Implementation of learning by doing methods in the graphical engineering field

Abstract

Regarding the different options to approaches with excessively theoretical contents that are applied in teaching, there are several innovative learning strategies for active students’ involvement. According to (1) most of the business look for professional profiles in which applicants not only have an academic background but also good personal skills, such as initiative, undertaking, communication skills, commercial vision, and so on. This paper presents the experiments that aim to achieve the objectives and catching skills by the Learning by doing technique (2), through a contextualization of the subject “Container and Packaging” in the Industrial Design Degree. Moreover, a close relation between university and business is achieved. In this way students acquire the requirements demanded by the company. A particularization of an industrial design methodology proposed by the Technological Institute of Packaging, Transport and Logistics (ITENE, Valencia) has been implemented for the design of packaging and packaging (4). Besides using this method, students take on a project-based learning (PBL) work under the role of company. Then, they realize the redesign of the container of a manufactured product close to his residence province, i.e. Ron Montero Winery, Granada. This practice will not only look for improving the student's ability to research and solve problems, but also to manage the professional and personal relationships that occur within each work group. These situations are necessary in the training process since they will be to be fought daily in their future professional life.