Students’ knowledge sources and knowledge sharing in the design studio—an exploratory study

Architectural design is a knowledge-intensive activity; however, students frequently lack sufficient knowledge when they practice design. Collaborative learning can supplement the students’ insufficient expertise. Successful collaborative learning relies on knowledge sharing between students. This implies that the peers are a considerable design knowledge source for the students. However, students are involved in grade competition. Students may not be willing to share because knowledge is a critical resource for students’ performance. The web technology has been used to facilitate knowledge exchange among students; nevertheless, the convenience of technology may tempt free riding behavior and impede the development of a knowledge sharing culture. The purpose of this exploratory study is to probe whether the peers and a web forum are the students’ primary knowledge source by investigating students’ knowledge sources during the design process. The results demonstrated that (1) studio-mates were a primary design knowledge source for the students, (2) the ill-defined nature of design problems may be the main contributing factor encouraging knowledge sharing behavior, (3) the shared web forum was not a primary knowledge source for the students and did not have a significant influence on the knowledge sharing culture, and (4) we can estimate the knowledge sharing culture in a design studio through investigating students’ knowledge sources. Furthermore, several additional findings and implications are elaborated.     

Design expert’s participation in elementary students’ collaborative design process

The main goal of the present study was to provide insights into how disciplinary expertise might be infused into Design and Technology classrooms and how authentic processes based on professional design practices might be constructed. We describe elementary students’ collaborative lamp designing process, where the leadership was provided by a professional designer. The video-recorded lessons on lamp designing and the “Lamp Designing” view of the project’s database constituted the data sources of the study. A data-driven qualitative content analysis was conducted for categorizing the scaffolding activities of the designer. The results indicate that the designer’s participation opened up the world of designing for the students. This enabled the students to engage in embodied design practices, and to gain new insights of the professional mechanisms of designing. Having the professional designer working with them, provided students with the opportunity to gain the full potential that solving complex design problems can offer to learning.     

Does the medium matter in collaboration? Using visually supported collaboration technology in an interior design studio

With the recognition of the importance of collaboration in a design studio and the advancement of technology, increasing numbers of design students collaborate with others in a technology-mediated learning environment (TMLE); however, not all students have positive experiences in TMLEs. One possible reason for unsatisfactory collaboration experiences is that existing text-oriented collaboration technology may not fully support interior design students’ needs for spontaneous interaction with visual images. The purpose of the current research was to determine whether a visually supported collaboration technology (VSCT) for designers, enhances students’ collaboration experiences in a TMLE. A total of 28 junior interior design students participated in the study, all of whom engaged in similar group projects via two collaboration modalities: face-to-face and VSCT. The results show that collaboration modalities influence students’ learning experiences, in particular, achievement and confidence in completing collaborative tasks. When using VSCT, students achieved significantly higher grade and demonstrated higher confidence in completing collaborative tasks compared to face-to-face collaboration; however, no significant differences were reported in either their perception of the collaboration process or their evaluation of the medium in the two collaboration modalities. The findings demonstrate that VSCT enhanced students’ collaboration experiences in design studio. Discussion and implications are provided to facilitate design students’ positive collaboration experiences in a TMLE.     

Informing a pedagogy for design and problem-solving in hard materials by theorising technologists’ learning experiences

Design and problem solving are central to technology and have distinguished learning in technology from other curriculum areas. This research investigated how expert technologists learn design and problem solving through experience. Data was collected from four expert technologists and this information was analysed using learning theories that focus on learning through experience—that is experiential learning theory, situated cognition, distributed cognition and activity theory. This framework of analysis provided evidence that learning through experience is central to these experts’ development and justify a broader construct of experience than normally associated with hard materials. This information supports curriculum development in hard materials technology that employs a wide range of experiences and provides justification for curriculum developers and teachers to justify, inform and develop effective design and problem solving learning programmes focussed on a broadened construct of experience.     

Inclusive design in the Key Stage 3 classroom: an investigation of teachers’ understanding and implementation of user-centred design principles in design and technology

This paper starts out with a discussion of the importance of user-centred design, outlining its history and current embodiment in national and international standards and considers its particular relevance in addressing the needs of ageing populations. The paper moves on to examine how the premise of user-centred design has been taken up in education and focuses on the specific example of user-centred approaches as part of the Design and Technology requirement of the English National Curriculum, taught in England’s schools since 1989. The initial stage of the Designing our Tomorrow project presented in this paper was an investigation of the extent to which user-centred design was integrated in current teaching practice. Analysing baseline data collected from teachers and pupils at two state secondary schools the project team found that many of the tasks teachers planned for pupils did not provide opportunities to identify users’ needs when solving design problems. Finally, the paper presents a discussion of the project’s implications for pupils’ learning and understanding of Design and Technology.     

The effect of an interdisciplinary STEM course on children’s attitudes of learning and engineering design skills

International Journal of Technology and Design Education - The study aimed to investigate the effect of an interdisciplinary STEM course on children’s attitudes of learning and engineering...     

A model to analyse students’ cooperative idea generation in conceptual design

In this article we focus on the co-creation of ideas. Through the use of concepts from collaborative learning and communication theory we suggest a model that will enable the cooperative nature of creative design tasks to emerge. Four objectives of the model are stated and elaborated on in the paper: that the model should be anchored in previous research; that it should allow for collaborative aspects of creative design to be accounted for; that it should address the mechanisms by which new ideas are generated, embraced and cultivated during actual design; and that it should have a firm theoretical grounding. The model is also exemplified by two test sessions where two student pairs perform a time-constrained design task. We hope that the model can play a role both as an educational tool to be used by students and a teacher in design education, but primarily as a model to analyse students’ cooperative idea generation in conceptual design.     

Effect of design thinking approach on students’ achievement in some selected physics concepts in the context of STEM learning

International Journal of Technology and Design Education - The study investigated the effect of using a design thinking teaching method on male and female students’ achievement in some...     

Implementing an exemplar-based approach in an interaction design subject: enhancing students’ awareness of the need to be creative

In higher education effective teaching includes making learning goals and standards clear to students. In architecture and design education in particular, goals and standards around assessment are often not well articulated. There is good evidence that when teachers engage students before an assessment in marking exemplars, and explain why the exemplars received the grades they did, students’ performance in their written assessment is consequently enhanced. However some teachers are concerned that exemplars may discourage students from being creative; this concern is particularly important in design education. In this small-scale mixed methods study we explore interaction design students’ perceptions of the effect of an exemplar-based teaching approach on their work in a design task. Our quantitative and qualitative results show that students developed their understanding of task criteria and standards; far from discouraging their creativity, most students perceived that their experience of the approach enhanced their awareness of the need to produce an original design. The exemplar-based approach used in this study complements the studio-based teaching approach in design education, and helps to make clear the design goals and standards that teachers expect their students to strive for.     

Students’ interest and expectancy for success while engaged in analysis- and creative design activities

Inasmuch as design is a central activity in K-12 engineering education, understanding the students’ motivation during engaging in engineering design activities will help educators to develop and evaluate strategies for engineering design challenges, and improve curriculum. The objective of this study is to better understand the relationship between students’ interest and expectancy for success while engaged in two design activities in grades 9–12. The primary difference between the two activities was the strategy used to solve the design problems from a predictive analysis and a creative approach. Constructs of motivation for students’ interest include task value (TV) and intrinsic goal orientation (IGO) and extrinsic goal orientation (EGO). Expectancy for success includes control of learning beliefs and self-efficacy for learning and performance. In this study, students (n = 31) from three high schools that implement the Project Lead the Way curriculum in three states in the US participated in the study. Immediately after completing their design projects, each student was asked to complete a modified version of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire survey instrument which evaluates their interest and expectancy for success. The results show that students were more intrinsically motivated to engage in a design activity that involves a predictive analysis than a creative approach. No significant correlation was found between students’ expectancy for success and EGO in design tasks that utilized either predictive analysis or creative approach. The study also found that TV and IGO were good predictors for students’ expectancy for success. Demographic information associated with students’ motivation in the design activities is also presented.     

Beyond ‘chalk and talk’: educator perspectives on design immersion programs for rural and regional schools

Twenty-first century education needs to be re-envisioned to equip citizens for a lifetime of rapid change and complexity. Design has been proposed as a pedagogical framework that develops the required foundational literacies, competencies and character qualities citizens need to thrive in this new creative knowledge economy. However, widespread adoption will require systemic transformation of practice, and recognition of the value of formal and informal ‘connected’ learning environments and experiences. This paper explores the potential of design immersion outreach efforts in fostering design capabilities and building educators’ pedagogical repertoires to support twenty-first century learning. It documents educators’ experiences of goDesign, the first three-day place-based travelling design immersion experience for regional and rural Australian high school students and teachers. Drawing on observational data, and in-depth interviews with participating principals (n?=?3) and teachers (n?=?14) from six regional schools, educators believed goDesign provided new ideas for their classroom practice. They felt it broadened horizons for both themselves and their students, through: personally inspiring experiences and career aspiration; engagement in design thinking process, skills and mindset; and providing a valuable opportunity for community building. As educators in regional and rural areas often experience geographical, social and professional isolation, this paper argues that place-based informal design immersion programs might be an innovative way to engage and educate both students and teachers with design, thus building the competencies required for successful twenty-first century futures.

     

STEM education in the twenty-first century: learning at work—an exploration of design and technology teacher perceptions and practices

Teachers’ knowledge of STEM education, their understanding, and pedagogical application of that knowledge is intrinsically linked to the subsequent effectiveness of STEM delivery within their own practice; where a teacher’s knowledge and understanding is deficient, the potential for pupil learning is ineffective and limited. Set within the context of secondary age phase education in England and Wales (11–16 years old), this paper explores how teachers working within the field of design and technology education acquire new knowledge in STEM; how understanding is developed and subsequently embedded within their practice to support the creation of a diverse STEM-literate society. The purpose being to determine mechanisms by which knowledge acquisition occurs, to reconnoitre potential implications for education and learning at work, including consideration of the role which new technologies play in the development of STEM knowledge within and across contributory STEM subject disciplines. Underpinned by an interpretivist ontology, work presented here builds upon the premise that design and technology is an interdisciplinary educational construct and not viewed as being of equal status to other STEM disciplines including maths and science. Drawing upon the philosophical field of symbolic interactionism and constructivist grounded theory, work embraces an abductive methodology where participants are encouraged to relate design and technology within the context of STEM education. Emergent findings are discussed in relation to their potential to support teachers’ educational development for the advancement of STEM literacy, and help secure design and technology’s place as a subject of value within a twenty-first Century curriculum.     

Personality and other attributes,qualities, abilities and opinions of some ‘A’ level design students

Many claims have been made of a subjective nature that some students studying A level Design develop certain personal qualities and attributes not found in some students who study other academic A levels. The research describes attempts to quantify these claims and as a result provides a firmer basis for the understanding of the effects on students of studying design.     

Perceptions of the students’ learning and evaluation process in an e-learning course in Food Preservation Technology: a study case in a Food Consumption MSc

International Journal of Technology and Design Education - Food Preservation Technology is a main module within a course integrated in a Master of Science program in Food Consumption at...     

Strategic marketing and business performance: A study in three European ‘engineering countries’

In spite of its relevance, the effects of strategic marketing on business performance are sparingly studied, especially in particular business contexts. We address this gap in two ways. First, we examine the influence of four key strategic marketing concepts—market orientation, innovation orientation, and two marketing capability categories (outside-in and inside-out capabilities)—on company performance. Second, these relationships are studied in three European “engineering countries:” Austria, Finland and Germany. Their relative homogeneity enables testing the generality versus context-specificity of strategic marketing's performance impact. Using SEM analysis, surprisingly weak relationships between market orientation and outside-in capabilities, and business performance are identified, as opposed to the strong role of inside-out capabilities and innovation orientation. These results can be understood through the “engineering country” characteristics. Moreover, clear differences in results are identified among these relatively homogenous countries. This is a major finding as it challenges the widely assumed generality of the strategic marketing–performance relationship. Country-specific results have also considerable managerial relevance.     

Consumers’ willingness-to-pay for food safety labels in an emerging market: The case of fresh produce in Thailand

Food safety systems in emerging markets are currently facing a transformation period, becoming more stringent because of an increasing demand for safer food. Consequently, policy makers need to find strategies to increase food safety while giving the industry time to improve their performance. In Thailand, policy makers have adopted the strategy of upgrading food safety standards gradually. Government and private food safety brands and labels were introduced onto the market but little is known whether Thai consumers have preferences for them or not. This study is aimed at evaluating Thai consumers’ preferences for food safety labels and brands on fresh produce, using a surveyed based on discrete-choice experiments. A sample of 350 Thai consumers was surveyed in Bangkok and Nonthaburi in 2013. Quota sampling according to the shopping outlets and convenience sampling methods were adopted. Two hundred respondents were recruited at fresh-food markets and 150 respondents were recruited at supermarkets. We found that consumers are willing-to-pay more for both government led food safety label and private brands, but that there is high heterogeneity in their preferences. The high degree of social desirability for food safety labels confirms that food safety labelling policy should be supported. However, the provision of information and credibility are vital in order to mitigate the risk of consumer deception by self-claimed labels.     

The frustrations of digital fabrication: an auto/ethnographic exploration of ‘3D Making’ in school

Following initial educational enthusiasms for ‘Making’ technologies and the ‘Maker Movement’, increasing numbers of students are now using digital fabrication programs and equipment in school. Given the current lack of empirical research exploring the realities of Making as a school activity, this paper presents an in-depth auto/ethnographic account of 3D printing—currently, one of the most popular Maker technologies in schools. Investigating the case of an 8 week Year 9 design project, this paper seeks to broaden understandings of how 3D printing technologies and practices are shaping “what counts” as learning within contemporary school settings. In particular, this research focuses on the experiences of Making within a school context; what is learned through these experiences; and how the process of Making in school feels. This paper highlights three key issues that have been marginalised to date in discussions of Making in schools: (1) lack of pragmatic engagement, (2) affective labour of failing; and (3) mediated alienation.