. We also provide an example of one of the projects undertaken in 2008. This particular Global Studio was conducted in collaboration with a multinational mobile products manufacturer and two universities based in Korea and the UK. The paper draws attention to complexities of teaching and learning collaborations with international partners.
Keywords
Distributed Design Teams, E-Learning, Design Studio, Industry Based Projects, International Learning Collaboration
Citation
Bohemia, E. (2010) Complexities of Teaching and Learning Collaborations with International Partners: The Global Studio, in Durling, D., Bousbaci, R., Chen, L, Gauthier, P., Poldma, T., Roworth-Stokes, S. and Stolterman, E (eds.), Design and Complexity - DRS International Conference 2010, 7-9 July, Montreal, Canada. https://dl.designresearchsociety.org/drs-conference-papers/drs2010/researchpapers/14
Complexities of Teaching and Learning Collaborations with International Partners: The Global Studio
During the past four years, academics from the School of Design at Northumbria University have developed and implemented an innovative international collaborative teaching and research model named ‘the Global Studio’. The Global Studio provides a response within Higher Education to shifting trends taking place in manufacturing and the related emergence of globally networked organisations. This paper examines the challenges of establishing and maintaining teaching and learning relationships with international partners. During the past four years seven international collaborative research projects involving high profile overseas universities and multinational industry partners have been undertaken within the Global Studio. A focus of the Global Studio is developing a better understanding of product development processes that are conducted by globally distributed and cross-cultural design teams. The Global Studio is enabling staff and students at a university located in the UK to work in a cross-disciplinary and cross-institutional context with staff and students from the participating partners based in countries such as Australia, the USA, the Netherlands and Korea. The cross-institutional collaboration is enabling the intersection of various disciplinary approaches which are facilitating the development of innovative practices. In this paper we explore some of the complexities associated with conducting the Global Studio. We also provide an example of one of the projects undertaken in 2008. This particular Global Studio was conducted in collaboration with a multinational mobile products manufacturer and two universities based in Korea and the UK. The paper draws attention to complexities of teaching and learning collaborations with international partners.