Based on the results of numerous studies, researchers have found that metacognition, or the ability to "think about thinking," plays a significant role in students' design education. Educators are increasingly focused on metacognition in design education, not only with the subject matter, but also with the development of metacognitive skills for self-regulated and lifelong learning. Since the early 2000s, there have been an increasing number of studies on the role of metacognition in education. However, there is a lack of research on the nature of metacognitive processing in design education and how metacognitive strategies develop in design students. This study focuses on the process of learning, in terms of design thinking, and specifically on the role of metacognitive learning. The purpose of the inquiry is to extend metacognitive theory to design learning and uncover the factors and influences of metacognitive thinking and learning during a student's first year in the Design Lab. In this study, the researcher probed the students' metacognitive ability in different design learning-tasks. The research frames metacognitive aspects of students' learning based on evidence obtained from students while they were working in the Design Lab. The evidence is as follows: verbal description (oral or written), experiential (videos or notes about people in action) and artifactual objects of the learning process (sketches and models). The field studies utilized a constructivist paradigm to examine the various forms of thinking in action, and the actions that occur during a learning-task. Verbal protocol analysis of video recordings of students engaged in selected learning design tasks was used to uncover the metacognitive thinking that develops during the execution of the learning-task. The researcher used a thematic data analysis process to develop an understanding of the data and identify common themes that arose from the investigation. Themes were generated through the interpretation of the data in light of the literature reviewed, the research questions, and the researcher's personal knowledge and intuition. The cyclical process of metacognitive thinking for design students was examined based on three main categories: Reflective process knowledge, reflective process monitoring, and reflective process control. The research reveals that metacognitive thinking plays an important role in design idea generation and development, and is an important part of the creative process in design. As one would expect, based on metacognitive theory, the differences between high-performing and low-performing students are well explained. High-performing students focused more on metacognitive thinking, especially monitoring their design process, while low-performance students were more concerned with cognition, or doing the task. The findings have added new knowledge to the fields of metacognition and self-regulated learning by identifying the conscious thinking process that occurs when students engage in design learning in the first year Design Lab. This knowledge will be helpful to design educators in formulating design learning-tasks for students in their labs in tandem with fully utilizing the environment of their school. / Ph. D. / Researchers have indicated that metacognition or the ability to “think about thinking” plays a significant role in the education of design students. Educators are focusing on metacognition in design education not only to improve students’ performance in design education but also to improve students’ metacognitive skills that can be utilized for self-regulated and lifelong learning. Although there have been increasing number of studies on metacognition in the past decade, there is still a need to further investigate metacognition in design education and also how to develop metacognitive strategies in design students. This study focuses on the influence of metacognition on designers thinking and learning process. The purpose of this research is to extend the current metacognition theories to design environment and uncover the factors and influences of metacognitive thinking and learning during a student’s first year in the Design Lab. In this study the researcher used different design learning-tasks to better understand students’ metacognitive abilities, which is done by analyzing the data acquired from students while they were engaged in the Design Lab. The following types if data was acquired: verbal description (oral or written), experiential (videos or notes about people in action) and artifactual objects of the learning process (sketches and models. To better understand students’ metacognitive thinking, they were video/audio taped as they worked on the design learning-tasks. The researcher used a thematic data analysis process to extract the common themes that existed in the data. Themes were generated by interpreting students’ actions in light of the reviewed literature, the research questions, and the personal knowledge and intuition of the researcher. Metacognitive thinking is divided in to three main subcategories: Reflective process knowledge, reflective process monitoring, and reflective process control. Results indicated that the metacognitive thinking plays an important role in the generation and development of design ideas and is an important part of the creative process in design. The metacognitive theory was able to clearly explain the differences between High-performance and Low-performance students. High-performing students focused more on metacognitive thinking, especially monitoring their design process, while low-performance students were more concerned with cognition, or doing the task. The findings have added new knowledge to the fields of metacognition and self-regulated learning by identifying the conscious thinking process that occurs when students engage in design learning in the first year Design Lab. This knowledge will be helpful to design educators in formulating design learning-tasks for students in their labs in tandem with fully utilizing the environment of their school.

The problems existent within the built environment are inherently complex due to the interactions between different stakeholders, structures, and systems. The reductionist approach vastly utilized by engineers is not appropriate for dealing with this complexity. Engineers need to be trained to think in systems in order to fully explore the design problem space and therefore identify appropriate design solutions. The study here presented investigates the possibility of the use of concept mapping as an intervention to prime engineering students to think in systems. In the study, 66 engineering students were given two problem framing tasks. Half of the sample received the priming intervention before each task. The control and the intervention group were compared across different metrics. The time spent on the task and length of responses were used as measures of cognitive effort. The number of systems mentioned and the semantic distance between words used in each response were the metrics used for exploration of the design space. Results of the analysis for one of the tasks were significant. The findings suggest that the participants who received the concept mapping priming intervention were able to sustain cognitive effort longer and explore a wider design problem space. / Master of Science / The problems existent within the built environment present interdependencies that need to be identified before suitable solutions can be designed. Engineers need to be able to identify and understand these complex relationships. However, engineers are instead trained and prompted to apply a reductionist approach to problem solving, which isolates parts of a system in order to reduce complexity and facilitate the design process. Concept maps, a graphical tool utilized to display the relationships between concepts and ideas in a hierarchical form, could be used to assist engineers on applying a more holistic approach to problem solving. This research investigates if concept mapping activities can affect engineering students' ability to think in systems and consider all the variables behind a design problem. Participants in the study had to identify and describe everything that could be improved about two different systems familiar to Virginia Tech students. Half of the participants were asked to draw a concept map about each system before each task. All responses were compared between the group that did the concept mapping activity and the group that did not do it. The length in time and words of the responses, the number of systems mentioned, and the originality of the words used by each participant were the metrics utilized to compare the groups. Results suggest that concept mapping can be used as a tool to assist engineering students explore the design problem space more fully.

The aim of the research is to identify core conditions that support increased delivery of sustainability in the built environment. The selected methodology is constructive research, which is distinguished by the dual focus on practical industry perspectives and theoretical knowledge. The first research question examines how Target Value Design (TVD), an integrated design management process, can elicit better delivery of sustainability values. This is developed through case study research of an exemplary design team and project. The findings identify a gap in the capability of the team to adopt a whole systems approach in order to make explicit the values of sustainable prosperity and develop a unified vision. This provides the basis for the second research question - how can design teams gain an understanding of the systemic nature of sustainability, and how can this understanding impact the design process? �The research proposes an intervention method that aligns learning models from the disciplines of experiential learning cycles, design thinking, behavior modeling, systems thinking and unified vision. This integrated approach leverages creative design activities to capture the learning potential for individual skills and team building. �While the research acknowledges the limitations from the testing of a single workshop experiment, post-workshop data suggests the intervention framework is sufficiently robust and versatile enough to adapt to individual workshop circumstances. �The key research outcome is the importance of the people in the process of collaborative design, in their ability to envision a future state of sustainable prosperity and articulate explicit actionable values. / Ph. D.

No / Nurses who develop high level critical thinking skills, such as those required for mentorship have become a human commodity. In light of this phenomenon this paper will critically investigate whether such skills have the capacity to create purposeful opportunities for learning, whilst improving career prospects and ultimately enhancing patient care.

This study sought to generalize the Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles (PICTS) factor structure using the PICTS-Layperson (PICTS:L) in a community sample. The current study also sought to replicate previous findings that criminal thinking mediates the relationship between trauma and criminal behavior. Additionally, this study sought to explore if and/or how experiential avoidance (EA) contributes to the relationships between post-traumatic symptoms (PTS) and criminal thinking, and criminal thinking and criminal behavior. Community members recruited through Mturk, completed online measures of PTS, EA, criminal thinking, criminal behavior, and a demographics questionnaire. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), which was conducted to assess the PICTS:L factor structure in an online community sample, demonstrated the hierarchical second order factor structure was a good fit after problem items were removed. Mediation analyses results found that criminal thinking mediated the relationship between PTS and criminal behavior therefore replicating previous findings. Moderated mediation analyses were conducted to determine if EA moderates the relationships between PTS and criminal thinking, and criminal thinking and behavior. Findings suggest that EA plays a significant role, particularly for women who endorse relatively low EA. These and exploratory findings, limitations, implications, and future directions for work in these areas are discussed.

Syfte: Studien avser att kvalitativt undersöka faktorer som underlättar initiala samarbeten och långsiktiga relationer, mellan konsulter och deras uppdragsgivare. Med konsultföretagens design thinkers som utgångspunkt, kommer samarbetsprocessen och relationsskapandet att analyseras, för att på så sätt uppnå djupare förståelse i ämnet. Metod: Studien har genomförts kvalitativt och en iterativ forskningsansats har antagits. Tre kreativa företagskonsulter har intervjuats och en pilotintervju har genomförts. Ett målinriktat urval antogs och intervjuerna var semistrukturerade. Empiri: Vår empiriska data består av tre kvalitativa intervjuer med representanter från olika konsultföretag, som arbetar med design thinking. Följande personer har intervjuats: Eva-Karin Anderman, Robert Bau och Helena Frisk . Teorier: Business-to-Business, Service Dominant Logic of Marketing, Project Marketing, Inter-Organizational Projects, Client-Consultant Interaction, Relationship Marketing, The Firm-Client Relationship och Successful Innovation. Slutsatser: Studien har funnit ett antal faktorer som konsulterna arbetar med för att bilda och vårda affärsrelationer med sina uppdragsgivaret. Dessa innefattar värdeskapande processer tillsammans med sina kunder och användare i en social interaktionen / Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to explore factors that facilitate initial collaborations and long-term relationships between consultants and their clients. From the consultants perspective (who works with design thinking), the formation and maintenance of business relationships will be analyzed in order to achieve a deeper understanding. Methodology: The study was conducted qualitatively and an iterative research approach has been adopted. Three creative business consultants have been interviewed and a pilot interview was conducted. A targeted selection was adopted and the interviews were semi- structured. Empirical foundation: Our empirical data consists of three interviews with representatives from various consulting firms, working with design thinking. Those who participated in the interviews are: Eva-Karin Anderman, Robert Bau and Helena Frisk. Theoretical perspectives: Business-to-Business, Service Dominant Logic of Marketing, Project Marketing, Inter-Organizational Projects, Client-Consultant Interaction, Relationship Marketing, The Firm-Client Relationship and Successful Innovation. Conclusions: The study has found a numberous of factors that consultants work to form and cherish business relationships with their clients. These include value-added processes with its customers and users in a social interaction.

Electronic service in the public sector is a unique tool to facilitate communication between citizens and their government. These services have a lot of advantages such as making life easier for citizens, time saving, increasing reliability and reducing the cost on the government side. Delivering reliable and easy digital services is obviously a crucial demand for the satisfaction for the end user which is the Swedish citizen in this survey. When electronic services do not satisfy user needs, the cost increases and confidence against authorities decreases. This study aims to give an understanding of how authorities create their electronic services pursuing citizens’ confidence. The theoretical framework of the research aims to describe restrictions and facilities in the process of creating an electronic service. The study targeted four authorities: Arbetsförmedlingen, Försäkringskassan, Migrationsverket and Skatteverket, which all were interviewed through semi-structured interviews with open questions and answers and data has been collected. The study finds that involving users in the development process leads to increasing confidence. The theoretical framework and empirical study have resulted in a new model to identify restrictions while creating new electronic services, which are time and law- changes. / Lagändringar och krav som regeringen ställer på statliga myndigheter ger upphov till att dessa konsekvent måste digitalisera mer, arbeta effektivare och användarinvolverat. I samband med utökade digitaliseringen blir e-tjänsterna mer komplexa och därmed svåra för medborgarna att använda och lita på informationen. När e-tjänsterna inte uppfyller användarnas behov ökar kostnaderna och förtroendet för myndigheten minskar. Studien avser att ge förståelse om hur myndigheter utvecklar sina e-tjänster i strävan efter ökat förtroende. Studiens teoretiska ramverk ämnar beskriva vilka begränsningar och möjligheter myndigheterna kan identifiera i samband med skapandet av nya e-tjänster för att öka medborgarnas förtroende. Urvalet bestod av fyra statliga myndigheter som rangordnades först och sist i SOMs listan 2012-2013. Respondenterna var: Arbetsförmedlingen, Försäkringskassan, Migrationsverket och Skatteverket. Studiens empiriska data har inhämtats genom semistrukturerade intervjuer. I studien utgick vi från ett abduktivt angreppssätt där öppna frågor ställdes. Studien kom fram till att användarinvolvering under utvecklingsprocessen leder till ökat förtroende. Teoretiska ramverket och studiens empiri har gett upphov till en ny modell för att identifiera begränsningar vid skapandet av nya e-tjänster, vilka är tid och lagändringar.

Thesis (MEd)--University of Stellenbosch, 2001. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Many students that embark on higher education do not have study and thinking skills that are sufficiently well developed in order for them to become autonomous, selfdirected learners. This is partly due to the fact that the historically authoritarian and rigid approaches to teaching in some schools have discouraged independent thought. Other contributory factors such as negative beliefs, attitudes and dispositions, and distorted concepts of the self and of learning, also prevent effective learning from taking place. The focus of this research is a study and thinking skills programme. This programme is part of a four week bridging course for freshmen at the University of Stellenbosch. It is based on a comprehensive rationale derived from cognitive education theory, comprising a number of well known theorists such as Piaget, Vygotsky, Feuerstein and Lozanov. This is further supplemented by instruments from authors in the field of thinking skills (de Bono, Buzan). The purpose of this research was to identify elements of the programme which might be responsible for aspects of transformative learning, as defined by Mezirow in his Transformative Learning Theory. These aspects initially became apparent from students' responses in post-programme evaluations. The responses represented an unexpected outcome, as Mezirow's theory was not represented in the programme's rationale. Eight criteria were developed from Mezirow's theory, operationalised as questions, and then utilized to assess transformative learning in the context of the programme. In a conceptual analysis, four categories of the programme (the rationale, the objectives, the course material and implementation procedures) were compared and contrasted with criteria from Transformative Learning Theory. From this analysis it was apparent that several criteria of Transformative Learning Theory were present in the programme: it facilitated learning in both instrumental and communicative domains; it provided opportunities to explore meaning structures and to investigate distorted meaning perspectives; and it instigated disorientating or conflicting experiences with regard to these. Some criteria were absent from the programme in that it failed to promote rational discourse according Mezirow's definition, it did not adequately promote reflection on premises, and it did not intentionally address the transformation of meaning perspectives. These three omissions may be traced to the lack of an "adult learning" focus in the programme's theoretical structure. Despite this, a number of parallels were identified which may explain the representation of Mezirow's criteria in the programme, and hence the students' responses. Conclusions are drawn regarding a theoretically justified view of transformative learning in the context of the Study and Thinking Skills (S&TS) programme, and practical implications for educators are explained. Finally, recommendations are made for enhancing trans formative learning within the Study and Thinking Skills (S&TS) programme, and for the design of similar programmes. Recommendations are also proposed for further research in this area which, in the contemporary South African educational context, clearly deserves more attention in adult education and related settings. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Talle studente wat tot hoer onderwys toetree se studie en denkvaardighede is me voldoende ontwikkeld om as outonome, selfgerigte leerders sukses te kan behaal nie. Dit is deels toe te skryf aan die outoritere en rigiede benaderings tot onderwys in sommige skole, wat selfstandige denke ontmoedig. Daar is egter ook ander belemmerende faktore soos studente se negatiewe houdings en verkeerde opvattings van leer en van hulself wat verhinder dat effektiewe leer plaasvind. Die fokus van hierdie navorsing is 'n Studie- en Denkvaardigheidprogram (S&TS). Hierdie program vorm deel van 'n vier week lange oorbruggingsprogram vir eerstejaarstudente aan die Universiteit van Stellenbosch. Die program is gebaseer op 'n omvattende rasionaal vanuit die kognitiewe opvoedkunde perspektief wat die werk van 'n aantal bekende teoretici (Piaget, Vygotsky, Feuerstein en Lozanov) insluit en word aangevul met oefeninge deur outeurs in die veld van denkvaardighede (De Bono en Buzan). Die doel van die navorsmg was om elemente van die program te identifiseer wat verantwoordelik kon wees vir aanduidings van transformatiewe leer, soos gedefinieer deur Mezirow in sy Transformatiewe Leerteorie. Hierdie aanduidings spruit uit studente se response tydens evalueringsessies na afloop van die program. Transformatiewe leeruitkomste was onverwags, omdat Mezirow se teorie nie verteenwoordig was in die rasionaal waarvolgens die program ontwerp is nie. Agt kriteria wat uit Mezirow se teorie ontwikkel kon word, is geoperasionaliseer en in vraagvorm gebruik om die inhoud van die program te analiseer. Die kriteria is as verteenwoordigend van transformatiewe leer in die konteks van 'n studie en denkvaardigheidsprogram beskou. In die analise van die inhoud is vier kategoriee van die program (die rasionaal, die doelstellings, die kursusmateriaal en die implementerings-prosedures) vergelyk en gekontrasteer met die kriteria vanuit die Transformatiewe Leerteorie. Uit hierdie analise het geblyk dat die program aan sekere kriteria voldoen, naamlik dat dit leer in be ide die kommunikatiewe en intrumentele domeine fasiliteer; geleenthede skep om betekenisstrukture te verken en versteurde betekenisperspektiewe te ondersoek; en dat dit disorienterende of konflikterende ervarings veroorsaak met betrekking tot bestaande betekenisstrukture en -perspektiewe. Sommige kriteria was glad nie verteenwoordig in die program nie. Die program het nie daarin geslaag om rasionele diskoers, volgens Mezirow se definisie daarvan, te ontlok nie.; dit het nie voldoende reflektering met betrekking tot onderliggende aannames aangemoedig nie en dit het nie doelbewus die transformasie van betekenisprespektiewe bevorder nie. Hierdie drie weglatings uit die program mag verband hou met die feit dat die teoretiese onderbou van die program nie op volwassene leer fokus nie. Ten spyte hiervan is daar egter steeds 'n aantal ooreenkomste tussen die kognitiewe ontwikkelingsteoriee en Mezirow se transformatiewe leerteorie geidentifiseer wat die verteenwoordiging van Mezirow se teorie in die program en dus die studente se response moontlik kan verklaar. Gevolgtrekkings met betrekking tot 'n teoreties geregverdigde beskouing van transformatiewe leer in die konteks van die Studie- en Denkvaardigheidprogram en die praktiese implikasies hiervan vir opvoeders, word beskryf. Ten slotte word aanbevelings gemaak om transformatiewe leer in die program te bevorder en vir die ontwerp van soortgelyke progamme.

This thesis is concerned with pragmatic factors of deontic reasoning, namely scale of violation, aggravating and mitigating circumstances and power of source. Nine experiments are reported investigating deontic reasoning and judgement revision. Experiment 1 established scale of violation as a modifying factor of a working rule with an inferential reasoning task, however, the effects were not transferred to a deductive reasoning task in Experiment 2. Scale of violation and circumstances were found to influence the reasoning of motoring violations with a major offence and aggravating circumstances being rated as more serious and receiving greater fines than a minor offence or mitigating circumstances (Experiments 3 & 4). These effects were also observed with a judgement revision task (Experiment 5). Power of source was included as an additional pragmatic factor and was found to influence the reasoning of conditional statements (Experiment 6), inducements (Experiment 7) and ratings of credibility and probability of outcomes (Experiment 8). The final study (Experiment 9) found significant effects for scale of violation / compliance and power of source within a judgement revision task. However, no difference was observed in the reasoning of superordinate and non-superordinate statements. The findings are explained in terms of the conditional probability hypothesis.

Baigiamajame magistro darbe analizuojamos dizaino strategijos, jų teoriniai modeliai bei strategijų taikymas organizacijose. Analizuojamos paslaugų dizaino, design thinking , design doing teorijos, jų strateginiai žingsniai. Atliekama mokslinių literatūros šaltinių analizė, internetinių šaltinių analizė apimanti kompanijų profilius ir tarptautinius žurnalus. Praktinėje dalyje pateikiami empirinių tyrimų (anketinės apklausos, giluminio interviu, ekspertų vertinimo) metu gauti duomenys bei SWOT analizės rezultatai, dizaino strategija UAB ACME organizacijai bei jos naudingumo analizė. Baigiamąjį magistro darbą sudaro 4 dalys : probleminė, teorinė, tiriamoji ir praktinė probleminėje dalyje aptariamas dizaino strategijų naudingumas verslui, teorinėje dalyje pristatomi dizaino strategijų teoriniai modeliai, tiriamojoje dalyje analizuojami empiriniai tyrimai praktinėje pristatoma ir analizuojama dizaino strategija. / Master thesis is oriented into analysis of design strategies and into creating design strategy for "ACME" organization. Thesis includes analysis of theoretical models of service design, design thinking, design doing. An empirical research and SWOT analysis is presented. Empirical research includes survey, follow up interview and experts survey. Practical part presents design strategy created for organization, based on theoretical analysis and results collected during research. Master thesis is oriented into analysing theoretical models and creating design strategy, evaluation of benefits of design strategy, deep analysis of organization and presenting practical plan.