Student group’s challenge

“Another group wanted to do something with walking with crutches. A student had a broken leg or torn a band or whatever and had to walk with crutches for a long time. They said, ‘you do not get so tired from walking with crutches, but at the moment you have to stand somewhere, and you cannot sit, you really get very tired’. So, could we design a crutch where you can sit on it right away? […] The students searched for solutions in different directions. Relatively late in the project, students found out that one or two of their solutions already existed. So those solutions were dropped. […] You mentioned that students found out that their idea already existed. How did the students react to this? Disappointed of course, but on the other hand also proud that they (students) had thought of something that someone else apparently also thought of as a solution. So, students had mixed feelings. […] Although, of course, if you are already at 5 to 12 and you find out that one of the main solutions that you have thought of already exists, then one is naturally disappointed. That disappointment dominates, but the students did not give up, no, not at all. […] The students made a crutch with a kind of tripod on the side of the crutch, so you can just walk with it and the tripod does not touch the ground when you just walk with it. […] I did not think it is the most innovative thing I have seen, but it was quite meaningful, I think. I can also imagine that it could be taken into production at some point. So, in that sense fine, it was not world-shattering” [T2 crutches].

Teaching activities

“I try to get the students excited about the fact that they came up with the solution. And that someone else also thought of it and brought it to the market. And I also tell the students that it is a shame that they did not see it beforehand, but this was also difficult because their solution was not easy to find in the literature and it was implemented somewhere in Japan, I believe. But for some reason, it was not implemented in Europe. So, students might not have been able to find it. Later, it turned out that their solution did exist and then—as a teacher—you try to get the students excited again about the fact that they (students) came up with the solution and that it was actually very successful. How do you transfer that enthusiasm? I just think by radiating enthusiasm, and by giving students compliments for having thought of it in that way. […] So, then—as a teacher—you look for other people to talk to your students and then you hope that those people will inspire the students to take the next step. So, by sending the students to a rehabilitation doctor, in this case an orthopedist, by sending them (students) to an occupational therapist. And then I try to talk to those people first, so that they (stakeholders) are prepared for those students. Just a short phone call to introduce the students, and I always feel that if I talk to the stakeholders first, they (stakeholders) are more motivated to take students seriously and make time for them. And I also hope that the stakeholder can sketch the breadth of the problem and inform students about the ins and outs of the problem and that they (stakeholders) can make the problem come alive for students” [T2 crutches].