Learning in Design and Technology: The Impact of Social and Cultural Influences on Modelling

The paper introduces the highly problematic nature of modelling in design and technology education and examines the relationship between cognitive and concrete modelling. Its aim is to gain insight into what learners do, rather than what others say they ought to do in their learning activities. The variety of purposes that educators have for learners’ modelling are discussed through examining the contested curriculum justification for design and technology education itself. The paper proposes that learners’ modelling cannot be extracted from the social milieu in which they act and it provides some insights of these social influences through the analysis of two case studies. Their settings are a girls’ secondary school and a college of higher education. Each case study is presented independently but organised with a common format to consider a) the impact of assessment on learning intentions and outcomes; b) cultural influences on learning and modelling; c) social influences on learning and modelling. A discussion of the emergent themes considers implications for teachers. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

An Examination of the Interaction Between Modelling and Its Relationship with Construction Kits: Lessons from the Past and for the Future

Construction kits have played a significant part in nurturing the growth and development of the minds and manipulation-based skills of children (and adults) in formal and non-formal education settings. These kits have origins rooted in the representation of the built world and now have a diversity of form and function, including technical versions with moving parts. This article examines some of the historically based ideas that lie behind the role that kits may have in terms of physical modelling. The article traces the transformation of kits from simple bricks and blocks into more complicated pieces for space-filling and achieving the transfer of forces and motion. This transformation occurred during the Victorian era when the influence of the ideas of educationalists and, perhaps rather strangely, exponents of early aviation, played major roles in determining the diversity of forms of construction kit and modelled possibilities that are now to be seen in classrooms and homes. The article ends with a review of some of the lessons from the past and present that will need to be considered in relation to concrete modelling in schools for the future. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The effect of external supply knowledge acquisition,development activities and organizational status on the supply performance of SMEs

Given the increasingly strategic role of external resources, acquiring knowledge about current suppliers and the broader supply market is an important and demanding task for the purchasing and supply management (PSM) function of a firm. Performance-improvement-oriented application of external supply knowledge present further challenges for the function. To examine this, we draw on the knowledge-based view and develop a hypothesized model in which supply knowledge acquisition drives PSM exploration and exploitation orientations which in turn mediate the organizational status of PSM function in terms of supply performance. We test the model on an SME-focused and survey-based dataset, using structural equation modelling. Our results indicate that an exploitative orientation is associated with knowledge gained from the supply base, whereas an explorative orientation is predominantly associated with supply market knowledge and less with supply base knowledge, suggesting natural pairings. The findings also show how an exploitative development orientation mediates the positive association of the PSM function's organizational status with supply performance. Driven by supply base knowledge, a status-empowered exploitative PSM orientation may suppress supply market based explorative orientation in resource-scarce SMEs, thus appearing to serve as the sole path to supply performance. Our research contributes by pointing out the significance of the knowledge-resource, and the knowledge-based view, in understanding performance in PSM.     

Measuring the impact of the approach to migration in the quality of web service interfaces

There is a good consensus on the strategic value of service-oriented architecture (SOA) as a way of structuring systems, and a common trend is to migrate legacy applications that use outdated technologies and architectures to SOA. We study the effects in the resulting Web Service interfaces of applying two traditional migration approaches combined with common ways of building services, namely, direct migration with code-first and indirect migration with contract-first. The migrated system was a 35-year-old COBOL system of a government agency that serves several millions of users. In addition, we provide a deep explanation of the trade-offs involved in following either combinations. Results confirm that the ‘fast and cheap’ approach to move into SOA, which is commonplace in the industry, may deliver poor service interfaces, and interface quality is also subject to the tools supporting the migration process.     

The Learning Tourism Destination: The potential of a learning organisation approach for improving the sustainability of tourism destinations

Globalisation, increasing complexity, and the need to address triple-bottom line sustainability have seen the proliferation of Learning Organisations (LO) who, by definition, have the capacity to anticipate environmental changes and economic opportunities and adapt accordingly. Such organisations use system dynamics modelling (SDM) for both strategic planning and the promotion of organisational learning. Although SDM has been applied in the context of tourism destination management for predictive reasons, the current literature does not analyse or recognise how this could be used as a foundation for an LO. This study introduces the concept of the Learning Tourism Destinations (LTD) and discusses, on the basis of a review of six case studies, the potential of SDM as a tool for the implementation and enhancement of collective learning processes. The results reveal that SDM is capable of promoting communication between stakeholders and stimulating organisational learning. It is suggested that the LTD approach be further utilised and explored.     

Key impact factors of visitors’ environmentally responsible behaviour: personality traits or interpretive services? A case study of Beijing’s Yuyuantan Urban Park,China

The environmentally responsible behaviour (ERB) facilitates the sustainability of tourism destinations. This study aims to identify the key impact factors to promote visitors’ ERB in urban park and examine the impact mechanism. A total of 567 visitors were surveyed in Beijing’s Yuyuantan Urban Park. Structural equation modelling results indicate that personality traits are the most important factors that affect visitors’ ERB, while the effect of how satisfaction with interpretive services plays upon visitors’ ERB using place attachment as a mediator. Openness traits positively affect satisfaction with experiential services and general behaviour. Additionally, implications in urban park management are provided.