Abstract
METU Industrial Design Department, as one of the leading educational institutions in Turkey, has more than 20 years of experience in collaboration projects with external partners. Collaboration with external partners has been a well-established instrument in design studio pedagogy at the undergraduate level in particular. Whether and in which ways the collaboration schemes, the collaborators, their goals and roles have evolved in time received relatively little attention in literature. This paper reviews the collaboration practices of the Department from a historical perspective with cross-references to the local context, identifying the internal and external factors that shaped the design education and research agenda of the Department, as well as the collaboration schemes followed. Revealing five periods of collaboration with external partners in the Department’s history, the study puts forth that established schemes followed for collaboration projects in industrial design education contribute to the building and sustainment of collaboration with the right partners, grounded and contextualised project briefs, and an approach that puts education first.
Keywords
collaboration with industry in industrial design education, semester projects, graduation projects, collaboration schemes
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs_lxd2021.05.251
Citation
Börekçi, N.A., Hasdoğan, G.,and Korkut, F.(2021) Collaboration practices in industrial design education: The case of METU from a historical perspective, 1981-2021, in Bohemia, E., Nielsen, L.M., Pan, L., Börekçi, N.A.G.Z., Zhang, Y. (eds.), Learn X Design 2021: Engaging with challenges in design education, 24-26 September, Shandong University of Art & Design, Jinan, China. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs_lxd2021.05.251
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Collaboration practices in industrial design education: The case of METU from a historical perspective, 1981-2021
METU Industrial Design Department, as one of the leading educational institutions in Turkey, has more than 20 years of experience in collaboration projects with external partners. Collaboration with external partners has been a well-established instrument in design studio pedagogy at the undergraduate level in particular. Whether and in which ways the collaboration schemes, the collaborators, their goals and roles have evolved in time received relatively little attention in literature. This paper reviews the collaboration practices of the Department from a historical perspective with cross-references to the local context, identifying the internal and external factors that shaped the design education and research agenda of the Department, as well as the collaboration schemes followed. Revealing five periods of collaboration with external partners in the Department’s history, the study puts forth that established schemes followed for collaboration projects in industrial design education contribute to the building and sustainment of collaboration with the right partners, grounded and contextualised project briefs, and an approach that puts education first.