Navigating the Barriers to Interdisciplinary Design Education: Lessons Learned From the NSF Design Workshop Series

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy W. Simpson ◽  
Matthew Parkinson ◽  
Dave Celento ◽  
Wei Chen ◽  
Ann McKenna ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Design Education ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Graduate Degree ◽  
University Of Michigan ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering ◽  
Interdisciplinary Design ◽  
Northwestern University ◽  
Design Workshop ◽  
Future Work ◽  
Collaborative Efforts

Evidence suggests that transformational innovation occurs at the intersection of multiple disciplines rather than isolated within them. Design—being both pervasive and inherently interdisciplinary—has the power to transcend many disciplines and help break down the departmental “silos” that hinder such collaborative efforts. Many universities are now struggling to embrace the curricular innovations that are necessary to achieve and sustain interdisciplinary education. Given the already packed undergraduate engineering curricula, several universities have started to offer new design programs that span several disciplines at the masters and doctoral levels. In this paper, we examine the five interdisciplinary graduate design programs offered by three different universities—University of Michigan, Northwestern University, and Stanford University—that hosted the NSF Design Workshop Series in 2008–2009. Collectively, these programs represent “solutions” that span a variety of graduate degree offerings that are available and provide examples of ways to successfully navigate the barriers and hurdles to interdisciplinary design education. A recap of the NSF Design Workshop Series is also provided along with recommendations from the workshops to foster discussion and provide directions for future work.

scholarly journals Almost Risking It All

Cubic Journal ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 20-31
Author(s):  
Bo Allesøe Christensen ◽  
Peter Vistisen ◽  
Thessa Jensen
Keyword(s):  
Risk Taking ◽  
Design Education ◽  
Design Thinking ◽  
General Concept ◽  
Ethics Of Technology ◽  
Problem Space ◽  
Interdisciplinary Design ◽  
Design Workshop ◽  
German Sociologist ◽  
Human Centred Design

This paper provides an argument against understanding risk-taking in design education as something ideally in need of only being calculable and formalisable. Using the German sociologist Ulrich Beck’s theory on risktaking combined with the current discourse on design thinking, together with an analysis of a three week-long interdisciplinary design workshop, we analyse and discuss how risk-taking - as a general concept - in design education is an inherent element of the education itself. We argue, however, non-calculable risks, like human-centred design concerns, like desirability of use, ethics of technology, are an equally important part of a modern-day educational skillset as calculable risks. The aim is arguing for the prospect of interdisciplinary design-based education models as one way of embracing the non-calculable elements of a problem space.

scholarly journals NOVICE DESIGNERS' USE OF PROTOTYPES AS COMMUNICATION TOOLS

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 2277-2286
Author(s):  
Sandeep Krishnakumar ◽  
Carlye Lauff ◽  
Christopher McComb ◽  
Catherine Berdanier ◽  
Jessica Menold
Keyword(s):  
Adverse Outcomes ◽  
Design Teams ◽  
Prior Work ◽  
Communication Tools ◽  
Design Decisions ◽  
Pedagogical Strategies ◽  
Critical Design ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering ◽  
Novice Designers ◽  
Future Work

AbstractPrototypes are critical design artifacts, and recent studies have established the ability of prototypes to facilitate communication. However, prior work suggests that novice designers often fail to perceive prototypes as effective communication tools, and struggle to rationalize design decisions made during prototyping tasks. To understand the interactions between communication and prototypes, design pitches from 40 undergraduate engineering design teams were collected and qualitatively analysed. Our findings suggest that students used prototypes to explain and persuade, aligning with prior studies of design practitioners. The results also suggest that students tend to use prototypes to justify design decisions and adverse outcomes. Future work will seek to understand novice designers’ use of prototypes as communication tools in further depth. Ultimately, this work will inform the creation of pedagogical strategies to provide students with the skills needed to effectively communicate design solutions and intent.

scholarly journals Integrated Robotic systems for Humanitarian Demining

10.5772/5694 ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 24 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Colon ◽  
G. De Cubber ◽  
H. Ping ◽  
J-C Habumuremyi ◽  
H. Sahli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Data Acquisition ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Mine Detection ◽  
Detection Systems ◽  
Visual Positioning ◽  
Humanitarian Demining ◽  
Typical Data ◽  
Terrain Following ◽  
Software Interfaces ◽  
Future Work

This paper summarises the main results of 10 years of research and development in Humanitarian Demining. The Hudem project focuses on mine detection systems and aims at provided different solutions to support the mine detection operations. Robots using different kind of locomotion systems have been designed and tested on dummy minefields. In order to control these robots, software interfaces, control algorithms, visual positioning and terrain following systems have also been developed. Typical data acquisition results obtained during trial campaigns with robots and data acquisition systems are reported. Lessons learned during the project and future work conclude this paper.

Not Good Enough? Exploring Relationships Between Students’ Empathy, Their Attitudes Towards Sustainability, and the Self-Perceived Sustainability of Their Solutions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rohan Prabhu ◽  
Mohammed Alsager Alzayed ◽  
Elizabeth Starkey
Keyword(s):  
Design Education ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Sustainable Design ◽  
The Self ◽  
Empathy Development ◽  
Concept Evaluation ◽  
Trait Empathy ◽  
Evaluation Stage ◽  
Future Work

Abstract Empathy plays an important role in designers’ ability to relate to problems faced by others. Several researchers have studied empathy development in engineering design education; however, a majority of this work has focused on teaching designers to empathize with primary users. Little attention in empathy development research is given to empathizing with those affected in a secondary and tertiary capacity. Moreover, little research has investigated the role of students’ empathy in influencing their emphasis on sustainability, especially in the concept evaluation stage. Our aim in this paper is to explore this research gap through an experimental study with engineering students. Specifically, we introduced first-year engineering students at a large public university in the northeastern United States to a short workshop on sustainable design. We compared changes in their trait empathy and attitudes towards sustainability from before to after participating in the workshop. We also compared the relationship between students’ trait empathy, attitudes towards sustainability, and the self-perceived sustainability of their solutions in a design task. From our results, we see that students reported an increase in their beliefs and intentions towards sustainability and a decrease in their personal distress from before to after participating in the workshop. Furthermore, students’ trait empathy correlated negatively with the self-perceived sustainability of their solutions. These findings highlight the need for future work studying the role of empathy in encouraging a sustainable design mindset among designers.

Refugee Families and Undergraduate Nursing Service-Learning

2018 ◽  
pp. 248-265
Author(s):  
Ruby K. Dunlap ◽  
Emily A. Morse
Keyword(s):  
Service Learning ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Cultural Barriers ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
School Of Nursing ◽  
Undergraduate Nursing ◽  
Refugee Families ◽  
Problem Solve ◽  
Future Work

This chapter describes a service-learning partnership between two refugee resettlement agencies and a school of nursing. The partnership has successfully completed its goals of both service and learning over many semesters to the present. This community-based learning opportunity has entailed a variety of health interventions with refugee families while the learning has involved essential competencies of cross-cultural nursing, insights into social determinants of health, and developing confidence in being able to problem solve in a complex mix of health, social systems, poverty, language, and cultural barriers. In addition, assignments connected with this community engagement have encouraged students to develop an awareness of global health issues while intervening locally with their assigned refugee family, thus thinking and acting globally. The authors will discuss lessons learned from this long-term relationship and suggested directions for future work.

A Generic Adaptation Framework for Web-Based Hypermedia Systems

2008 ◽  
pp. 148-167
Author(s):  
Alexandros Paramythis ◽  
Constantine Stephanidis
Keyword(s):  
European Commission ◽  
Local Information ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Adaptive Hypermedia ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Adaptive Hypermedia Systems ◽  
Future Work ◽  
Web Publishing

This chapter introduces a framework intended for facilitating the implementation of Web-based adaptive hypermedia systems. The framework is orthogonal to Web “serving” approaches, and poses only minimal requirements in that direction. As such, it can be easily integrated into existing, non-adaptive Web-publishing solutions. This chapter presents in detail several aspects of the framework, and provides an overview of its application in the European Commission-funded IST-1999-20656 PALIO project (“Personalised Access to Local Information and Services for Tourists”). Furthermore, it discusses some of the lessons learned from our work on the framework thus far, as well as what we consider the most likely directions of future work in the area.

scholarly journals LESSONS LEARNED FROM SAVVY EXPRESS: A FEASIBILITY STUDY OF A PSYCHODUCATIONAL INTERVENTION FOR CARE PARTNERS

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S285-S286
Author(s):  
Maria P Aranda ◽  
Debra Cherry
Keyword(s):  
Asian American ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Depressive Symptomatology ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Post Intervention ◽  
Care Partners ◽  
Post Test ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Caregiver Interventions ◽  
Future Work

Abstract An increasing number of families, funders, and community providers seek very brief psychosocial caregiver interventions, yet the evidence for such condensed interventions is not established. Based on the Savvy Caregiver Program, we explored the feasibility, acceptability, and outcome trends for a condensed 3-session version titled, Savvy Express. Based on a single-group, pre- and post-test intervention design, we examined post-intervention and 3-month data on 116 English-speaking racially and ethnically diverse care partners caring family members with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. 41% of the sample was non-Latino white and comprised of Latinas, African Americans and Asian American/API. Most care partners were either adult children or spouses caring for someone with AD or other dementia. Over 80% were college educated. Two of three participants completed all 3 classes. Our findings indicate significant improvements in caregiver levels of depressive symptomatology and anxiety, competence, management of the situation, reduction of expectations, making positive comparisons, and reactivity to the family member’s memory behavior. Upwards of 90% would recommend the program to other caregivers. Savvy Express is a brief caregiver intervention with high acceptability and feasibility. Improvements in care partner psychosocial outcomes signal a promising practice to reduce the burden of caregiving. A major focus of the paper focuses on barriers and facilitators to uptake of the study procedures and intervention with community-based partners. Future work is needed to establish the efficacy of Savvy Express across a longer observation period, and with less educated, low-income participants, and limited English-speaking families.

A Generic Adaptation Framework for Web-Based Hypermedia Systems

2011 ◽  
pp. 80-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandros Paramythis ◽  
Constantine Stephanidis
Keyword(s):  
European Commission ◽  
Local Information ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Adaptive Hypermedia ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Adaptive Hypermedia Systems ◽  
Future Work ◽  
Web Publishing

This chapter introduces a framework intended for facilitating the implementation of Web-based adaptive hypermedia systems. The framework is orthogonal to Web “serving” approaches, and poses only minimal requirements in that direction. As such, it can be easily integrated into existing, non-adaptive Web-publishing solutions. This chapter presents in detail several aspects of the framework, and provides an overview of its application in the European Commission-funded IST-1999-20656 PALIO project (“Personalised Access to Local Information and Services for Tourists”). Furthermore, it discusses some of the lessons learned from our work on the framework thus far, as well as what we consider the most likely directions of future work in the area.

scholarly journals Building Inter-Personal Competence in Architecture and Urban Design Students through Smart Cities at a Higher Education Institution

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (24) ◽  
pp. 7179
Author(s):  
Daniel S. Oh
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Urban Design ◽  
Social Innovation ◽  
Smart Cities ◽  
Education Institution ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Personal Competence ◽  
Interdisciplinary Design ◽  
Design Workshop

As the smart city concept and applications continue to evolve, traditional architects and urban designers are facing an increasingly uncertain future. This paper outlines an innovative educational format to bolster and perpetuate the interdisciplinary nature of architects and urban designers that resonates with both sustainable development (SD) and smart cities (SCs). By applying ‘connective knowledge’ to the concept of interdisciplinarity education, a method was established that uses the SC concept to expand upon and create a bridge between distant disciplines in the context of higher education sustainable development (HESD). As a complementary educational pedagogy to the ‘whole institution approach’ to reduce barriers in higher education institutions (HEIs), this paper highlights an opportunity to apply the SC concept as a basis to construct an interdisciplinary design workshop to focus on building inter-personal competence, targeting university-level students majoring in architecture and urban design. The design workshop used microcontrollers and sensors as these are scalable and easily learnt building blocks of the Internet of Things and SCs. The inter-disciplinary workshop ran for 16 weeks with 14 students majoring in architecture and urban design and electrical engineering. Based on interviews and course evaluations, the experiment was vetted using capacities of inter-personal competence in sustainable development. A series of insights and findings from the design workshop indicated positive initial outcomes that were used to form a set of working criteria for the interdisciplinary design workshop. Future work will include structuring empirical data collection and analysis and expanding collaborations with other distant disciplines such as public administration and social innovation, as delineated by the SC concept.

Initiating Development of a Concept Inventory for Engineering Design

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey R. Mountain
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Design Education ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Design Concept ◽  
Concept Inventory ◽  
Design Problems ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering ◽  
Education Community ◽  
Literary Sources ◽  
Fundamental Understanding

It has been stated that the topic of design is not conducive to assessment by concept inventory. While design problems are more ambiguous than problems in analytical subjects, such as physics, statics, or thermodynamics; the broader design education community of scholars might agree on a set of concepts that are essential to the fundamental understanding of design. Following a review of textbooks, industry interviews, and other literary sources, this paper will propose a set of commonly accepted overarching concepts that might form a nucleus of an engineering design concept inventory. This is intended primarily to initiate a dialog among the design engineering education community about the future development of a design concept inventory and it’s applicability in assessing the design content knowledge of undergraduate engineering students prior to entering the profession as graduate engineers.

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