Developing a learning conversation in structured group discussion: Art students' understanding of the project method & polytechnic students' evaluation of their courses

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.This research began from a position within the physical science paradigm as a straightforward investigation into how Foundation art students thought the project method helped them to learn. The insights gained from their answers were later employed in designing projects for other purposes and for other discipline areas. In order to accommodate the diverse and voluminous replies gathered from open-ended inquiry procedures, a system of categories was developed ranging from 80 sub-categories ascending through 10 to 3 principal categories. The three chief features of the project method which emerged as significant were those of inter-personal relationships, of project design and management, and of physical resources and environment. These three features provide important messagesf or the management of education at course and at institutional level. From the experience gained in using the three-stage method of inquiry, it was concluded that raw personal views, given without reflection or debate, represent the narrowest possible version of individual views. For a rich, fully processed deep response, those views must have been exposed to discussion within the group. This sfuctured group discussion was judged to be more than a mere process but rather a product with its own rationale and results, and one which provided a valuable educational experience. This three-stage 'learning conversation' was then transferred into a new arena, that of course evaluation. The student consultation meeting has since become accepted practice within a Polytechnic as a means of conveying to the course team how students perceive their courses. Staff may in turn use the reports to strengthen their course design and delivery, Finally, it was clear that a physical science paradigm with its goals of objectivity and detachment was not the true parent of this research activity. It was rather of different descent - from humanistic psychology, from action research in the social sciences and from the 'new paradigm' for human inquiry. These implications of paradigm shift are explored in the opening chapters

Valuing Community Property Businesses: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Louisiana Law

The article discusses the law in Louisiana on the valuation of community property businesses in divorce proceedings and other topics like fair market value and the ruling by the Louisiana Second Circuit of Appeal in the 2003 case Ellington v. Ellington

A Tribute to Thanassi: The Influence of Justinian on American Common Law Property

In this article, the author discusses the contribution of law professor A.N. Thanassi Yiannopoulos towards property law and mentions civil law\u27s impact on American property law and fluidity of property rights

The Development of MSFC Usability Lab

This conference poster reviews the development of the usability lab at Marshall Space Flight Center. The purpose of the lab was to integrate a fully functioning usability laboratory to provide a resource for future human factor assessments. and to implement preliminary usability testing on a MSFC website to validate the functionality of the lab

Integration of MSFC Usability Lab with Usability Testing

As part of the Stage Analysis Branch, human factors engineering plays an important role in relating humans to the systems of hardware and structure designs of the new launch vehicle. While many branches are involved in the technical aspects of creating a launch vehicle, human factors connects humans to the scientific systems with the goal of improving operational performance and safety while reducing operational error and damage to the hardware. Human factors engineers use physical and computerized models to visualize possible areas for improvements to ensure human accessibility to components requiring maintenance and that the necessary maintenance activities can be accomplished with minimal risks to human and hardware. Many methods of testing are used to fulfill this goal, such as physical mockups, computerized visualization, and usability testing. In this analysis, a usability test is conducted to test how usable a website is to users who are and are not familiar with it. The testing is performed using participants and Morae software to record and analyze the results. This analysis will be a preliminary test of the usability lab in preparation for use in new spacecraft programs, NASA Enterprise, or other NASA websites. The usability lab project is divided into two parts: integration of the usability lab and a preliminary test of the usability lab