Overcoming the barriers in client-based learning: a case study

Client-based learning in Higher Education presents the opportunity for students to work with a real client on a real project. Students studying Creative Industries subjects such as digital design benefit immensely from client-based learning; as it provides them with meaningful projects, real-world problems, interaction and feedback from clients who may not be design-literate. As a result, students learn how to digest feedback and translate it into design decisions, whilst strengthening their skills in time management, motivation, and resilience. However, when it comes to the practicality of integrating industrial clients into the curriculum, several challenges are faced. First, it's not always feasible to find clients that are interested and willing to spend time engaging with undergraduate students. Second, client-based projects are often sparse and therefore assigned to the high-achieving students; as such, it can be challenging to cater and facilitate client-based projects for an entire cohort of students, including students who vary in their abilities and academic performance. Finally, it can be challenging to map the client's own deadlines against academic terms and assessment deadlines. 

This paper presents a case study of a client-based undergraduate digital design project where the client is a PhD student at the same university. Specifically, we discuss the appeal of utilising research-based projects as real-world problems for undergraduate students to tackle as an alternative for when it is not feasible to source and engage with industry-based clients. We discuss the process we adopted to facilitate this project as well as the potential benefits, drawbacks and challenges of such an approach.