COVID-19 pandemic study: ad-hoc reaction and premeditated transition of project-based product design courses

Abstract

This paper examines and compares the ad-hoc reactions of educators in the product development domain to the first wave of the COVID-19 crisis. The aim of this study is to properly understand the difficulties educators struggled with maintaining their education process in a crisis and which practices, new digital tools, and educational methods best supported the transition. The data was collected from the representatives of four universities from different European countries that are offering undergraduate and graduate product development courses. The results showed that all the educators employed online teaching activities in direct response to the COVID-19 situation. The courses initially remained unaltered with respect to their content but were held online via videoconferencing tools for synchronous communication. Educators mentioned a reduced interactivity with students during sessions, making it difficult to objectively monitor students’ learning achievements. Later in 2020, educators systematically digitalised their courses. Initial findings hint at a shift of workload to the beginning of a teaching period as a result of educators preparing online teaching and assessment material in advance.