No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Product platforms holds great potential for cost effectiveness since several components are reused in different product variations. This bachelor thesis evaluates the implementation of a product platform of simple geometric products by applying the two different product development theories Design Thinking and Product Platform Concept Exploration Method(PPCEM). Design Thinking is a well-used theory which is mainly applied for development ofindividual products with the user in focus, while PPCEM is used for building large-scale and complex product platforms. In collaboration with Seldén Mast AB the possibility of creating a product platform for their product was investigated. It was accomplished by first developing the platform through Design Thinking and then theoretically recreating it through PPCEM. The difference in performance between the two theories was then analyzed. The results showed that none of the methods are individually adapted for the development of modularity for smaller products and volumes. Great importance was attached to being able to identify and define the essential correlations between the reusable components that constitute the modularity, which was most effectively achieved by combining the two theories. The study is structured by a thoroughgoing implementation of Design Thinking where several methods and models are used to support the structure of the concept for the platform. The re-creation is then based on PPCEM, where the theories methods are used as a basis for defining the conditions and foundation of the product platform. The purpose of this report is to compare the implementation of the various theories and analyze its suitability for designing a product platform for simple geometric articles.

This study aims at exploring and developing an approach for user-centred product planning for product managers in multi-product tech companies. Applying the Design Thinking methodology in this research project allows for product managers to be involved in the design process as a whole. From research and interviews with product managers it can be seen that there is a global understanding of the importance of a shift in focus towards user experience rather than product features while planning, but that there are no clear means yet to facilitate this. Through co-design with product managers as well as individual prototyping, a lo-fi prototype of a planning tool is developed and tested. The results show that the prototype successfully facilitated multi-product planning and shifted the focus from features to experiences. The methodology used can be reproduced in analogous companies and the results can be used as a starting point to continue adapting and developing the approach. / Denna studie syftar till att utforska och utveckla ett tillvägagångssätt för användarcentrerad produktplanering för produktchefer inom tekniska produktutvecklingsbolag som utvecklar flera olika samverkande produkter. Metoden Design Thinking har använts i detta forskningsprojekt, vilket möjliggjort att produktchefer kunnat att vara involverade i designprocessen som helhet. Från initiala intervjuer med produktchefer framkom det att de förstod vikten av att ha fokus på användarupplevelse snarare än produktegenskaper under planering av flerproduktslösningar, men att de i dagsläget inte finns några tydliga verktyg för att underlätta detta. Genom samdesign med produktchefer formades ett antal prototyper av ett planeringsverktyg. En Lo-Fi-prototyp utvecklades och utvärderades av produktägare. Testerna visade att multiproduktplanering framgångsrikt underlättades och flyttade fokus från funktioner till användarupplevelser. Den metodik som använts här kan reproduceras i liknande företag och resultaten kan användas som utgångspunkt för att fortsätta anpassa och utveckla arbetssättet.

This dissertation entitled, Exploring Design Thinking for Instructional Practice, is situated in the cognitive rigor of design thinking instructional practice and engineering design-based capstone courses. The content of the instructional practice connects with educators employing a wide range of intellectual activities or cognitive tasks in formulating their curriculum. Key attributes of design thinking were identified through a focused literature review with an emphasis on theoretical propositions applicable to instructional practice. This dissertation contains two manuscripts: (a) an exploration of the theoretical literature related to design thinking explicating implications for instructional practice, and (b) a case study involving a small, purposive, sample of undergraduate faculty members teaching engineering design-based courses with findings broadly applicable to design processes in college curricula. The faculty participants in the case study were educators at a large, public, research-intensive university in the southeastern region of the United States. The data analyses involved triangulation of semi-structured interviews conducted with faculty participants and their design-based course materials, including syllabi and lesson plan materials. The study's thematic findings were not tied to engineering but rather course design, design process, and course management. The findings show the utility of artifact creation for learning with understanding for everyone, not just engineers and other traditional designers. Overall, the dissertation contributes to pedagogy that promotes student-centered engagement for learning with understanding. It recommends design thinking instructional practice for inclusion in designing and making artifacts of constructed knowledge for learning with understanding engagements across the academy. / Doctor of Philosophy / This dissertation entitled, Exploring Design Thinking for Instructional Practice, integrates a wide range of intellectual activities also referred to as cognitive tasks of student-centered design thinking activities. In this dissertation, these tasks are useful for tackling problems that are not well-defined, such as, open-ended, real-world problems. Examples of this pedagogy are useful for educators considering and/or implementing design thinking in their curricula. This dissertation contains two manuscripts: (a) an exploration of the theoretical literature related to design thinking from theory to artifact making, and (b) a case study involving undergraduate faculty members teaching design thinking in design-based courses. The study's faculty participants were educators teaching engineering capstone courses at a large, public, research university in the southeastern region of the United States. Their students design and make solutions for open-ended, real-world problems that are not in textbooks and do not have "right" answers. The study's data collection phase involved interviews with the faculty participants and course materials (syllabi, lesson plan materials, handouts, and course websites). Data analysis produced three robust themes: course design, design process, and course management. These themes suggest that a design thinking instructional practice belies perceptions that design thinking is tied exclusively to engineering and other traditional design disciplines. The findings suggest that design thinking pedagogy engages students in creation of artifacts, learning with understanding, hands-on experiential learning in iterations, use of productivity tools, teamwork, and new starting points when outcomes do not meet expectations. Overall, the findings suggest design thinking pedagogy promotes student-centered design thinking activities.

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) has influenced educators to adapt design thinking (DT) for technology and engineering design-based learning (T/E DBL) because they believe design-based problems introduce authentic, open-ended challenges valuable for developing hands-on problem-solving. These integrative real-world challenges bring learners into contact with unfamiliar problems and critical incidents which kindle learners' transformative learning related to far transfer and self-directed learning. Critical incidents also correlate with learners' immediate emotional reactions to unfamiliar knowledge and challenging open-ended hands-on performances. These emotional reactions correspond with learners' critical reflection (CR) transformative for them. CR about threshold experiences relates to changes of perspective useful for managing design thinking in future design-related challenges. In addition to improved self-regulation during DT, learners experiencing critical incidents understand domain content better, and they see how to leverage it in the future. However, while researchers assume CR happens throughout design-based learning (DBL) due to its complex, open-ended challenges, the research has not documented learners' critical experiences and perceptions related to their changes of perspective during DT, nor has the research deeply described reflection critical to transformative, threshold experiences and changes of perspective related to learning. Therefore, a flexible framework for supporting learners' management of critical incidents during DT does not exist. Because learners' hands-on experiences connected to critical reflection are less understood in design thinking (DT), educators and practitioners of T/E DBL know less about scaffolding for DBL during its iterative, decision-making phases in which critical incidents likely occur. Research suggests scaffolding for critical reflection correlates with more effective, iterative design-based ideation and prototyping—for learners and experts alike. After reviewing research in T/E, the scholarship of teaching and learning, health and human sciences, and the humanistic studies, this two-phase qualitative study identifies themes about designers' emotions and exigences related to hands-on critical reflection during DT. Using the themes from this literature review, Phase 1 of this study defines critical reflection and critical reflective writing (CRW). Then, the study instruments a CRW prompt for integrating CRW into T/E DBL. Since CRW is a reflective tool that slows thinking, Phase 1 of the study uses CRW to slow DT in its iterative phases, allowing participants to express their critical, threshold experiences and changes of perspective which happen during their active, hands-on, design-based problem solving. Phase 1 of this study analyzes the nature and perceptions from three designers' CRW and discloses themes about their CR and DT for the threshold experiences and critical incidents they describe within the recursive phases of prototyping and optimization. After collecting participants' CRW during these phases, the study interprets themes for these participant's critical incidents, threshold concepts, and related changes of perspective. Phase 2 of this study uses retrospective focus group interviews with the same three participants in their design teams to describe participants' experiences and perceived relations between their CR, CRW, DT, and T/E DBL. After data collection from both phases, this qualitative study analyzes the CRWs and interview transcripts through inductive coding. The results for Phase 1 include categorical themes for Emotional Awareness, Social Awareness and Communication, Awareness of the Nature of Real-World Problem-Solving, and Holistic Awareness for Order and Arrangement in Hierarchical Problem-Solving. The categorical themes for Phase 2 include Stepping Back and Getting Perspective, Making Progress, Materializing Abstract Thinking and Less Realized Real-World Experiences, and Exploring Future Integration for CRW. Some of the categorical themes overlap for Phase 1 and Phase 2. This study contributes a broader awareness for less-expert designers' emotional exigences, threshold concepts, and transformative experiences happening during DBL, as documented through their CRW. The study informs best practices for scaffolding T/E DBL for CR, so gaps can be narrowed between less-expert and more-expert design-related performances during hands-on iteration and prototyping. This research also informs recent cross-curricular, humanistic research that integrates writing and T/E DBL in the STEM disciplines, K-18, so learners can identify and describe experiences related to metacognition and self-regulated learning across ages, disciplines, and design settings in support of self-directed learning. / Doctor of Philosophy / The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning encourages educators to adapt experiential learning and design thinking (DT) for integrative technology and engineering design-based learning (T/E DBL) because design-based problems introduce authentic, open-ended challenges valuable for developing learners' hands-on problem-solving. Integrative real-world challenges bring learners into contact with unfamiliar problems and critical incidents which kindle their critical reflection and perpetuate their transformative learning. Critical incidents correlate with learners' immediate emotional reactions to unfamiliar knowledge and challenging open-ended hands-on performances. These emotional reactions appear to correspond with critical reflection and transformative learning caused by critical incidents and threshold experiences which change their perspectives about what they know and do. Through critical reflection about critical incidents, they also see how to leverage new learning for the future. However, while researchers assume critical reflection happens throughout design-based learning (DBL) because of its complex, open-ended challenges, designers' critical experiences and perceptions related to their changes of perspective during DT have not been described in the scholarship. Therefore, a flexible framework for scaffolding learners' critical reflection necessary for managing complex, critical incidents during their design thinking does not exist. Because learners' hands-on experiences connected to critical reflection are less understood in design thinking (DT), educators and practitioners of T/E DBL know less about scaffolding for DBL during its iterative, decision-making phases of DT where critical incidents occur often during problem-solving. This two-phase qualitative study prompts, analyzes, and describes critical reflective writing and semi-structured interviews for three participants in their design teams to understand their experiences related to transformative learning happening while they are designing. The results for Phase 1 include categorical themes for Emotional Awareness, Social Awareness and Communication, Awareness of the Nature of Real-World Problem-Solving, and Holistic Awareness for Order and Arrangement in Hierarchical Problem-Solving. The categorical themes for Phase 2 include Stepping Back and Getting Perspective, Making Progress, Materializing Abstract Thinking and Less Realized Real-World Experiences, and Exploring Future Integration for Critical Reflective Writing. The study's results help educators understand what learners are doing and experiencing when they are in the middle of their design thinking. This study also shows ways to think about scaffolding CRW to support learning during DT when hands-on problem-solving becomes complex and uncertain.

This research explores how design-based learning can be used as a pedagogical strategy in K-12 classrooms to foster students' 21st century skills in such areas as communication, collaboration, and critical thinking. The research aims to identify what students and teachers who participated in a design-based learning environment perceived to be the benefits and challenges of the project. The findings are used to suggest strategies that can be used to capitalize on the benefits and mitigate the challenges of the strategy. This research employs a multiple case study methodology to investigate the unique perspectives of three audiences who participated in the study: (1) an eighth grade English teacher, (2) an eighth grade social studies teacher, and (3) fifty eighth grade students. It gives a detailed description of the results of post-implementation interviews during which participants reported on what they perceived to be the benefits and challenges of the project. The results of the interviews are utilized as the primary data source for the findings. The study reveals that a majority of the participants perceived that students benefitted from the environment. They gained skills in communication and collaboration, developed the ability to empathize by exploring multiple perspectives, gained real-world experience that prepared them for their future by solving problems they identified in their immediate world, and gained knowledge and skills from a variety of disciplines. The teachers also benefitted from the environment in that they gained a new respect for their students' skills and abilities, explored and re-defined their own pedagogical philosophies, and improved their own design thinking skills. While participants reported multiple benefits to the learning environment, they also acknowledged several challenges. Time was a challenge for everyone involved. Teachers perceived keeping students motivated when they faced ambiguity and assessing students to be a challenge. They also noted that administrative support for design-based learning is a challenge that must be overcome in order for wide-scale adoption to be realized. While students also identified many challenges to the environment, they consistently acknowledged that the challenging aspects - communication, collaboration, exploring multiple perspectives, managing real-world constraints, and critical thinking - were ultimately beneficial. The findings translate to an overarching message that design-based learning is hard, but it's worth it. / Ph. D.

Introduction. A part of the standard testing procedure on high voltage cables is the measuring of the volume resistivity in the different semi-conductive layers. A need for improvement has been realized because of the increased frequency of testing, which is a result of the recent expansion of cable production of NKT in Karlskrona. Objective. The objectives of the thesis are to firstly discover what the needs are for improvements within the method of conducting volume resistivity measurements on high voltage cables. Secondly, following these discoveries, solving the problems by developing new products. Method. The method for the thesis work is divided into two parts, performing a case study on the current measurement method, and product development for the new solutions. The case study was conducted mainly by gathering empirical data through interviews and observations. The product development process started with ideation for solutions, followed by prototyping, and lastly, a validation process to test the new solutions through experiments and lead used testing. The entirety of the work was conducted through a design thinking approach. Result. From the case study it was discovered that two main issues needed to be addressed, being a new solution for a measurement rig, and a way to streamline the painting and taping process. A new design for a measurement rig was invented. The new solution contains two rigs, which allows for more samples to be heated simultaneously, halving the preheating time when testing four samples from the current measurement method. A preparation station was also created to aid the operators with the taping and painting, which resulted in a 40% reduced time for these tasks. Conclusion. By implementing new products, the measurement method for conducting volume resistivity has been improved by time effectiveness, robustness, and reliability.