Designing as Interpretation

The paper suggests an interpretative approach to the empirical study of design processes. Design processes are conceived as social processes of interpretation and construction of meaning, and potentially of context generation. In contrast to models which conceive designing as a goal-directed process, an interpretative approach suggests a methodological reorientation. It assumes that design goals are more or less incomplete and vague at the beginning of a design process and are interpreted in contexts and in part are created by designers in the design process on the basis of their experience, embodied skills, and practices. The interpretative paradigm in design research seeks to observe, investigate, and describe practices that designers use in the process. Rather than attempting to determine and prescribe how practitioners ought to do their work, the research question is on how work is actually done - how interpretation is achieved by designers in particular design processes. An extract is analysed in some detail in the paper. These data are taken from the transcript of a case study of a design process in practice. Sociological and socio-linguistic (‘sensitizing’) concepts such as frames and contexts are adopted to describe and analyze some practices observed in the episodes. The paper focuses on an aspect of designing – various forms of involvement and stances designers’ take on in the meaning making process of interpretative design work. Interpretative analysis takes into account designers’ alignments which constitute “participation frameworks” and ground designers’ multimodal practices in different media (language, drawing, gesture). Goffman’s (1981) concept of “footing” is used to reveal more subtle shifts in stances that designers take in designing. Investigation of referential practices designers use in some utterances in the observed design conversation suggests that designers step into, displace, and position themselves in transformed, “keyed” situations to experience the solicitations of design situations more directly and to take the role of others as well as the role of objects. These practices appear to be part of designers’ ability to construct meaning by establishing perspectives and getting “maximal grip” on design situations so as to exert their skills. Analysis of types of stances designers take in an observed design process, some of which addressed in the paper, may provide a way to describe an aspect of designers’ artistry and to characterize the particularities of unique design processes. The suggested approach is intended to contribute to a better theoretical understanding of designing and to the methodology of design research as an ‘epistemology of practice’. Interpretative analysis also aims to provide description of designers’ practices which may, as its practical benefits, contribute to ‘the reflective turn’ in design research. Keywords: Design Research Methodology; Design Practices; Framing; Case Study</p

Perceived parenting and social support: can they predict academic achievement in Argentinean college students?

The aim of this study was to test the ability to predict academic achievement through the perception of parenting and social support in a sample of 354 Argentinean college students. Their mean age was 23.50 years (standard deviation =2.62 years) and most of them (83.3%) were females. As a prerequisite for admission to college, students are required to pass a series of mandatory core classes and are expected to complete them in two semesters. Delay in completing the curriculum is considered low academic achievement. Parenting was assessed taking into account the mother and the father and considering two dimensions: responsiveness and demandingness. Perceived social support was analyzed considering four sources: parents, teachers, classmates, and best friend or boyfriend/girlfriend. Path analysis showed that, as hypothesized, responsiveness had a positive indirect effect on the perception of social support and enhanced achievement. Demandingness had a different effect in the case of the mother as compared to the father. In the mother model, demandingness had a positive direct effect on achievement. In the case of the father, however, the effect of demandingness had a negative and indirect impact on the perception of social support. Teachers were the only source of perceived social support that significantly predicted achievement. The pathway that belongs to teachers as a source of support was positive and direct. Implications for possible interventions are discussed.Fil: de la Iglesia, Guadalupe. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Psicología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Freiberg Hoffmann, Agustín. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Psicología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Fernandez Liporace, Maria Mercedes. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Psicología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Students with Disabilities in Dutch VET: An Exploratory Study

[Excerpt] The inclusion of persons with disabilities in general programmes of vocational training has been called for by the ILO in international labour standards over many years, including standards relating to Human Resources Development and disability-related standards. This call is taken up strongly in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities which calls on States Parties to take appropriate steps to enable persons with disabilities to have effective access to general tertiary education, vocational and life-long learning without discrimination and on an equal basis with others, and to ensure that reasonable accommodation is provided to that effect. While many countries have expressed commitment to this vision of inclusive vocational training, progress has been limited, even in countries which have adopted policies to promote, and there has been limited analysis of the factors hindering the effective implementation of such policies. It was thus appropriate for the ILO to undertake this exploratory study, to seek to pinpoint elements of policy and practice that might need to be addressed, if these policies on inclusion are to make a difference to persons with disabilities seeking to develop their skills with a view to obtaining decent jobs. The issues identified in this study will hopefully contribute to the wider policy debate, particularly on the matter of instructor preparation for disability inclusion and on the impact of funding arrangements. It will also hopefully stimulate further research to establish whether the patterns identified here are general patterns to be found and tackled elsewhere

Career and Technical Education (CTE): A Primer

[Excerpt] Career and technical education (CTE), sometimes referred to as vocational education, provides occupational and non-occupational preparation at the secondary, postsecondary, and adult education levels. As defined in a publication by the U.S. Department of Education’s (ED’s) National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), CTE prepares students for roles outside the paid labor market, teaches general employment skills, and teaches skills required in specific occupations or careers. The definition distinguishes CTE from liberal arts or academic education: the fine arts, English, mathematics, science, foreign languages, and the humanities. A CTE curriculum is often designed to have a post-education practical application and develop broadly applicable skills. Academic educational courses are often designed to develop subject matter knowledge and broadly applicable skills

"Mothers as Candy Wrappers": Critical Infrastructure Supporting the Transition into Motherhood

Copyright © ACM. The transition into motherhood is a complicated and often unsupported major life disruption. To alleviate mental health issues and to support identity re-negotiation, mothers are increasingly turning to online mothers\u27 groups, particularly private and secret Facebook groups; these can provide a complex system of social, emotional, and practical support for new mothers. In this paper we present findings from an exploratory interview study of how new mothers create, find, use, and participate in ICTs, specifically online mothers\u27 groups, to combat the lack of formal support systems by developing substitute networks. Utilizing a framework of critical infrastructures, we found that these online substitute networks were created by women, for women, in an effort to fill much needed social, political, and medical gaps that fail to see \u27woman and mother\u27 as a whole being, rather than simply as a \u27discarded candy wrapper\u27. Our study contributes to the growing literature on ICT use by mothers for supporting and negotiating new identities, by illustrating how these infrastructures can be re-designed and appropriated in use, for critical utilization

The effect of using facebook markup language (fbml) for designing an e-learning model in higher education

This study examines the use of Facebook Markup Language (FBML) to design an e-learning model to facilitate teaching and learning in an academic setting. The qualitative research study presents a case study on how, Facebook is used to support collaborative activities in higher education. We used FBML to design an e-learning model called processes for e-learning resources in the Specialist Learning Resources Diploma (SLRD) program. Two groups drawn from the SLRD program were used; First were the participants in the treatment group and second in the control group. Statistical analysis in the form of a t-test was used to compare the dependent variables between the two groups. The findings show a difference in the mean score between the pre-test and the post-test for the treatment group (achievement, the skill, trends). Our findings suggest that the use of FBML can support collaborative knowledge creation and improved the academic achievement of participatns. The findings are expected to provide insights into promoting the use of Facebook in a learning management system (LMS).Comment: Mohammed Amasha, Salem Alkhalaf, "The Effect of using Facebook Markup Language (FBML) for Designing an E-Learning Model in Higher Education". International Journal of Research in Computer Science, 4 (5): pp. 1-9, January 201

Eduployment: Creating Opportunity Policies for America's Youth

Eduployment: The bifurcation of school and work, education and employment, college and career is out of date and meaningless. We need to use a both/and rather than an either/or framework in going forward. We call this eduployment