ENHANCING COMUNICATION SKILLS THROUGH STUDENT AND ENTERPRISE INTERACTION
Year: 2015
Editor: Guy Bingham, Darren Southee, John McCardle, Ahmed Kovacevic, Erik Bohemia, Brian Parkinson
Author: Stoltenberg, Einar
Series: E&PDE
Institution: Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences
Section: Research
Page(s): 582-587
ISBN: 978-1-904670-62-9
Abstract
Collaboration between a university and an industry is a common way to create “realistic” student
projects that provide opportunities for gaining useful knowledge of “real-world problems,” skill
development, and project management. To use university-industry collaboration as a way of teaching
communication is not new. However, most courses using this approach focus mainly on written and
verbal communication. A case study of a second year bachelor’s level product design course, which
focused on project-based learning as a pedagogical platform, was used as the primary research
method. This research aimed to conduct further inquiry into how external collaboration can contribute
to more holistic communicative learning. The findings indicated that this approach leads students to a
more holistic communicative understanding. Furthermore, using student-driven processes resulted in
better communicative insight than teacher-driven processes. The processes did not necessarily lead to
increased semantic awareness; however, the course created an arena where students could adjust their
semantic perceptions. Both student- and teacher-driven processes created engaged students and the
possibility to build individual strength in students through conquering fears and attaining the
satisfaction of achievement. However, there were some cases of students not handling the pressure of
delivery
Keywords: Learning space, enterprise collaboration, communication, semiotics, project-based learning.