This paper presents details of the multi-disciplinary capstone course ‘Advanced Innovation and New Product Development’, which was developed by the INNOVATIONZ research group at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. The course is run in collaboration with the University’s Business and Creative Arts faculties, and with a range of industry partners, design consultants and business professionals, and is aimed at providing Engineering students with practice-relevant and multi-disciplinary learning experiences in the areas of product design, new product development and innovation management. The course includes a number of features and approaches which create a rich and integrated learning environment that helps students develop interdisciplinary product development knowledge, practise their teamwork and communication skills, and experience the new product development process through real-life project work.
In the paper we provide an overview of the general concept and structure of our course, including course philosophy, course design and course objectives, which are in line with the needs of industry and with the requirements of the Engineering profession. This is followed by a more detailed discussion of a number of key aspects of our approach, which are particularly relevant to the achievement of our course objectives and outcomes. The main areas we discuss are our project-based learning approach and the associated assessment procedures, which are designed to support those aspects of learning we find particularly relevant for our students. Another important aspect covered in the paper is our approach to fostering the development of multi-disciplinary teamwork skills, which are critical for the successful involvement of professional engineers in the product development process. We conclude the paper with a selection of feedback comments from our students, which illustrate the effectiveness and the educational value of our course.