Peer-Customer Approach: Redefining Design Education

In many design courses, students work in teams to create projects. Typically, they come up with their own ideas based on personal interests or friendships. This is fine, but it can lead to problems. When students design for themselves, they may forget to think about what real customers need. A new approach called "peer-customers" has been created to help students address this issue. Here’s how it works and why it matters.

#The Concept of Peer-Customers

The peer-customer method involves pairing students who create projects with other students who act as customers. The customer does not work on the project but instead shares a problem they want solved. This setup encourages teams to focus on real needs rather than their own. Students pitch their problems, and the class votes on which ideas to pursue. This creates a more authentic experience for student teams as they work to solve a peer's issue.

#How Peer-Customers Work

In a classroom setting, each student presents a problem they have personally experienced. These problems can be anything from needing a better way to organize study materials to developing a gadget for a hobby. The key is that the problem must be something that the student really cares about. After all students pitch their ideas, the class votes on their favorites. The instructor then chooses a mix of ideas to ensure they are feasible for the course.

Once ideas are selected, teams are formed. Each team gets a peer-customer who pitched a problem. However, the peer-customer is not part of the team. This means that the team must listen to the customer’s needs and develop a solution based on that Feedback. By having a customer who is separate from the team, students learn to assess needs and create effective solutions.

#Importance of Customer Needs

The main goal of this method is to teach students to prioritize customer needs. In traditional projects where students create their own ideas, they might focus more on personal preferences or skills they want to show off. This can lead to designs that function well for the creator but do not meet the needs of actual users.

When students have a peer-customer, they are pushed to think differently. They must ensure that their project addresses the needs of the customer. This not only prepares students for real-world scenarios but also helps them develop critical skills in assessment and design.

#Educational Context

The peer-customer approach was put into practice in a course focused on electronics, programming, and prototyping. Students enrolled in this class had to have prior programming knowledge. The class size was around 30 students per section, with one instructor and a few teaching assistants. The course included both lectures and hands-on lab time. Peer-customers were used in two offerings of this course, allowing instructors to gather data on the effectiveness of this method.

#Customer Engagement Activities

To make the most of the peer-customer experience, a variety of class activities were implemented. These included:

#In-Class Customer Meetings

During class, teams would have scheduled times to meet with their peer-customers. The peer-customers would rotate between teams, allowing everyone to ask questions and get feedback on their ideas. This format made it easy for teams to gather information and make necessary adjustments.

#Presentations

Each team had to prepare a series of presentations to keep the class updated on their progress. This included an initial proposal, a midway update, and a final presentation. Presenting in front of peers and the customer helped students practice communicating effectively and receiving constructive criticism.

#Surveys

After initial meetings, teams would sometimes send surveys to their peer-customers to gather more specific feedback. This allowed teams to ask detailed questions about the features the customer wanted, which helped refine their designs.

#Key Findings from the Peer-Customer Approach

Several important lessons were learned through the use of peer-customers in the classroom.

#Focus on Customer Needs

One major takeaway is that students learn to prioritize the needs of their customer. In one case involving a “light-up fidget cube,” the team's customer had very specific requests for how the cube should work. Initially, the team wanted to add many features, but when they realized the customer preferred a simpler design, they adjusted their approach. The instructor emphasized that meeting the customer's needs was more important than adding extra features.

#Importance of Feedback

The peer-customer experience also highlighted the importance of feedback. Teams used design probes-simple mockups or concepts-to better understand what the customer wanted. By presenting these prototypes to their customer, teams could gather valuable insights and make iterative changes.

#Understanding Real-World Scenarios

Students learned that developing a solution for a customer is different from making something just for oneself. This shift in mindset is crucial for their future careers. By working with peer-customers, they practice creating solutions that directly address real problems.

#Challenges and Adjustments

Implementing the peer-customer method was not without its challenges.

#Selecting Suitable Needs

There were concerns about whether the proposed needs would be appropriate for the course. In many cases, students worried that their problems might be too difficult or require skills beyond what they learned in class. However, instructors found that many of these challenges led to engaging projects that encouraged creative solutions.

#Avoiding Existing Solutions

Another common issue was students proposing needs that could be solved by existing products. Often, students suggested projects simply because they thought existing solutions were too costly. To combat this, instructors provided guidelines to help students focus on unique needs rather than overly common requests.

#Peer-Customer Participation

Making sure that peer-customers attended class was crucial. To incentivize participation, peer-customers received a grade boost for their involvement. This helped maintain engagement and ensured that customer feedback remained consistent.

#Conclusion

The peer-customer approach provides a valuable framework for students in design courses. By pairing students with peer-customers, they learn to focus on real needs rather than personal preferences. This method equips students with skills that are essential for their future careers, including customer assessment, continuous feedback, and effective design practices. Overall, using peer-customers offers a unique and beneficial way to enhance learning in hands-on design courses.