Student-industry Collaboration across Time and Space: The Role of Technology during Design Thinking and Doing View Digital Media

Workshop Presentation
Timo Derriks,  Mandy Theune,  Jessica Borgs  

There are numerous opportunities in software and technologies to collaborate online. Especially due to the pandemic, digital collaboration skills were amongst professionals as well as students were tested, instructed and advanced. It is no surprise that in this particular period, many books on online collaboration and innovation have appeared. Students that collaborate with industry partners can take shape in various forms. Often in universities of applied sciences, collaboration is limited to industry partners commissioning an assignment, presenting or discussing it with students, have one or two times an update meeting, and perhaps join for a final product presentation. By using design thinking and a designated co-creation structure, it is possible to intensify student-industry collaboration across time and space. As we will experience in our workshop, offline co-creation sessions can be integrated in an online environment that stimulates engagement of industry representatives and therewith fosters collaboration. Various technologies have been tested and decisions have been made to integrate certain technologies and instructions within our design thinking toolkit. Certain software has its limitations and choosing does lead to the creation of particular instructions in order to make the most of a complete collaborative structure. Design thinking coupled with proper technology allows students and industry representatives to work together and co-create across time and space. In experimenting with the possibilities and instructions, we now have a good can discuss what works and what does not work in relation to collaboration across time, across space, and its combination.