Evaluation of a distributed collaborative workspace as a creativity tool in the context of design education

In this paper, we compare a classic collaborative workspace designed to develop creative skills of Industrial Design students with a digital approach using blended spaces and ubiquitous computing. We adapted a distributed digital collaborative workspace previously developed by our team to a new system that we call "The Ideas Machine." This system is capable of suggesting new ideas and research tips to students based on various methodologies of creativity and the initial input provided by the instructor. The system is designed for interactive tabletop systems, which promote collaboration by supporting face-to-face communication around a large work area. Since digital spaces facilitate the acquisition of a variety of data in real time, our system allows instructors to gather extensive and up-to-date information from students that could not be obtained otherwise in a traditional environment because of technical and time constraints. Leveraging this capability, we developed a mechanism that acts as an assistant to the instructor by automatically evaluating students according to certain parameters. Finally, to assess the capabilities of our system as a tool to support creativity, we conducted an experiment with Industrial Design students over the course of an academic year. Information used to evaluate efficiency includes student qualifications, number of information items provided and shared (sketches, images, etc.), and number and quality of new ideas generated.