abstract: Individuals' experiences, environment, and education greatly impact their entire being. Similarly, a designer is affected by these elements, which impacts how, what and why they design. In order for design education to generate designers who are more socially aware problem solvers, that education must introduce complex social matters and not just design skills. Traditionally designers learned through apprenticing a master. Most design education has moved away from this traditional model and has begun incorporating a well-rounded program of study, yet there are still more improvements to be made. This research proposes a new Integrated Transformational Experience Model, ITEM, for design education which will be rooted in sustainability, cultural integration, social embeddedness, and discipline collaboration. The designer will be introduced to new ideas and experiences from the immersion of current social issues where they will gain experience creating solutions to global problems enabling them to become catalysts of change. This research is based on interviews with industrial design students to gain insights, benefits and drawbacks of the current model of design education. This research will expand on the current model for design education, combining new ideas that will shed light on the future of design disciplines through the education and motivation of designers. The desired outcome of this study is to incorporate hands on learning through social issues in design classrooms, identify ways to educate future problem solvers, and inspire more research on this issue. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S.D. Design 2011

<p>School psychologists in South Africa are employed by the state to provide psychological services to schools. The role of school psychologists has been debated and contested nationally and internationally for many decades, with the need for a paradigm shift in school psychology practice and redefining the role of school psychologists being highlighted. In this study, the roles and practices of school psychologists are explored, with a focus on the nature of collaborative work engaged in when facilitating school development. In particular, challenges that emerge when school psychologists work with other sectors to facilitate school development are investigated. The overall research question was: What are the challenges that face school psychologists who facilitate school development through intersectoral collaboration and how can these challenges be addressed?</p>

<p>School psychologists in South Africa are employed by the state to provide psychological services to schools. The role of school psychologists has been debated and contested nationally and internationally for many decades, with the need for a paradigm shift in school psychology practice and redefining the role of school psychologists being highlighted. In this study, the roles and practices of school psychologists are explored, with a focus on the nature of collaborative work engaged in when facilitating school development. In particular, challenges that emerge when school psychologists work with other sectors to facilitate school development are investigated. The overall research question was: What are the challenges that face school psychologists who facilitate school development through intersectoral collaboration and how can these challenges be addressed?</p>

近年來，許多企業希望透過不同領域的專家彼此合作，為組織解決日益複雜的難題。然而，跨專業團隊的合作過程充滿挑戰，過去文獻多專注於如何提升知識分享的效果，卻忽略了許多關鍵新知識必須由跨界團隊合作探索而來。在面對陌生情境下，這樣的探索尤其重要，例如：開發新產品、啟用新製程，但我們至今仍對跨專業社群如何合作探索的過程所知甚少。 為了探究這個議題，本研究採用民族誌的方式，追蹤半導體晶圓廠工程師如何在複雜的生產系統中解決跨專業的維修難題。過程中，工作者常常必須面臨因果錯綜複雜、責任歸屬不清、跨界溝通不良所導致的合作困境。研究發現要解決這樣的困境，工作者必須運用疆界物件引發三種工作實務：解讀現象背後的因果、改變合作關係、整合跨界知識，才能找出問題核心並對症下藥。 根據本研究發現，如果我們能了解工作者在特定情境中的學習過程，便可提升既有的知識管理與疆界物件理論。在實務議題上，本研究的發現也能幫助現有員工培訓與跨專業溝通方式。 / Recently, more and more companies are gathering different types of specialist in order to solve increasingly complex problems. But the efforts paid in the process of cooperation are challenging for enterprises. Previous researchers had focused on the transfer and share of cross-disciplinary knowledge. However, they neglected the fact that some critical knowledge must be learned by collaborative exploring in terms of particular situation. To understand this issue, an ethnography study was used to examine the process of trouble shooting undertaken by engineers who encountered complex problems in the fabrication of semiconductor wafers. This thesis addressed three primary challenges faced by engineers. First, the nature of the problem may not be defined appropriately at the beginning. Second, responsibility may not be clearly attributed by cross specialist team who is in charge of investigation. Third, without comprehensive contexts of the practice, communication between engineers is problematic itself. To overcome the problem, engineers must be able to go beyond standard operating procedures so that they can find a new path of solution. This thesis argues that the use of boundary objects is an effective trigger of problem solving. The use of a boundary object is then described as a means of decoding the contexts behind the objects, reforming the relationship of cooperation, and integrating knowledge systemically. These findings suggest that theories of knowledge management and boundary objects could be improved organically by considering what people do and how people learn in practice. Furthermore, these findings bring us practical implications of employee training and cross-disciplinary collaboration.