Cabin and passenger environment design for the Airbus A380 – A case study for education

This paper describes the experiences of using the Airbus A380 as a platform for teaching design in a second year B.Sc. Product Design course. The study uses observation and student experience to assess the success of the exercise, and seeks to inform the current debate on “Problem Based Learning” in design tuition. The emphasis is on the way the project-aims, timeliness and real-world relevance and its extended period of study, long enough to explore and integrate alternative ideas, rather than its size, has contributed to a successful learning exercise that has engaged full student commitment over the one year duration of the project.