Resumen de Influencing performance development in student design groups through relational development
In this paper, a review of a workshop directed by the author, as part of the 2012 Capstone Design Conference held at theUniversity of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, May 30–June 1, is presented. In the workshop, a theoretical approach that interpretshow students form relationships, and how relational environments form student thinking, was presented that gives insight towardhow to create high-performance teams in a very short time. The theory and reflection that were shared with workshop participantsare based on the author’s own experience with his clinic program, and the methods are based on the value-memetic theory knownas Spiral Dynamics, originated by Clare Graves in the 1950s, and further developed by his student, Don Beck. During theworkshop, the format of a capstone design clinic, measurably successful from an industrial recruitment and a project completionperspective, was presented, and the differences between the fundamental relational structure of this type of clinic, whereindependent, trust-based relationships are emphasized, vs. one with more traditional grading and policies, and instructor-assignedgroups were contrasted. Following this, theory of relational development that all students were subjected to was discussed, and casestudies from the workshop director’s own program were distributed, highlighted and discussed.
