9,051 research outputs found
Kollaborativt lärande i distansstudier : Yrkeshögskolestuderandes upplevelser av utmaningar
Syftet med denna avhandling är att utforska utmaningar med kollaborativt lärande i en distansstudiekontext ur ett högskolestuderandeperspektiv. Genom undersökningen vill jag svara på följande forskningsfråga:
1. Hurudana utmaningar med kollaborativt lärande identifierar studerande i en distansstudiekontext?
Avhandlingens undersökning görs genom en kvalitativ forskningsmetod. Som datamaterial används fem transkriberade intervjuer och avhandlingens analysmodell har inspirerats av den fenomenografiska sjustegsmodellen. Intervjuerna har gjorts med masterstuderande som går en högre yrkeshögskoleutbildning på distans i Finland.
Undersökningens resultat visar att alla informanter upplever utmaningar med samarbete i distansstudier. Informanterna upplever olika typer av utmaningar och olika många utmaningar. Utmaningarna har delats in i tolv stycken kategorier och kategoriseras enligt Dillenbourgs (1999) fyra dimensioner av samarbete.
Resultaten av undersökningen i denna avhandling har ökat förståelsen för fenomenet kollaborativt lärande och för hurudana utmaningar studerande upplever med samarbete i distansstudier. Resultaten av denna undersökning kan vara till nytta för utbildningsplanerare, lärare och rekryterare inom utbildningsinstitutioner
Facilitating prosociality through technology: Design to promote digital volunteerism
Volunteerism covers many activities involving no financial rewards for volunteers but which contribute
to the common good. There is existing work in designing technology for volunteerism in HumanComputer Interaction (HCI) and related disciplines that focuses on motivation to improve
performance, but it does not account for volunteer wellbeing. Here, I investigate digital volunteerism
in three case studies with a focus on volunteer motivation, engagement, and wellbeing. My research
involved volunteers and others in the volunteering context to generate recommendations for a
volunteer-centric design for digital volunteerism. The thesis has three aims:
1. To investigate motivational aspects critical for enhancing digital volunteers’ experiences
2. To identify digital platform attributes linked to volunteer wellbeing
3. To create guidelines for effectively supporting volunteer engagement in digital volunteering
platforms
In the first case study I investigate the design of a chat widget for volunteers working in an
organisation with a view to develop a design that improves their workflow and wellbeing. The second
case study investigates the needs, motivations, and wellbeing of volunteers who help medical
students improve their medical communication skills. An initial mixed-methods study was followed by
an experiment comparing two design strategies to improve volunteer relatedness; an important
indicator of wellbeing. The third case study looks into volunteer needs, experiences, motivations, and
wellbeing with a focus on volunteer identity and meaning-making on a science-based research
platform. I then analyse my findings from these case studies using the lens of care ethics to derive
critical insights for design.
The key contributions of this thesis are design strategies and critical insights, and a volunteer-centric
design framework to enhance the motivation, wellbeing and engagement of digital volunteers
Blending the Material and Digital World for Hybrid Interfaces
The development of digital technologies in the 21st century is progressing continuously and new device classes such as tablets, smartphones or smartwatches are finding their way into our everyday lives. However, this development also poses problems, as these prevailing touch and gestural interfaces often lack tangibility, take little account of haptic qualities and therefore require full attention from their users. Compared to traditional tools and analog interfaces, the human skills to experience and manipulate material in its natural environment and context remain unexploited. To combine the best of both, a key question is how it is possible to blend the material world and digital world to design and realize novel hybrid interfaces in a meaningful way. Research on Tangible User Interfaces (TUIs) investigates the coupling between physical objects and virtual data. In contrast, hybrid interfaces, which specifically aim to digitally enrich analog artifacts of everyday work, have not yet been sufficiently researched and systematically discussed.
Therefore, this doctoral thesis rethinks how user interfaces can provide useful digital functionality while maintaining their physical properties and familiar patterns of use in the real world. However, the development of such hybrid interfaces raises overarching research questions about the design: Which kind of physical interfaces are worth exploring? What type of digital enhancement will improve existing interfaces? How can hybrid interfaces retain their physical properties while enabling new digital functions? What are suitable methods to explore different design? And how to support technology-enthusiast users in prototyping?
For a systematic investigation, the thesis builds on a design-oriented, exploratory and iterative development process using digital fabrication methods and novel materials. As a main contribution, four specific research projects are presented that apply and discuss different visual and interactive augmentation principles along real-world applications. The applications range from digitally-enhanced paper, interactive cords over visual watch strap extensions to novel prototyping tools for smart garments. While almost all of them integrate visual feedback and haptic input, none of them are built on rigid, rectangular pixel screens or use standard input modalities, as they all aim to reveal new design approaches. The dissertation shows how valuable it can be to rethink familiar, analog applications while thoughtfully extending them digitally. Finally, this thesis’ extensive work of engineering versatile research platforms is accompanied by overarching conceptual work, user evaluations and technical experiments, as well as literature reviews.Die Durchdringung digitaler Technologien im 21. Jahrhundert schreitet stetig voran und neue Geräteklassen wie Tablets, Smartphones oder Smartwatches erobern unseren Alltag. Diese Entwicklung birgt aber auch Probleme, denn die vorherrschenden berührungsempfindlichen Oberflächen berücksichtigen kaum haptische Qualitäten und erfordern daher die volle Aufmerksamkeit ihrer Nutzer:innen. Im Vergleich zu traditionellen Werkzeugen und analogen Schnittstellen bleiben die menschlichen Fähigkeiten ungenutzt, die Umwelt mit allen Sinnen zu begreifen und wahrzunehmen. Um das Beste aus beiden Welten zu vereinen, stellt sich daher die Frage, wie neuartige hybride Schnittstellen sinnvoll gestaltet und realisiert werden können, um die materielle und die digitale Welt zu verschmelzen. In der Forschung zu Tangible User Interfaces (TUIs) wird die Verbindung zwischen physischen Objekten und virtuellen Daten untersucht. Noch nicht ausreichend erforscht wurden hingegen hybride Schnittstellen, die speziell darauf abzielen, physische Gegenstände des Alltags digital zu erweitern und anhand geeigneter Designparameter und Entwurfsräume systematisch zu untersuchen.
In dieser Dissertation wird daher untersucht, wie Materialität und Digitalität nahtlos ineinander übergehen können. Es soll erforscht werden, wie künftige Benutzungsschnittstellen nützliche digitale Funktionen bereitstellen können, ohne ihre physischen Eigenschaften und vertrauten Nutzungsmuster in der realen Welt zu verlieren. Die Entwicklung solcher hybriden Ansätze wirft jedoch übergreifende Forschungsfragen zum Design auf: Welche Arten von physischen Schnittstellen sind es wert, betrachtet zu werden? Welche Art von digitaler Erweiterung verbessert das Bestehende? Wie können hybride Konzepte ihre physischen Eigenschaften beibehalten und gleichzeitig neue digitale Funktionen ermöglichen? Was sind geeignete Methoden, um verschiedene Designs zu erforschen? Wie kann man Technologiebegeisterte bei der Erstellung von Prototypen unterstützen?
Für eine systematische Untersuchung stützt sich die Arbeit auf einen designorientierten, explorativen und iterativen Entwicklungsprozess unter Verwendung digitaler Fabrikationsmethoden und neuartiger Materialien. Im Hauptteil werden vier Forschungsprojekte vorgestellt, die verschiedene visuelle und interaktive Prinzipien entlang realer Anwendungen diskutieren. Die Szenarien reichen von digital angereichertem Papier, interaktiven Kordeln über visuelle Erweiterungen von Uhrarmbändern bis hin zu neuartigen Prototyping-Tools für intelligente Kleidungsstücke. Um neue Designansätze aufzuzeigen, integrieren nahezu alle visuelles Feedback und haptische Eingaben, um Alternativen zu Standard-Eingabemodalitäten auf starren Pixelbildschirmen zu schaffen. Die Dissertation hat gezeigt, wie wertvoll es sein kann, bekannte, analoge Anwendungen zu überdenken und sie dabei gleichzeitig mit Bedacht digital zu erweitern. Dabei umfasst die vorliegende Arbeit sowohl realisierte technische Forschungsplattformen als auch übergreifende konzeptionelle Arbeiten, Nutzerstudien und technische Experimente sowie die Analyse existierender Forschungsarbeiten
The Impact of Participatory Budgeting on Health and Well-Being: A Qualitative Case Study of a Deprived Community in London
Background
Participatory budgeting (PB) is a democratic innovation that enables residents to participate directly and collectively decide how to spend public money in their community. Research demonstrates PB improves social well-being through governance, citizens’ participation, empowerment, and improved democracy. Since 2000, PB has increasingly been used in the UK in community development approaches for improving health and well-being outcomes for people living in deprived communities. Yet little is known about how and why PB may impact health and well-being in deprived communities of the UK. This PhD study sought to explore and explain how the application of PB in the Well London programme impacted the health and well-being of people living in a deprived community in London.
Methods
The study employed a qualitative case study design adopting the constructivist grounded theory (CGT) methodology of Charmaz (2006) to explore critical themes from interviews with stakeholders of the Well London programme in Haringey Borough. Forty-one stakeholders engaged in planning, co-designing, co-commissioning and co-delivering, or benefitted from three interventions commissioned through PB participated in this study between March 2017 and April 2018.
Results
A cross-case analysis revealed six pathways through which PB improved health, particularly for the underserved. PB maximised participation and meaningful engagement; enhanced direct demand and response to the community’s needs; individual and collective ownership; action on the social determinants of health; and creative partnership working. These pathways were moderated by the democratic and flexible approach of the PB ethos, particularly the inclusion of residents’ voices in the planning and delivery of the interventions. Residents were motivated to act as agents to change their lives by building positive relationships based on social inclusion and integration. As a result, residents’ self-esteem, sense of belonging, self-confidence, self-worth, and individual sense of belonging and community spirit increased. Residents gained a new zeal and agency to tackle the social determinants of health as they understood them in their lives.
Conclusion
When done correctly, PB can promote health and well-being and build more robust and resilient communities through community-centred democratic decision-making. Interventions should aim to increase critical consciousness, health literacy, and the capacity in deprived communities to tackle life-course issues that prevent residents from enjoying good health and reduce structural barriers to accessing services or interventions to improve health and reduce inequalities. The outcomes of this study have policy and practice implications for strengthening the design, commissioning, and delivery of health interventions in deprived communities of high-income countries
Reshaping Higher Education for a Post-COVID-19 World: Lessons Learned and Moving Forward
No abstract available
Making Connections: A Handbook for Effective Formal Mentoring Programs in Academia
This book, Making Connections: A Handbook for Effective Formal Mentoring Programs in Academia, makes a unique and needed contribution to the mentoring field as it focuses solely on mentoring in academia. This handbook is a collaborative institutional effort between Utah State University’s (USU) Empowering Teaching Open Access Book Series and the Mentoring Institute at the University of New Mexico (UNM). This book is available through (a) an e-book through Pressbooks, (b) a downloadable PDF version on USU’s Open Access Book Series website), and (c) a print version available for purchase on the USU Empower Teaching Open Access page, and on Amazon
Examining the Effect of a School-based Creativity Program on Divergent Thinking and Academic Achievement in Middle School Students
This study aimed to investigate the potential transfer effects of domain-specific creativity training on domain-general divergent thinking indices of divergent thinking and investigate the potential effects of the school-based creativity program on the development of creativity in a middle school in the southeast region of the United States. The school-based creativity program is an initiative that uses literacy standards to position students as content creators, connecting directly to student interests. The creativity program includes capstone projects, such as songwriting, theater, dance, video game development, inventions, marketing, and design. In the 2020–2021 school year, 55.17% of the program’s capstone projects were music-related (2019–2020: 63%). I assessed online 75 sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade students. Of the seventh and eighth graders, one half of the students were partially in the school-based creativity program and the second half were not involved in the program. All sixth graders were enrolled in the program and considered one group, which I labeled as Full Creativity-Sixth Grade.
Four types of data were collected and analyzed for this study: the Runco Creativity Assessment Battery, Georgia Milestones Achievement Scores (GMAS), music-based capstone projects, and interviews with the administrator and program coordinator from the creativity program. Quantitative results revealed that grade level did affect divergent thinking, with lower grades scoring less. However, the participants in the Full Creativity program had virtually no transfer effects, which was expected based on the extensive training literature. These results may have been influenced by the way divergent thinking was measured and the testing schedule, in which testing fatigue may have influenced the posttest results. To measure academic achievement, participants were divided into two groups based on their GMAS test scores for English/Language Arts (ELA) and Math (Low Achieving and High Achieving). There were no significant interactions between divergent thinking pre-and posttest scores and GMAS test scores in ELA or Math. After completing a content analysis of the students’ music capstone projects, two overarching themes were present: musical creativity and emotional expression.
This dissertation describes the creativity program in detail and discusses how it relates to music education. Contributions, limitations, implications, and directions for future research address the effect of school-based creativity programs on divergent thinking and academic achievement
Tradition and Innovation in Construction Project Management
This book is a reprint of the Special Issue 'Tradition and Innovation in Construction Project Management' that was published in the journal Buildings
Analysis and Redesign Proposal for the Integration Systems and Technical Panels of Operating Room
Treballs Finals de Grau d'Enginyeria Biomèdica. Facultat de Medicina i Ciències de la Salut. Universitat de Barcelona. Curs: 2022-2023. Tutor/Director: Trias Gumbau, GerardThe increasing number of surgical procedures emphasizes the importance of operating rooms in
hospitals. They are currently experiencing a digital revolution, reflecting the future direction of this
field. The correct configuration of all systems of operating rooms is essential for enhancing
surgical efficiency and reducing costs. Technical panels, also known as control panels, play a
vital role in configuring operating rooms. These panels have evolved from basic modular systems
to more interactive and user-friendly devices. During this study, the technical control panels in
operating rooms and the existing solutions in the market are evaluated. From a theoretical
perspective, the systems that need to be integrated and how they are integrated through a central
integration server are being studied. On the other hand, a semi-functional mockup of the
graphical user interface has been created using the Figma tool. The project includes the new way
of interacting with the users and the Functional Plan of the user interface. Additionally, a
demonstration video has been included to assess the user experience
- …