Fifteenth International Conference on Design Principles & Practices

Abstract

The original idea began with developing a project to provide students with a more realistic production experience. This project incorporates Technical Line Development at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, TX, and the Computer-Aided Pattern Drafting at the University of Idaho in Moscow, ID. To provide both groups of students with similar experiences, students at both universities create patterns for the exchange. Tech pack development is part of many technical design courses, but rarely do students have the opportunity to test the effectiveness of their pattern making and spec writing skills. Leveraging experiential learning methods (Kolb, 1984), this project has evolved to have students from the Computer-Aided Pattern Drafting course and students in the Technical Line Development class create patterns and tech packs. These are then swapped between the universities for prototype construction based only upon the information provided. Students were not allowed to contact one another as to simulate the process of a company sending their tech packs to a factory.