Supporting collaborative learning in engineering design

In team-based project courses, collaborative learning is the dominant learning mode. Collaborative learning has been shown to increase individual learning through co-construction and personal reflection. Rapid adoption of Web-based communication and mobile computing by students provide opportunities to take advantage of collaboration tools for engineering education. We present preliminary findings on a computer environment, the Kiva that supports the activities of group collaboration for engineering design teams. We have employed methods from human-computer interaction (HCI) methodologies to iterate on the design in the context of use. In this paper, we discuss the implications for both student design teams and professional design teams.