Alexandra Emelina Coso

Viewing an Interdisciplinary Human-Centered Design Course as a Multiteam System: Perspectives on Cooperation and Information Sharing

Many design projects, including human-centered design (HCD) projects, incorporate multiple teams cooperating within what is referred to as a Multiteam System (MTS) environment. These teams mutually rely on resources and processes provided by other teams. As an MTS increases in complexity, knowledge is distributed to more individuals. While effectively distributed knowledge increases creativity and productivity, it is also can hinder team effectiveness. Team members may fail to exchange relevant information or to integrate pertinent information into reasoning for design decisions. Our research addresses information sharing among teams and individuals in HCD by examining interactions between and within the MTS (i.e., instructional team, novice designer or student team, and stakeholder team) in an interdisciplinary design course. Specifically, we used a thematic analysis of design reviews to investigate the influence of information requests toward the quality of the information exchanged, the influence of meeting structure and flow on design team interactions and meeting outcomes, and the influence of information sharing on cooperation within the HCD process. The findings align with previous studies about information sharing in a MTS and also contribute to a broad understanding of how an integrated interpretation of information sharing can influence a cooperative design process, such as HCD. Our analysis also suggests that designers must promote a cooperative decision-making process by eliciting open and unique information relevant to the design goals. Finally, design educators can support the development of novice engineers by improving their understanding of how to elicit information from, and share information, with other teams and stakeholders.

Building dispositions towards models and model-based reasoning in engineering education

This panel will address the challenge of promoting dispositions towards and mastery of model-based reasoning and modeling practices. Free-body, circuit, and multi-unit process diagrams are fundamental engineering tools for transforming poorly articulated and ill-constrained problems into manageable, solvable problems. For engineers in industry or research, free-form sketches commonly inform back-of-the-envelope estimations and calculations, while more formal diagrams and computational models are essential to design decision-making. This panel will explore the cognitive dimensions and learning challenges associated with modeling as a way of engaging and understanding the world. The panel will start with unpacking the cognitive demands/loads associated with transforming a text to a diagram. We will then present research on student modeling across a spectrum of first year courses to capstone design and across three sub-disciplines - biomedicai, chemical and aerospace engineering.

Improving the labeling processes of an Argentine winery by reducing time to shipment

Wineries that export their wines are constantly striving to reduce shipping time and associated costs for the bottles of wine they sell to distributors. With diverse distributors, distinct order sizes per varietal, and alcohol labeling regulations which vary from country to country, many wineries are confined by the labeling process. Up to half of the total time required to ship the order can be attributable to the labeling process, as wineries must wait to order labels until an order is placed. Additionally, due to variability in label regulations between countries, many wineries order labels for each order instead of in bulk. This practice leads to increased costs per label. This project focuses on improving the labeling process at an Argentine winery, Alta Vista, with improvement being defined by reductions in the time between orders being placed and shipped and the labeling costs. Probabilistic modeling and Monte Carlo simulation was used to develop a forecast of how many labels per varietal would be required each year. These forecasts were used to recommend preordering the proper number of labels, thereby reducing the time from order to shipment to 12 days (a 42% reduction).