Team Building
In Design, working as a team is absolutely essential. Designers would be expected to work together. This could be either they need to bounce ideas of each other, which enables them to develop and evolve their designs, or more mundane, it could be just to share the task they are undertaking and divide up the workload.
It is also to ensure that people, not only reflect upon what they are doing, but also understand what is going on, especially the senior staff who may be leading the project. The video you will see is from the “Making it” series, which was shown on BBC2 last year. The series had a range of programmes that showed new designers either starting out in design or put into usual situations. This programme shows two young designers a couple of years into their career and about to start their second job. They are working for a company that designs telephones mainly for BT. The extract shows a visual brainstorming where the team is designing and discussing with each other what they are doing. The item they are designing is a portable e-mail device for young people. This is an excellent example of teamwork.
This is not the practice in schools. We tend to get our students to work individually and have individual based projects. The reasons for this are understandable, as it is the easiest way to assess a student’s design and technology capability and to monitor their progress. With coursework assessment at GCSE and at A level, Examination boards tend to frown on group work, as it is difficult to separate people’s contribution. However, this does not have to be the case for all of a student’s design and technology experience. There is a place for the short group projects, lasting only one or two lessons, which enables students to experience what it is like to work in a team.
I would recommend at least one per term in year 10 and 12 and perhaps one in year 11 to break up the endless exam race. In year 13 it is good to get students to present their work to each other for comment and advice and with these tasks behind them they should have the skills and maturity to ensure that it is a worthwhile experience for all.
Team building projects are quite easy to devise. The basic structure is:
Extension
Students establish company name/logo
Have a clearly defined task
Task
Design a Product
Set time limit to produce product.
Devise some form of costing/production costs per item system.
This tends to give a more design & technology approach
Products can then be evaluated using one of the Product Analysis approaches and this can include costs
It extends student’s evaluation/ analysis skills
Extension
Students adding profit onto the cost and then trying to sell their products to other groups can further extend this simulation. This tends to work better with older students. Sales analysis can take place to decide the best team. This tends to be more related to a Business Studies approach rather than a design.