An empirical study of the “prototype walkthrough”: a studio-based activity for HCI education

For over a century, studio-based instruction has served as an effective pedagogical model in architecture and fine arts education. Because of its design orientation, human-computer interaction (HCI) education is an excellent venue for studio-based instruction. In an HCI course, we have been exploring a studio-based learning activity called the prototype walkthrough, in which a student project team simulates its evolving user interface prototype while a student audience member acts as a test user. The audience is encouraged to ask questions and provide feedback. We have observed that prototype walkthroughs create excellent conditions for learning about user interface design. In order to better understand the educational value of the activity, we performed a content analysis of a video corpus of 16 prototype walkthroughs held in two HCI courses. We found that the prototype walkthrough discussions were dominated by relevant design issues. Moreover, mirroring the justification behavior of the expert instructor, students justified over 80 percent of their design statements and critiques, with nearly one-quarter of those justifications having a theoretical or empirical basis. Our findings suggest that PWs provide valuable opportunities for students to actively learn HCI design by participating in authentic practice, and provide insight into how such opportunities can be best promoted

Peer observation of on-line teaching in a distance learning environment

The introduction of a new VLE at the University of Lincoln was an opportunity to pilot an extension of the University’s peer observation of teaching scheme into an on-line environment, and to consider alternative methods of staff development in order to fully exploit the affordances of the VLE. This paper reports on a small research project into that pilot which found that online peer observation had the potential to be a very powerful development tool. It was largely welcomed by staff involved in the project and has led to more sophisticated exploitation of the VLE by participants, based on a mutually defined conception of teaching quality

The role of sample pupil responses in problem-solving lessons: perspectives from a design researcher and two teachers

The benefits of learning mathematics by comparing, reflecting on and discussing multiple approaches to a problem are well-known (Silver, 2005). However, teachers using non-routine problem-solving tasks designed to encourage multiple approaches face challenges: understanding how pupils make sense of the problem, especially when pupils use unique or unanticipated approaches and helping pupils make connections between disparate approaches and aligning these with lesson goals. In an attempt to address such challenges an extensive set of problem solving lessons were developed. Each lesson includes a range of sample solution-methods that expose pupils to multiple perspectives. A detailed teacher guide supports each lesson. This paper focuses on the use of these sample solution-methods. It explores their development from initial design to final versions. We analyse the varied interpretations and use made of sample solution-methods, in both US classrooms and by two UK teachers, and reflect on how these interpretations align with the designers’ intention

Rethinking bank business models: the role of intangibles

<p>Purpose: This paper provides a new way of rethinking banking models by using qualitative research on intangibles. This is required because the banking sector has been transformed significantly by the changing environment over the past two decades. The 2007-2009 financial crisis also added to concerns about existing bank business models.</p> <p>Design/Methodology approach: Using qualitative data collected from interviews with bank managers and analysts in the UK, this paper develops a grounded theory of bank intangibles.</p> <p>Findings: The model reveals how intangibles and tangible/financial resources interact in the bank value creation process, how they actively respond to environmental changes, how bank intangibles are understood by external observers such as analysts, and how bankers and analysts differ in their views.</p> <p>Research implications: Grounded theory provides the means to further develop bank models as business models and theoretical models. This provides the means to think beyond conventional finance constructs and to relate bank models to a wider theoretical literature concerning intellectual capital, organisational and social systems theory, and ‘performativity’.</p> <p>Practical implications: Such development of bank models and of a systems perspective is critical to the understanding of banks by bankers, by observers and for their ‘critical and reflexive performativity’. It also has implications for systemic risk and bank regulation.</p> <p>Social implications: Improvement in bank models and their use in open and transparent processes are key means to improve public accountability of banks.</p> <p>Originality: The paper reveals the core role of intellectual capital (IC) in banks, in markets, and in developing theory and research at firm and system levels. </p&gt

The role of sample pupil responses in problem-solving lessons: perspectives from a design researcher and two teachers

The benefits of learning mathematics by comparing, reflecting on and discussing multiple approaches to a problem are well-known (Silver, 2005). However, teachers using non-routine problem-solving tasks designed to encourage multiple approaches face challenges: understanding how pupils make sense of the problem, especially when pupils use unique or unanticipated approaches and helping pupils make connections between disparate approaches and aligning these with lesson goals. In an attempt to address such challenges an extensive set of problem solving lessons were developed. Each lesson includes a range of sample solution-methods that expose pupils to multiple perspectives. A detailed teacher guide supports each lesson. This paper focuses on the use of these sample solution-methods. It explores their development from initial design to final versions. We analyse the varied interpretations and use made of sample solution-methods, in both US classrooms and by two UK teachers, and reflect on how these interpretations align with the designers’ intention

Relationships between class size and teaching: a multi-method analysis of English infant schools

Research and debate on class size differences has focused on relations with achievement, and there is little relevant research on what mediating classroom processes might be involved. In this article we investigate connections between class size and teaching interactions. We adopt a multimethod approach, integrating qualitative in formation from teachers' end-of-year accounts and data from case studies with quantitative information from time-allocation estimates and systematic observations. Our data come from a longitudinal study of two cohorts of more than 10,000 children altogether for 3 years after enrollment in English infant schools (aged 4-7 years). Our results show, overall, that in smaller classes there is more individualized teacher support for learning. We interpret the results in the context of teacher time allocation, research on effective teaching, and post-Vygotskian approaches to teaching. It is suggested that direct models of teacher influences on pupils need to be adapted to allow for class size as a contextual factor that influences both teachers and pupils