Education is often viewed as a catalyst of change. Arguably, the future of our Planet is dependent on education that nurtures sustainable ways of thinking and living in our environment. This thesis seeks to argue that in order for abstract principles of sustainability to be understood, individuals need to have opportunities to explore and be a part of designing and experiencing their own places. Specifically, my thesis suggests that high school students in public schools should take an active part of this educational process. To test this theory, I investigated three high school sustainability programs in Austin, Texas that utilize place-based pedagogy. What was realized is that each program envisions sustainability programming that is integrative and experiential, but due to the current mechanistic education system the daily programming can be difficult. This result has led me to theorize that the entire educational system needs to be transformed in order for sustainability education to exist. However, I finally propose a more practical approach, and thus offer twelve generalized heuristic questions for sustainable design educators to consider and assist them in building social capital between themselves and the public school system. / text

My research is focused upon what industrial designers can contribute in order to mitigate environmental problems often caused by their designs. The intent is to propose a procedure to integrate eco-effectiveness at the beginning of the design process, to consider it at each stage of the product’s lifecycle, and to measure that product’s environmental performance in order to make informed design decisions. At each stage the designer can follow this flexible process, which is intended to work in conjunction with individual creative methods while prioritizing the need for eco-effectiveness. The goal is to develop a procedure that is simple enough for designers to use every day and that could also provide means of verification, rather than relying on assumptions and good intentions. I acknowledge that efforts from a single discipline are not enough. In order to address the environmental challenges we face today, collaboration among disciplines will be necessary, as well as a change of behavior and attitudes towards consumption. This is my contribution. / text

<p> The purpose of this study was to determine if students learn clinical judgment as effectively using computer-based simulations as when using high-fidelity mannequin simulations. There was a single research questions for this study: What is the difference in clinical judgment between participants completing high-fidelity human simulator mannequin simulation or computer-based simulation? A convenience sample of 50 associate degree nursing students in the last medical-surgical nursing course of their program were invited to participate in this study. Analysis of the demographic data confirmed the similarity of the two groups in terms of the potentially important confounding variables such as age, sex, education and prior healthcare experience. The score for each participant from the computer-based simulation (Simulation 2) and the percent of interventions completed in the high-fidelity human simulator simulation (Simulation 3) by each participant was added together to obtain an aggregate clinical judgment score for participants in Group C and Group M. Two-tailed <i> t</i> test for independent means was used to determine if a significant difference existed between the aggregate clinical judgment score for Group C and the aggregate clinical judgment score for Group M. Results from the test indicated that there was no difference between groups at the 95% confidence interval. The similarity of the clinical judgment scores of the computer-based simulation group to the scores of the high-fidelity mannequin simulation group indicates similar utility of the two instructional methods. The use of carefully planned and well-designed computer-based simulations can allow students to practice skills and develop confidence, self-efficacy and clinical judgment independently, freeing faculty for other instructional tasks.</p>

<p> This study utilized a multi-case, bounded case, single-site case study research design to examine how well instructional designers perceive themselves able to practice ID in health care industries. Questions central to this study focused on how instructional designers perceive their preparation to practice, usefulness of professional development organizations or affiliations in which they participated while practicing ID, both academic and non-academic curricula, and utilization of ID practices when designing and developing ID projects in health care environments. </p><p> The site selected for this study was a teaching hospital in Southeast Metropolitan Detroit, Michigan. Sampling size was limited to five instructional designers who had been working in the health care environment. Using a case study approach, convenient sampling was utilized to obtain detailed information about the experiences of instructional designers in the health care sector. Upon completion of interviews, participants had the opportunity to show completed work projects and were provided an opportunity to reflect on ID practice via journal entries over a two week time period. The constant comparative method was utilized for data analysis whereby a within-case analysis was conducted followed by a cross case analysis. Findings of this research showed that participants felt well prepared to practice ID in their respective health care environment and offered a variety of ways in which an instructional designer can explore the field of health care, how academic program administrators can collaborate with health care organizations to provide ID opportunities for students, and ways in which health care administrators can explore additional learning opportunities for their ID employees.</p>

<p> Thoughts drift in everyday life and in the classroom. The goal of this study was to investigate how often students reported off-task thinking while watching online lectures. These findings were related to working memory capacity, topic interest, and achievement goal orientations. Structural equation modeling was used to evaluate how all of these factors were related and predicted performance in the course. </p><p> In the presented findings, 126 participants completed three complex span tasks, answered a 2x2 goal orientation questionnaire, responded to eight mind-wandering probes while watching two online lectures, and rated interest in the lecture topics. </p><p> In the reported models, higher levels of mind wandering predicted lower levels of academic performance. Lower levels of working memory capacity predicted higher levels of mind wandering and lower levels of academic performance. Higher levels of topic interest predicted lower levels of mind wandering. Higher levels of mastery approach orientations (those who learn to master content) predicted higher levels of task-related interference. A novel mind wandering probe, <i>thinking about or using another technology, </i> accounted for 29% of off-task thinking. Implications of these findings and considerations for future research are discussed.</p>

This study began with questions about of the impact of co-design on my professional identity as a designer and researcher as well as the impact of this dual role on the research and its implications for innovations in design practice and education. My study conceptualized a new approach to participatory research, by combining design, participation and research in a co-design based methodology aimed to assist the members of the Street Transformation Group to collectively develop a visual communication strategy for their facilitation of co-design, providing a space for reflection about group process and project development as well as the impact The Street Transformation Group was formed in 2011 by three Vancouverites: Maya McDonald, Adam Kebede and Julien Thomas. Inspired by the City of Vancouver’s Neighbourhood’s Greenway initiative (City of Vancouver, 2011), a city policy that looks to turn streets into parks, the group created an educational and planning tool: The Green Streets Game, a board game that allows participants to discuss their ideas for a preferred community design in a collaborative, role-play scenario, leading them through a process of reflection, dialogue, and design, in order to produce a shared vision for the future of their neighbourhood. My study conceptualized a new approach to participatory research, by combining design, participation and research in a co-design based methodology aimed to assist the members of the Street Transformation Group to collectively develop a visual communication strategy for their facilitation of co-design, providing a space for reflection about group process and project development, as well as the impact of these findings on my professional identity as a designer and researcher and the implications of this dual role design practice, research and education. My conclusions focus on collaboration as a classroom strategy and the importance of personality balance and conflict management, as well as the role of designers as reflective researchers. I introduce a new model for co-design that combines elements from action research and other participatory practices with traditional design stages and conceptualizes design as a complex, multi-layered process in a state of constant transformation. The model emphasizes flexibility, allowing the process to develop and change over time and looks to provide a deeper understanding and appreciation for elements like intuition, improvisation, emotion and tacit knowledge within the design process. / Graduate

This study analyses students&rsquo / design processes within a graduation project that is devised as to approximate a real-life design task. It comprises a literature search on developments in design methodology, and two field studies, a participant observation study followed by long interviews with a selection of the observation sample. Through the literature search, a framework representing the nature of the design activity is brought together on the basis of three studies in descriptive design methodology. Together with the field studies equipped with this framework, this study sought to elucidate students&rsquo / design processes in order to provide insights for design education. Analysing students&rsquo / processes, their design problems and the academic scheme within which they operated, pertaining to their respective influences on students&rsquo / projects and progresses, implications to facilitate further developments of educational curriculum and academic schemes are reached.

This thesis analyzes the application of computer aided design tools and online collaboration environments in design education. The focus of this study is the utilization of online collaboration environments in design education in order to conduct an efficient and effective virtual design studio course. The requirements of design education and online collaboration environments will be identified and the coinciding and conflicting points will be discussed. The elements of design education / the concept generation phase of design process, peer learning in design studio and design juries will be evaluated with regard to the literature survey and the findings of the case study. The findings of the case study indicated that in concept generation phase of design process the number of concepts created was not less than a similar project in a traditional design studio and publishing students&rsquo / works to public via a shared online environment motivated students in a positive way to participate in studio activities in a positive way.

This study examines basic design courses in industrial design programs in Turkey, in terms of origins, aims and methods. The aim of the study is to inquire the differences and similarities, and to understand factors affecting the characteristics of basic design courses. A field study was conducted about the subject, which comprised of interviews with instructors of basic design courses and chairpersons in six departments offering undergraduate program in industrial design in Turkey. The field study indicated that the aims of the course in different institutions were similar, whereas the origins, methods and the content varied. Of the factors affecting basic design education, student admission procedure, background of students and the faculty that the industrial design department belonged to were found to be important. The differences among course instructors were also found to be as much significant as the institutional differences.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, School of Education, 2009. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Jul 19, 2010). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-12, Section: A, page: 4643. Adviser: David J. Flinders.