Teaching Methodology for Designing Smart Products

Abstract

This paper aims to explain the teaching methodology used for the course “New Product Development” at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Skopje, Republic of North Macedonia, as a method that promotes project-based learning and design exploration as the most effective learning tools for designers and engineers. The main steps and the learning path strategy of the smart product development process, as practiced with the Industrial Design students, are provided and several project examples are elaborated in order to illustrate the advantage of the applied teaching methodology. The paper also includes an explanation of the state-of-the-art smart products from an aspect of their development for users’ acceptance, which is what the methodology is based on. The goal of this paper is to provide an overview of the external and internal learning sources used as a part of the methodology, as well as the special topics thought to support the project development process, in order to inspire other designers, professors and students to apply similar tools for smart product development. Such tools help increase their, as well as target users’ understanding of the technological aspect of smart items, and in addition, grow the general willingness to use such products, removing the skepticism and unfamiliarity barriers.