Implementation of learning by doing method in the graphical engineering field

Abstract

Regarding the different alternatives to teaching approaches with excessively theoretical contents, there are several innovative learning strategies for active students’ involvement. According to most demanded professional profiles in the field of business [1], applicants not only should have a prominent academic background but also good personal skills, such as initiative, entrepreneurship, communication skills, and commercial vision, among others. This paper presents a experiment that aims to achieve the objectives and catching the skills by the Learning by doing technique, through a contextualization of the subject “Container and Packaging” in the Industrial Design Degree. Moreover, a close relation between university and business is achieved. In this way, students can acquire the requirements demanded by the companies. A particularization of an industrial design methodology proposed by the Technological Institute of Packaging, Transport and Logistics (ITENE, Valencia) has been implemented for the packaging’s design and packaging itself. Besides using this method, students take on a project-based learning (PBL) work under the role of a company. Then, they carry out the redesign of the container of a manufactured product close to their province of residence. This practice will not only look for improving the student’s ability to research and solve problems, but also to manage the professional and personal relationships that occur within each work group. These situations are necessary in the training process since they will be faced daily in their future professional life.