Industry Based Projects and Cases: a Cdio Approach to Students’ Learning

Just as the media industry, media technology and interaction design are fast moving areas. Even though grounded in theoretical models, the problems that the students face after graduation are constantly changing and contemporary, which makes a CDIO approach to education important. This paper reports a case study concerning a project spanning two consecutive courses with the main objective to renew the digital news platforms of the media group VK Media. The project was carried out in 2013 with students from the five-year Master of Science program in Interaction Technology and Design at Umeå University, Sweden. The results illustrate how project-based learning and real case-based group projects can enhance both students learning and the internal process at the external industry partner. The results clearly show how that not only goals in the CDIO Syllabus 2.0 have been met during the project but also actual value has been created for the industry as the students’ design proposals have been implemented and launched publicly.