Supporting Customized Design Thinking Using a Metamodel-based Approach

Traditional design methods, based on analytical rationale, often cannot address upcoming challenges e.g., related to the digital business transformation in volatile environments. Analytical rationale assumes a particular result and provides the methods and tools for achieving it. Nowadays, however, the result of a business transformation is often not precisely known nor the ways and means to achieve it. As a result, methods and tools are required that foster creativity while allowing customization to specific requirements or stakeholder needs. This paper proposes customized design thinking processes, realized with a conceptual modelling approach. The approach supports creativity in transformative business design. It shows how numerous design thinking tools can be integrated into a single conceptual modelling approach - supported by a modelling platform. The platform facilitates efficient and flexible design of novel business solutions. The created models moreover serve as a formalized knowledge base that enables knowledge processing and reuse

Objects of knowing: Collaborative craft analyzed as a platform for knowledge articulation

Previous research has thoroughly investigated knowledge creation from various perspectives and fields of expertise, although only a few studies have presented integrated discussions on the topic. This thesis situates knowledge creation at the intersection of two domains: organizational studies and craft and design research. While theories in organizational studies outline how tacit knowledge can be explicitly articulated through structured social practices, craft and design research inquires into knowledge creation through the process of materializing artifacts. In arguing for the integration of both perspectives, the present research examines collaborative craft as an organized activity and highlights the agency of objects in social practices where knowledge is articulated. Conceptually, this thesis draws on poststructuralist thinking and materialist approaches to organization in order to propose a material-discursive practice theory. Methodologically, it employs a multiple case study conducted in distinct geographies and cultural contexts, which allowed the designer-researcher to collaborate with craftspeople, collect rich empirical data, and confirm that social practices can yield knowledge via the production of artifacts. The research findings reveal the type of knowledge that can be articulated when craftspeople and designers collaborate, drawing attention to the relationship between the knowledge created and the artifacts produced. The study also emphasizes the significance of materiality in generating meaning and enacting discourse, especially in work settings where communication is hindered by sociocultural phenomena

The influence of immersion and presence in early stage engineering designing and building

This paper explores the role of a designer's sense of engagement in early stage design. In the field of virtual reality, presence and immersion are standard measures of an individual's sense of engagement and involvement in an activity. High levels of presence might indicate that the designer is highly focused on the work. The central research question is the following: do designers who are more engaged in design activity, as measured by presence and immersive tendency questionnaires, produce better designs? An experiment was conducted to assess presence and immersive tendencies within the context of a hands-on, open-ended design-and-build activity. The results indicated that the designers' sense of immersion and presence ranged widely as well as their sense of frustration and calmness while performing the design activity. It was found that higher levels of presence correlated with either high design performance or low design performance. Lower levels of presence correlated with average design performance. No correlations were found between immersive tendency and design performance. This study suggests that some level of presence can be linked with better design, and it implies that level of presence might serve as an indicator of performance and learning in similar design-and-build activities.National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Award CMMI-1130791

The Intelligence Community Debate over Intuition versus Structured Technique: Implications for Improving Intelligence Warning

A long-standing debate divides many in the Intelligence Community over whether structured techniques work on complex problems, such as intelligence analysis. The non-structured approach has become the norm in the Intelligence Community This article describes both sides of the debate and argues that the evidence shows systematic process is better than intuition alone. Most importantly, this article asserts that the Intelligence Community should: first, acknowledge the results of the debate, and second, take a major step by committing to a uniform set of standards (indicators and methodology), which combine intuition and structured technique, for the standing intelligence warning topics. Recommendations for implementation are described in a proposed methodology model that identifies a uniform set of standards to improve intelligence warning

The reflective information literacy educator

The shift in perception, from librarians as providers of information to librarians as educators in the effective use of information, requires the profession to become aware of differing approaches to the development of teaching and of the professional consciousness of educators: also of the way certain forms of teaching and CPD are privileged over others within higher education institutions, and why. This paper reports on and synthesises a range of theoretical works in this area, to explain how becoming an effective information literacy educator requires not just an awareness of practice, but developing it, through a continous interaction between theory and practice. The librarian-as-educator must engage in professional development practices which, ultimately, require the continuous questioning of the very foundations of IL, and work actively towards raising awareness of these processes throughout their institutions

Designing Digital Work

Combining theory, methodology and tools, this open access book illustrates how to guide innovation in today’s digitized business environment. Highlighting the importance of human knowledge and experience in implementing business processes, the authors take a conceptual perspective to explore the challenges and issues currently facing organizations. Subsequent chapters put these concepts into practice, discussing instruments that can be used to support the articulation and alignment of knowledge within work processes. A timely and comprehensive set of tools and case studies, this book is essential reading for those researching innovation and digitization, organization and business strategy

DESIGN ARTIFACTS AS EXTERNALIZED MENTAL MODELS OF CHILDREN’S SCIENCE CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) calls for the integration of the practices of science and engineering across all science disciplines beginning in the early elementary grades. Science and engineering education research has determined that engineering design is a productive means for promoting understanding of science concepts. However, design artifacts created during engineering design problem-solving have not received sufficient attention for their potential to embody children’s science understanding. The aim of this study was to examine how conceptual development of the concepts of force and motion was instantiated in design artifacts by early elementary age children engaged in engineering design. Twenty-six children, ages 7-8, from 13 states across the United States engaged in the study from their homes. Design artifacts were considered externalized mental models with evidence of conceptual development evaluated according to the type and number of perceptual dimensions present. It was determined that the artifact could have eight possible perceptual dimensions and the addition of perceptual dimensions was considered evidence of conceptual development. Results indicate that children developed mental models ranging from 2-8-dimensions, with 23 participants (88%) adding dimensions to their mental models during the engineering activity. Video-stimulated prompted recall (VSR) interviews were used to corroborate conceptual development viewed through the design artifact, with all participants able to corroborate or partially corroborate their mental model changes. VSR was instrumental in engaging participants in the metacognitive process of reflection, a known mechanism of promoting conceptual development, which is underutilized with young children. VSR assisted some children in overcoming obstacles in problem-solving. Results are specific to the cotton ball launcher and further study is needed to improve generalizability to other engineering design tasks pertaining to force and motion