<p>Research in pre-college engineering education has been on a sharp rise in the last two decades. However, less research has been conducted to explore and characterize the engineering thinking and engagement of young children, with limited attention to children with special needs. Conversations on broadening participation and diversity in engineering usually center around gender, socio-economic status, race and ethnicity, and to a lesser extent on neurodiversity. Autism is the fastest growing neurodiverse population who have the potential to succeed in engineering. In order to promote the inclusion of children with autism in engineering education, we need to gain a deep understanding of their engineering experiences. </p> <p> </p> <p>The overarching research question that I intend to answer is <i>how do children with mild autism engage in engineering design tasks</i>? Grounding this study in theories of Constructivism and Defectology, I focused on children’s engagement in engineering design practices and the ways their parents supported their engagements. To engage children with mild autism in engineering, I have developed an engineering design activity by considering suggestions from these theories and previous literature on elementary-aged children’s engagement in engineering design, and by focusing on individuals with mild autism strengths in STEM. This activity provides opportunities for children to interact with their parents while solving engineering design problems. The families are asked to use a construction kit and design their solutions to the problem introduced in the engineering design activity. The engineering design activity consists of a series of five challenges, ranging from well- to ill-structed.</p> <p> </p> <p>This is an exploratory qualitative case study, using a multiple case approach. These cases include 9-year-old children with autism and their families. Video recordings of the families are the main source of data for this study. Triangulation of data happens through interviewing parents and children, pictures of children’s artifacts (i.e. their prototypes), and use of the Empathizing-Systemizing survey to capture background information and autism characteristics. Depending on the data source, I utilized different methods including video analysis, thematic analysis and artifact analysis. </p> <p>This study expands our understanding of what engineering design can look like when enacted by children with mild autism, particularly as engineering design is considered to be a very iterative process with multiple phases and actions associated with it. The findings of this study show that these children can engage in all engineering design phases in a very iterative process. Similarities and differences between these children’s design behaviors and the existing literature were discussed. Additionally, some of the behaviors these children engaged in resemble the practices of experienced designers and engineers. The findings of this study suggest that while children were not socially interacting with their family members when addressing the challenges, their parents played an important role in their design engagement. Parents used different strategies during the activity that supported and facilitated children’s engineering design problem-solving. These strategies include soliciting information, providing guidance, assisting both verbally and hands-on, disengagement and being a student of the child. </p> <p> </p> This study provides aspirations for future research with the aim to promote the inclusion of children with neurodiversity. It calls for conducting similar research in different settings to capture the engineering design engagement of children with mild autism when interacting with teachers, peers, siblings in different environments. Additionally, the findings of this study have implications for educators and curators of engineering learning resources.

Kurr is a foodtech startup developing a mobile app with the purpose of answering the question “what to eat?”. The company has built a brand identity in order to stand out among the more than 5,7 apps available in the biggest mobile app markets. As a part of the brand identity, the company aims to implement the emotion of ‘relief’ in the interactions between the app and its users. A unique attribute of ‘relief’ is that it must always appear immediately after some other aroused emotion. The objective of this study was to examine if it is possible to evoke ‘relief’ through a mobile app. Design thinking was the method applied in this study. The method has a big focus on the human, the users of the app in this case, by conducting interviews and user testing throughout the whole process. Phases of generating a big amount of ideas have alternated with phases of filtering out the best ones. To trigger the emotion of ‘relief’, the user flow was split into the following steps; 1. make it easy to get started, 2. motivate to keep on and charge up ‘joy’, 3. generate a climax of the preceding emotion, and 4. evoke the feeling of ‘relief. These steps were then implemented in a prototype. The prototype was later tested and the test results did not show evidence of how the emotion of ‘relief’ can be evoked through a mobile app, but it suggested that the result could differ if the tests were conducted in a real-life situation instead of a test environment. The research showed a significant result that the emotion of ‘joy’ was evoked when interacting with the prototype. The validity of the result should be further investigated though, with new user tests in a real-life environment and with a higher number of participants.

The human body has been considered to be an active element and is a common starting point of fashion design processes. However, during these processes, understanding of the body and how it is used to design is often confined by the body’s standard spatial and structural characteristics. The research presented in this thesis aimed to examine body alternatives in fashion design processes in order to explore and open up for alternative body expressions for developing silhouettes for clothing.  Alternative aesthetic approaches and understandings of the body as a design tool were researched through experimental explorations, reflections, dialogue, and discussions. These created an embodied dialogue between thought and execution which was further developed and informed by the EDI (Embodied Design Ideation) framework for analysing and refining understandings of the interactions between the body, materials, and movement. These explorations and their outcomes bridge the theory of research for the art and research for art and design.   The explorations were based on the varied ways in which the body is perceived during body-material interactions, and were explored through movement, human-technology interfaces, and an exploratory workshop conducted at the Swedish School of Textiles. These explorations expanded our understanding of the body’s aesthetics in relation to material interactions and embodied experiences. The explorations questioned our preconceived conceptions of the body and facilitated a process of re-learning these through fashion design.  The results of the explorations were alternative methods and tools that use the body as a central variable in fashion design. The research culminated in the development of conceptions of the body in design processes that increase the design possibilities by introducing new concepts, tools, and methods. The body alternatives developed provide an openness in terms of design thinking and introduce conceptions of the body that can facilitate or improve design practice. The results have implications for design methods and contribute to methods in general and fashion design education programmes in terms of how they facilitate design processes.

Background – Under the acceleration in globalising tendencies of monopoly capitalism aided by social hyper-connectivity and a supply of cheap international labour, fashion companies struggle to find sufficient agency to manoeuvre their way out of the unsustainable, self-inflicted problems. Since fashion companies' rhetoric on sustainability matters is often far ahead of corporate action, it requires further development and engagement by all actors. Purpose – The purpose is to investigate motivational bases for the engagement in sustainability development (SD) among employees and review the compatibility between management control systems (MCSs) in order to incentivise sustainable behaviour. Methodology – With the Design Thinking approach as baseline, a single case study design is guided by both the resource-based view as well as institutional theory to explore individuals’ motivation for engaging in SD and identify MCS misalignment inefficiencies from a bottom-up perspective. Primary data is sought through semi-structured interviews with employees of the case company, which is complemented by secondary data documents and a conceptual framework grounded in literature. The data is analysed qualitatively and quantitatively through iterative coding cycles in MAXQDA. Findings – The data not only reveals the relative importance of different determining variables of sustainable behaviour at three institutional context levels of analysis, but also allows for their categorisation into behavioural progressions in engaging in SD. Even though varying motivational bases respond to different external stimuli depending on the personal interest in sustainability topics, findings on misalignment inefficiencies point towards informal MCSs requiring reinforcement by formal MCSs. Here, a lack of knowledge or perceived incompatibility with conventional business practices hamper transformational change in SD. Implications – The single case study implies that even though dominant cultural controls have institutionalised sustainability awareness among employees, the fashion SME needs to support the engagement of employees in SD with strong sustainability leadership showing courage behind conviction and assigning clear responsibilities as well as a personal purpose to the corporate sustainability missions. Additionally, MCSs need to be set up that allow for an enhanced learning culture and increase the flow of ideas even beyond corporate walls. Since findings are limited to the single case study as well as to its institutional context, this research refers to general implication of institutional theory with resource-dependent arguments as suggested by Oliver (1997) to incentivise the engagement of employees in SD. Originality– The novelty of the work lies within the Design Thinking approach, as employee profiles on progressive behaviour for engaging in SD are theorised and crucial MCSs incentivising these specific motivational bases are derived for the case company. In addition, the ideation process leads to the theoretical establishment of an incentivisation network in which social relationships between departments are rewarded that enable collaboration, creativity and productivity in favour of SD based on Social Physics.

This thesis aims to depict Syrian refugees' detrimental livelihoods in the area of Izmir, Turkey and to through mapping, prototyping building and analysing two live projects - developed using a combination of Participatory Action Research and Design Thinking - provide examples on how architects and architecture students can work within the field of displacement. The projects are in two different contexts and have been carried out by students at Umeå School of Architecture, including the authors of this paper. The first is about creating a multi-use activity space at the rooftop of TIAFI community centre, located in Basmane - a refugee dense area in the city of Izmir. The second one is based in the nomadic labour camps in the farmlands of Torbali - a peripheral city to Izmir.

Healthcare systems need to adjust services and methods to accommodate the needs, desires, and capabilities of people. Experience-Based Co-Design (EBCD) is the state of the art in participatory service design within the UK National Health Service (NHS), that draws upon design tools and ways of thinking in order to bring healthcare staff and patients together to improve the quality of care. The Co-design process that is integral to the EBCD approach is powerful but also challenging, as it requires active collaboration among multidisciplinary teams, including organizational stakeholders (e.g., investors, managers, advocates, etc.), end-users (e.g., staff, patients, carers, etc.), designers/researchers, and developers. Over the last decade, given the evaluation of the EBCD approach, there has been a gap between theory and practice resulting in limited outcomes in healthcare service improvements. Systematic reviews suggest this low success results from the lack of a systematic elaboration of Co-Design methods, limited tools and insufficient guidance on the ideation process, the tendency to develop a solution without enough divergent thinking, and a poor structure of participation. In order to improve health care services and address the gaps mentioned, we propose a methodology called Double Hexagon, that includes principles of Co-Design, Human-Centred Design, and Design Thinking. This framework is a Human-Centred Design framework that seeks to assist designers and non-designers in moving from designing “product” categories to designing for “people” by providing a concrete and step-by-step realization for “Designing for People”. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

As the number of immigrants in Sweden rises, the demand for alternative methods for language learning increases simultaneously. The use of social robots for teaching a second language is a promising field. The following research question has been designed to identify how social robots can be improved to better suit second language learners. The research question is: Which criteria are important for the user experience when interacting with a language cafe robot? The main method used to answer the question is Design Thinking with the help of semi-structured interviews. The results were 12 criteria which can be implemented for social robots in the future. The research has also studied how the criteria can be implemented in robots and to what degree the robot Furhat developed by Furhat robotics has implemented the criteria today. / I takt med det stigande antalet immigranter i Sverige ökar efterfrågan på alternativa metoder för språkinlärning. Användningen av sociala robotar för att undervisa andraspråk är ett lovande fält. Följande forskningsfråga har utformats för att identifiera hur sociala robotar kan förbättras för att anpassas till elever som lär sig andraspråk. Forskningsfrågan lyder enligt följande: Vilka kriterier är viktiga för användarupplevelsen när man interagerar med en språkcaférobot? Den huvudsakliga metoden som används för att svara på frågan är Design Thinking med hjälp av semistrukturerade intervjuer. Resultatet var 12 kriterier som kan implementeras för sociala robotar i framtiden. Rapporten har också studerat hur kriterierna kan implementeras i robotar och i vilken grad roboten Furhat som utvecklats av Furhat Robotics har implementerat kriterierna idag.

Being innovative allows organizations to be part of the rapid competitive and environmental shifts and requires the development of knowledge as it builds the pathway of innovation. Since most companies find it troublesome to effectively utilize their existing knowledge towards innovations and literature lacks to offer solutions, this study aims to determine factors that contribute to an enhancement of the spiral of knowledge as well as to develop a concept that provides counselling for business and academia on how to overcome this issue. Therefore, this study contributes with new insights to the field of research in knowledge management and innovation management as well as to organizations with a concept on how to operationalize knowledge management towards innovation. Based on literature review on innovation management, knowledge management and organizational agility, a hypothesis was established that claimed that agile feedback loops at the spiral of knowledge would facilitate the utilization of knowledge management towards innovation. Expert interviews allowed the identification of factors that are relevant for tapping the potential of knowledge towards innovation. The analysis of their responses disclosed a common request to include feedback during the knowledge transformation but also revealed that design thinking and an innovative organizational culture are further relevant factors. Thus, the study postulates a concept that refines the spiral of knowledge to the ‘spiral of knowledge and innovation’, which extents the ‘spiral of knowledge’ with agile feedback loops, design thinking as well as an innovative organizational culture.

<p>This research investigated the influence and relationship of two cognitive diversity frameworks on student design team knowledge integration capabilities and team contribution among seventy-five (75) student teams in Purdue’s Tech 120: Design Thinking in Technology course. </p> <p> </p> <p>When in cognitively diverse teams, students do not effectively integrate the knowledge available to them. Past research results in this area have further demonstrated that students tend to get worse at collaboration as the cognitive differences emerge and are exposed over time. The costs of this lack of collaboration and assimilation of knowledge assets are significant, such as diminished creativity, coordination, and other team performance measures. The purpose of this study then, was to provide student design teams with models or frameworks for visualizing and understanding the cognitive diversity available to them in their team and test the impact these frameworks have on various measures of team effectiveness: knowledge integration, psychological safety, and individual contribution. </p> <p> </p> <p>Cognitive diversity frameworks in question have been used successfully in various industry and organizational settings. The first, is the FourSight Thinking Profile™. This framework is used to understand one’s creative problem-solving preferences and how those preferences (high, neutral, and low) impact group dynamics. The second, is the AEM-Cube®. This framework draws on several theoretical foundations to assess an individua’s patterns of thinking and responses to change. Both the FourSight Thinking Profile™ and the AEM-Cube® have shown to help teams in industry settings collaborate (DeCusatis, 2008; Reynolds & Lewis, 2017), but their use in educational settings to solve the knowledge integration and team contribution problem in student teams is untested. </p> <p> </p> <p>The nearly 470 students in Purdue’s TECH 120 course were organized into teams ranging from 3-5 members by their instructors, thus creating a total of 129 teams. The researcher then divided the 129 teams into two fairly equal treatment groups. Each treatment group was given one of two cognitive diversity assessments (FourSight or AEM-Cube) to complete individually, time to review the results, and then asked to create a team charter or contract where students discussed cognitive strengths and weaknesses and how they planned to manage those assets and deficiencies as they worked on a 4-week long design thinking project. Only 75 teams completed all steps of the treatment (either FourSight or AEM-Cube) and thus were the focus of analysis. </p> <p> </p> <p>The major conclusions of this study are that while neither the FourSight or AEM-Cube frameworks for cognitive diversity were more effective in raising student knowledge integration capability or overall team contribution, these frameworks did not negatively impact the student experience; high levels of psychological safety were maintained among both more homogeneous teams and those that were more heterogeneous; and higher levels of knowledge integration capabilities and team contribution were achieved by students in varying degrees of diversity of creative problem-solving preferences and strategic agility. While the reason(s) for such high scores for knowledge integration capability, team member contribution, and psychological safety are unknown, the students reported that the processes by which these teams integrated their knowledge assets and solicited the contribution of their team members was both positive and effective. </p> <p> </p> <p>Further research into the effectiveness of the treatment, the influence of demographic diversities on team functions, and the experience of the 54 student teams that did not complete the treatment are needed to elucidate and understand the findings of this study. </p>

Objective: Increased prenatal care satisfaction is associated with positive clinical and business outcomes. Despite a link between pre-visit preparation interventions and patient satisfaction, little is known about the development of digital pre-visit interventions to improve prenatal patient satisfaction. Methods: A two-phase approach was employed. In the first phase, a mixed-methods survey was deployed to establish determinants of patient satisfaction, to identify unmet patient needs, determine current preparation practices and determine what visit patients felt the least prepared for. A convenience sample of 87 prenatal patients completed a self-administered survey on a tablet within 4 weeks of their estimated due date. In the second phase, a combination of participant interviews and staff workshops followed a Design Thinking methodology to co-design a prototype intervention to help patients prepare for their visit. Results: Of the participants surveyed, 94.1% reported feeling satisfied with their prenatal care. Visit preparedness was found to be a statistically significant predictor of overall satisfaction. Preparedness was lowest in early pregnancy and for primigravida patients. Patients reported a mismatch between high informational needs and low visit frequency in early pregnancy. To fulfill their information needs, participants conducted frequent research on their pregnancy, often using digital resources such as websites, peer-forums, mobile applications and social media. Participants reported low satisfaction with system characteristics of their care, citing the wait time needed to see their provider, time spent in the waiting room and a lack of flexibility in appointment scheduling as pain points in their care. Utilizing a Design Thinking approach, a prototype digital on-boarding package was co-developed with patients and clinic staff. Conclusions for Practice: Implementation of a digital on-boarding package for patients ahead of their first visit has the potential to fulfill informational needs and set expectations for their care journey, which in turn can increase preparedness and satisfaction. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / Satisfied patients are more likely to have better health outcomes, are more likely to provide a positive review about their care provider and are less likely to pursue malpractice claims. One possible way to make patients more satisfied is to better prepare them for visits with their doctor. This study explored the current pregnancy experience of patients at an obstetrics clinic in Niagara and combined patient and staff input to come up with potential ways to help them prepare. Most patients were satisfied with their care, especially ones who said they felt well prepared for their visits. Patients in their first pregnancy felt least prepared for their visits. Patients in early pregnancy shared that they had many questions and that they wished they could have seen their physician earlier. To help patients, a digital on-boarding package was designed to answer patients’ questions and connect them with trustworthy resources.