Use of Communication Resources in a Networked Collaborative Design Environment

Examination of communication resource use of students engaged in a collaborative design activity suggests that students need multiple representations of design information to effectively move the design process forward.

Abstract

The goal of this exploratory study is to examine student use of a prototype networked collaborative design environment to support or augment learning about engineering design. The specific goals of the research are to characterize design activities and practices and to examine the use of multiple communication resources to augment activities in a three-way group collaboration. This paper examines the communication resource use of students engaged in a collaborative design activity. Students use the channels for a variety of activities to increase depth of communication, increase breadth of communication, and overcome technical difficulty. Conclusions suggest that students need multiple representations of design information to effectively move the design process forward.