Cross-fertilization of collaborative design practices between an educational institution and workplaces 1 Department of Psychology P.O. Box 9 FIN-00014 University of Helsinki Finland firstname.surname@helsinki.fi www.helsinki.fi/science/networkedlearning www.kp-lab.org 2 Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences Vanha Maantie 6 FIN-02650 Espoo, Finland firstname.surname@metropolia.fi www.metropolia.fi Lakkala, M. 1 , Kosonen, K. 1 , Bauters 2 , M, & Rämö, E. 2 AIMS The term cross-fertilization refers to an interchange between different cultures or different ways of thinking which is mutually productive and beneficial (Hartas, 2004; Watts et. al., 1994). Heylighen et al. (2006) have studied cross-fertilization between working life and academia through indirect practices of story-telling and observation. The present study aims to explore how cross-fertilization in the form of direct collaboration between students and clients can be implemented in educational settings preparing engineering students for working life. As Nonaka et al. (2000) pointed out, tacit knowledge can be acquired only through shared experience. STUDY Setting. Two spring term courses in Media Technology in EVTEK: • Course 1 (Media Project): 39 Finnish students in 13 groups; • Course 2 (Multimedia Product): 25 international students in 7 groups. Data collection. Teacher interviews and observation notes from course meetings as primary data; database content, some client and student group interviews as well as student questionnaires as complementary data. Data analysis. Qualitative content analysis was conducted for the teacher interviews; excerpts describing features of designing and organizing cross- fertilization were chosen and coded in categories based on Pedagogical Infrastructure Framework (Lakkala et al., 2008) and data-driven categories. RESULTS Elements in the Pedagogigal Infrastructure promoting cross-fertilization. ABSTRACT: Engineering education should prepare students for professional design and software development practices of present day and future working life. One sophisticated solution is to create possibilities for true cross-fertilization of expertise between students and professionals in workplaces. In order to achieve this, new solutions and responsibilities are required from the teachers and educational institutions to organize and design courses. The present study examined pedagogical arrangements related to two design courses where engineering students designed real products for and with real customers. Figure 1. The cross-fertilization context in the investigated courses. Educational institution Teachers Clients Contacting and networking Students A real design and development task for producing a multimedia product Defining the needs and evaluating the outcome Knowledge-sharing and negotiations Establishing pedagogical conditions and providing guidance Running a design project Establishing supporting insitutional structures and rules REFERENCES Hartas, D. (2004). Teacher and speech-language therapist collaboration: being equal and achieving a common goal. Child Language and Teaching Therapy, 20, 33-54. Heylighen, A., Lindekens, J., Martin; W. M., & Neuckermans, H. (2006). Mind the gap: Towards knowledge exchange between practice and academia. In: M. Belderbos & J. Verbeke (Eds.), The Unthinkable Doctorate (pp. 409-419), Brussels: St.Lucas Architectuur, Press Point. Lakkala, M., Muukkonen, H., Paavola, S., & Hakkarainen, K. (2008). Designing pedagogical infrastructures in university courses for technology-enhanced collaborative inquiry. Research and Practice in Technology Enhanced Learning, 3(1), 33-64. Nonaka, I., Toyama, R., & Konno, N. (2000). SECI, Ba and Leadership: a Unified Model of Dynamic Knowledge Creation. Long Range Planning, 33(1), 5-34. Watts, A.G., Guichard, J., Plant, P., & Roderiguez, L. (1994). Educational and vocational guidance in the European community. Luxembourg: Office for official publication of the European communities. Cross-fertilization practices change teachers’ work: A prototype of collaborative tool (SSpA) tested which in the future would enable clients’ virtual participation in the design process. A possibility to give reading access to document repository (NetPro) for clients. Communication with clients mainly through email and f2f-meetings; no virtual collaboration tools for clients. Technical Projects reviewed and critical issues in project work discussed in weekly course meetings. Reflection of practices with clients not systematically promoted. One intermediate review with the teacher and a final review session of all projects. Reflection of practices with clients not systematically promoted. Professional project work models and document templates provided by the teachers to be used as in real projects. Cognitive Alumni student as assisting teacher sharing technical expertise and now-how from the field. Alumni student giving a lecture about lessons learnt in project work. Real design task with a final product as a primary goal. Clients’ needs define the studied issues in teams. Episte- mological Students finding and communicating with clients mainly on their own. Teacher’s active participation in meeting with clients in some projects, other teams worked very independently. Students working in professional project teams having full responsibility of the project. Students working directly with the client. Social Course 2 Course 1 Both courses • Maintaining a large network of customers: be in contact with existing customers and seek new customers; • Synchronizing courses and field projects as well as preparing back- up systems in case of changes in plans; • Supervising the various projects that are going on; • Client projects help the teacher to keep up to date of the development in the field. • Continuum in curriculum design for gradually increasing the challenge in the field project in successive study years; • Project work as an acceptable basis for salary; • Teacher collaboration in client recruitment and in sharing teaching responsibilities; • Established practice strengthen continuity and conspicuousness in client recruitment. Cross-fertilization practices require also new institutional structures: The 4th EARLI SIG 14 Learning and Professional Development Conference, August 27-29, 2008, Jyväskylä, Finland