Collaboration as a dimension of design innovation

摘要

This study of student teams learning to design in an engineering course highlights the role of collaborative interaction for understanding innovative design. A modelling approach was adopted to explore the arc of work and learning represented by the teams' final designs. The macro timescale process of design comprised mesoscale projects and microscale interactions and decisions. Social network analysis of student reflections on interactions and collaboration provided mesoscale summary statistics of team interactions at various time points along the design process. Teams viewed as having innovative initial design plans, who scored higher on microscale design skills of perspective-taking and who had higher team cohesion, tended to produce more innovative final designs. Implications for investigating and fostering collective and everyday creativity are discussed.