Concept Diagramming Software for Engineering Design Support: A Review and Synthesis of Studies

Author(s):  
Nathan L. Eng ◽  
Rob H. Bracewell ◽  
P. John Clarkson

Engineering design thinking combines concepts from heterogeneous sources like personal experience, colleagues, digital and hardcopy media. Despite this challenge, modes of thinking across levels of abstraction through multi-dimensional (spatial) representations are widely neglected in digital support systems. This paper aims to summarize lessons learned through years of experience with software tools that augment this visio-spatial conceptual thinking. This work cuts across disciplines to provide a needed, coherent starting point for other researchers to examine complex outstanding issues on a class of promising support tools which have yet to gain widespread popularity. Three studies are used to provide specific examples across design phases, from conceptual design to embodiment. Each study also focuses on an exemplar of diagrammatic software: the University of Cambridge Design Rationale editor (DRed), the Institute for Human Machine Cognition’s (IHMC) CmapTools and the Open University’s Compendium hypermedia tool. This synthesis reiterates how hypermedia diagrams provide many unique, valuable functions while indicating important practical boundaries and limitations. Future research proposed includes: a need to build more diagrammatic literacy into engineering practice, the need for more detailed studies with experts in industry and specific directions for refining the hypermedia diagram software interfaces.

2021 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Renner

The article “Drawing It Out” by Haidy Geismar (2014) in Visual Anthropology Review (Vol. 30, No. 2, pp. 97–113) focused on the use of images in early anthropology. The drawings by Arthur Bernard Deacon (1903–1927), which he made during his field studies in Vanuatu, New Hebrides from 1926 until his sudden death caused by blackwater fever in 1927, are the starting point of Geismar’s inquiry. The author discusses Deacon’s drawings and infers the potential of drawing as a methodology for anthropology. Deacon was a young PhD candidate who was sent to Vanuatu from the University of Cambridge. It was his intention to continue the studies of the indigenous culture of the New Hebrides at the time, which had been started by the Department of Anthropology at the University of Cambridge. In contrast to his expectations, Deacon found a culture in the process of decay. The subject of his study, the indigenous culture, had been threatened by diseases and cultural influences that settlers, missionaries, and traders imported with them since they landed in the middle of the nineteenth century. Deacon described the impossibility of protecting the indigenous culture and critically reflected on his role as an anthropologist (Geismar 2014, p. 102).


Pharmacy ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard R. Violette ◽  
Sherilyn K. D. Houle ◽  
Lisa M. Nissen ◽  
Nancy M. Waite

This article describes the formation of the International Pharmacists-as-Immunizers Partnership (IPIP), an international network of pharmacy practice researchers with an interest in pharmacist-administered immunizations. Using funds obtained from a university-sponsored grant, a two-day meeting was held at the University of Waterloo in Canada to discuss published and in-progress research on the topic, identify gaps and priorities for future research, and share implementation strategies used in different jurisdictions. Twelve researchers from five countries attended this initial meeting, identified from both personal networks and from authorship lists from published research. Small- and large-group discussions addressed a number of themes, including: clinical, economic and educational outcomes of the service; the perspectives of pharmacists, patients, and other health professionals; operational and policy factors influencing uptake; safety; and the immunizing pharmacist’s role in disaster preparedness. Feedback on our first meeting and outcomes achieved were evaluated on the basis of participant feedback. Key components of the meeting that were considered successful and important lessons learned are summarized, so that other like-minded researchers with a shared pharmacy practice research interest could consider leveraging funding opportunities to establish other international pharmacy practice research networks.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin Schell ◽  
Meghan Sitar

Information literacy at the graduate level can happen at the intersection of research method education and mentorship into a disciplinary community of practice with its own traditions of inquiry, communication, and knowledge creation. Funded by the Institute for Museum and Library Services, the Library as Research Lab Project at the University of Michigan enables graduate students, academic librarians, and information science faculty to engage in a series of research activities together, illuminating tacit knowledge in information studies and librarianship, both as a discipline and as a profession. In the project, three interconnected labs pursue authentic research questions emerging from challenges faced by the Library while providing School of Information students with mentorship, new skills, and a fellowship stipend. A common curriculum across the labs includes research ethics, publishing, project management, and current issues in higher education research. Engaging with the frames of “Research as Inquiry” and “Scholarship as Conversation” from the Association of College and Research Libraries Framework for Information Literacy in Higher Education​, students also learn how to effectively discuss, iterate upon, and present their research activities to different audiences. At the end of the fellowship, students enter the profession with an understanding of complex challenges facing libraries and with new strategies for responding to ambiguity and pursuing new solutions through research. As we complete the final year of the grant, the librarians from the Design Thinking for Library Services Lab will reflect on lessons learned and share student perspectives as a way of discussing how similar initiatives might facilitate positive and critically engaged research projects at other institutions. Attendees will be able to describe strategies for developing similar environments in support of authentic research experiences and will be able to apply strategies documented in a mentoring handbook from the project in their own work.


Author(s):  
Chris Rennick ◽  
Eugene Li

The capstone design project is ubiquitous in engineering programs worldwide, and is seen by students as the single most important activity in their undergraduate careers. Staff and faculty at the University of Waterloo identified three issues with the current capstone process: students are unaware of industrial suppliers, they lack multi-disciplinary exposure, and they often struggle to identify "good" needs for their projects. The Engineering IDEAs Clinic, with support from instructors and staff from across Engineering, developed a conference for students to address these issues. EngCon – aimed at students in third/fourth year – brought students together with their peers from other programs, instructors from across the Faculty, and representatives from suppliers (both external industry, and internal support units) with the goal of improving their capstone projects. This paper presents the design and implementation of EngCon in both 2017 and 2018 with lessons learned from offering a large coordinated set of workshops aimed at students as they enter their capstone design projects.  


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alvin Tran ◽  
Robin L. Kerkstra ◽  
Sarah Logan Gardocki ◽  
Savannah C. Papuga

For the Fall 2020 semester, the University of New Haven (UNewHaven) joined over a third of colleges and universities across the country in offering in-person courses and reopening its campus. Allowing the campus community to safely return was a challenging endeavor, particularly for those at the University’s School of Health Sciences, which offers both non-clinical and clinical courses. In order to create learning environments that adhered to continuously-changing guidelines, our team at the School of Health Sciences was forced to develop and implement innovative strategies. In this article, we share our experiences in fulfilling our roles as faculty, staff, and students at a School of Health Sciences offering in-person, non-clinical and clinical courses during the COVID-19 pandemic. We reflect upon our challenges and share the lessons learned, which we hope will serve as guidance for our collective community in higher education, including those working within schools of public health and health sciences. Our lessons learned are presented in following three themes: 1) preparation for in-person classes; 2) the emotional state of faculty, staff, and students; and 3) innovative practices. Should colleges and universities ever find themselves in similar, yet unprecedented times, our lessons and recommendations may serve as a starting point to assist them in navigating through such tumultuous moments.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 4342
Author(s):  
Hanne Cooreman ◽  
Joke Vandenabeele ◽  
Lies Debruyne ◽  
Fleur Marchand

Tactile spaces as learning environments influence individuals’ attitudes through social embeddedness or interconnections among people, and physical embodiedness through experiencing surroundings, potentially fostering deep commitments. When on-farm demonstrations operate as tactile spaces, they could potentially support the adoption of innovative agricultural practices. In this article, we introduce video analysis as a methodological approach to evaluate this potential of on-farm demonstration (OFD) as tactile spaces. We reflect upon this methodology with a lens on three Belgian on-farm demonstrations, each on a different topic with a different participant group, all including farmers. As a first result, this method assists in defining strengths and weaknesses of an OFD in terms of using its potential as a rich learning environment. Based on our cases, we suggest deliberately incorporating physical interaction opportunities and verbal references to the surroundings during OFDs, as our data reveals that physical embodiedness opportunities stimulate verbal and physical interactions. However, more research should confirm this. Secondly, our research resulted in lessons learned for future use of video to evaluate OFDs as tactile spaces, building on the VDA methodological framework of Nassauer and Legewie (2018). We summarise our insights in methodological guidelines, which can serve as a starting point to guide future research.


2020 ◽  
Vol 76 (4) ◽  
pp. 313-325
Author(s):  
Kasim Sader ◽  
Rishi Matadeen ◽  
Pablo Castro Hartmann ◽  
Tor Halsan ◽  
Chris Schlichten

Cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) has rapidly expanded with the introduction of direct electron detectors, improved image-processing software and automated image acquisition. Its recent adoption by industry, particularly in structure-based drug design, creates new requirements in terms of reliability, reproducibility and throughput. In 2016, Thermo Fisher Scientific (then FEI) partnered with the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, the University of Cambridge Nanoscience Centre and five pharmaceutical companies [Astex Pharmaceuticals, AstraZeneca, GSK, Sosei Heptares and Union Chimique Belge (UCB)] to form the Cambridge Pharmaceutical Cryo-EM Consortium to share the risks of exploring cryo-EM for early-stage drug discovery. The Consortium expanded with a second Themo Scientific Krios Cryo-EM at the University of Cambridge Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy. Several Consortium members have set up in-house facilities, and a full service cryo-EM facility with Krios and Glacios has been created with the Electron Bio-Imaging Centre for Industry (eBIC for Industry) at Diamond Light Source (DLS), UK. This paper will cover the lessons learned during the setting up of these facilities, including two Consortium Krios microscopes and preparation laboratories, several Glacios microscopes at Consortium member sites, and a Krios and Glacios at eBIC for Industry, regarding site evaluation and selection for high-resolution cryo-EM microscopes, the installation process, scheduling, the operation and maintenance of the microscopes and preparation laboratories, and image processing.


Author(s):  
Robert V Fleisig ◽  
Harry Mahler ◽  
Vladimir Mahalec

McMaster University has initiated a new graduate program in engineering practice aimed at educating tomorrow’s engineering design leaders. Graduates of engineering schools are well versed in technology and its application but must acquire new skills and competencies in innovation and design in order to become global leaders in their industries. The leading thinkers in engineering design innovate continuously to succeed in the global marketplace. This paper discusses the value and importance of teaching and learning human-centred design thinking for engineering graduates. Achieving significant and continuous innovation through design requires looking beyond current systems design practices. Engineering educators must adapt new ways of thinking, teaching, and learning engineering design from other disciplines. This paper discusses the modes of engineering thinking and how they differ from those of contemporary innovators and examines how a human-centred approach to design can replace approaches that consider human values and ethics as constraints to the design. The authors will discuss current efforts to insert the teaching and learning of a human-centred approach to engineering design at the graduate level in an engineering curriculum. The aim of the curriculum is to introduce students to collaborative, inter-disciplinary, human-centred thinking, with a strong emphasis on generating continuous innovation through creativity.


2019 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elżbieta Karwowska

Purpose Works that link creating shared value (CSV) with the university are arising, and there is a hope for a great future of this combination. The main problem with these works is that they are based on the wrong assumptions of what CSV is. The aim of the paper is to properly explain the concept of CSV and match it with university social responsibility (USR) at a strategic level. Design/methodology/approach A literature review on CSV and USR is briefly outlined. Then, at the foundation of existing models of the USR, normative model that integrates CSV at a strategic level is proposed. To validate the model and explain its assumptions, a qualitative study on Polish universities was conducted. Furthermore, a piece of recommendation for implementing CSV is presented. Findings Signs of CSV at universities have been observed. The trend may have positive implications, as it is similar to the recommended strategy: starting small, doing good and growing the program based on the lessons learned. Research limitations/implications In this study, the ecosystem’s impact on CSV at the university has been omitted. The qualitative research was based on vaguely distinguished aspects proposed by the new model. One should be cautious about considering findings as anything more than observations. Practical implications The normative model may serve as a foundation for future research or a practical guideline to higher education institutions. Originality/value The paper links CSV with USR at a strategic level supported by real examples of activities that create social and economic value. The normative model may serve as a foundation for future research or a practical guideline to higher education institutions.


Author(s):  
Ada Hurst ◽  
Chris Rennick ◽  
Sanjeev Bedi

AbstractWhile design is fundamental to engineering practice, modern training in engineering design has almost exclusively moved to the classroom, providing students little exposure to holistic, real-world design experiences that are well-integrated with the rest of the academic curriculum. In this paper, we perform a short review of how the model of engineering education in Canada has evolved over the last two centuries, identify the current deficiencies in teaching design in engineering curricula, and review how Chairs in Design Engineering at various Canadian engineering schools have tackled this identified need. We then describe in detail how this problem is being addressed at the University of Waterloo through Engineering Design Days. This approach is presented as a design “lattice” around which other curriculum threads (math, natural sciences, engineering science, design etc.) can grow in an integrated way. Different Design Days examples from various engineering programs are described to illustrate the general structure. We conclude by assessing the program's impact and identifying opportunities for future development and assessment of the program's effectiveness.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document