From Frustration to Success: a Case-study in Advanced Design-build Experiences

A 4th semester CDIO project course has been designed and implemented by the authors as part of the general development of a CDIO-based curriculum for the diploma IT education at the Technical University of Denmark. The course provides a design-build experience at an advanced level that concludes the mandatory part of the education. Among key aims of the design were to cover all four components of the CDIO model at comparable levels, and to provide students with an exciting product development task inspiring creativity, originality and independent work. Among key learning objectives were the ability to successfully apply previously acquired knowledge and skills in novel contexts, and to independently research and acquire new knowledge. To achieve the design aims, a CDIO project was designed in which the students had to conceive, design, and implement a robotic multi-agent system “from scratch” integrating knowledge and skills from most of the courses of the mandatory part of the education. The accompanying project description was very brief and open-ended, ensuring that the conceive phase became a significant part of the design-build experience. Among key features of the course were an organization of the students in relatively large groups (5-7), and the inclusion of an end-to-end management process adapted from common methods in industry, including regular steering committee meetings and accompanying status reports. The course concluded with a real-time competition between the robotic systems developed by the different groups, ensuring that the operate phase also became a significant part of the design-build experience. In the first part of the course many students went through a phase of frustration as they were not used to such open problem statements and such high demands on their independence. However, through effective project management all groups produced working solutions in the end, turning frustration into a success experience and strong sense of accomplishment. Along the road from frustration to success all the required learning objectives were met, in