THE PROJECT DESIGN EDUCATION COLLABORATING WITH CITY GOVERNMENTS AND COMMUNITIES

Kanazawa Institute of Technology (KIT) applies Project-Based Learning (PBL) as a backbone of the curriculum and names it Project Design Program. The program combines its curriculum and extracurricular activities to obtain innovation skills. Knowledge and skills are learned repeatedly, and used in order to tackle project problems. Although students usually solve their own familiar problems, a new approach to collaborate with city governments is suggested. Some of the city departments brought up their issues and students tackled these problems in teams. Some students continued their proposed projects as extra-curricular activities with the local community even after the curriculum course. In 2015, nine issues were identified from two cities and seventy-three projects were formed to work on those problems.. Project members were from 10 KIT departments. This paper presented three design projects, namely: “preserving historical cultural sites,” “promoting tourism,” and “supplying temporary housing.” Students designed room arrangements, guidebooks and 3D CAD models of temporary housing. Level 1 and Level 2 evaluation of Kirkpatrick’s four-level model was used to measure pedagogical effects of the collaboration approach. The growth degree of required skills and knowledge of 1,609 students was investigated using a survey questionnaire. The results of 1,447 respondents show statistical improvements of the students’ innovation skills, including presentation skills, leadership, and idea creation.