Many design frameworks introduced to novices are not compatible with the behaviours and habits of mind of expert designers. This creates a barrier to effective practice, especially when novice designers tackle ill-defined, wicked problems. The W-model is a pedagogical framework that provides a prescriptive design model for novices, enabling them…

The Industrial Design (ID) education offers numerous opportunities for students to learn the market and user-centered approach; however, in cases in which design students lack technical knowledge, they can have difficulty and lack confidence in technology-driven design projects. The purpose of this study is to answer a research question "how…

Design activities typically involve and culminate in the creation of models representative of new ideas and conceptions. The format is often dictated by the specific discipline, with ideas in design and technology education regularly being externalised through the use of computer aided design (CAD). This paper focusses on the realisation stage of…

In general, designing is conceived as a complex, personal, creative and open-ended skill. Performing a well-developed skill is mainly an implicit activity. In teaching, however, it is essential to make explicit. Learning a complex skill like designing is a matter of doing and becoming aware how to do it. For teachers and students therefore, it…