Carla B. Zoltowski

Semantics and constraint parsing of word graphs

A constraint-based parser capable of processing a word graph containing multiple sentence hypotheses has been developed. When syntactic constraints are applied to a word graph, this parse is able to prune the graph of many ungrammatical sentence hypotheses and limit the possible parses of the remaining sentences. However, in many cases syntactic information alone is insufficient for selecting a single sentence hypothesis from a word graph. Hence, semantic constraints have been added to the parser to limit ambiguity further. The authors review the constraint parsing algorithm and then provide a simple example illustrating how syntactic and semantic features can be used to prune word candidates from a word graph and eliminate incorrect parses for the remaining sentences. They also report on the effectiveness of syntactic and semantic constraints for reducing the ambiguity of word networks constructed for N-best sentence hypotheses provided by the ATIS (Air Travel Information System) database.<<ETX>>

From methods to methodology: Reflection on keeping the philosophical commitments of interpretative phenomenological analysis

This paper details the transition of one researcher in his journey from attending to the methods of research to identifying and enacting the methodology of interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). In the backdrop of this paper is a larger qualitative study that is employing IPA to understand a rich picture of how engineering student become engineers, particularly by attending to the fuzzy boundaries between technical and social features of this identity. To ground the discussion of the paper, we draw on a transcript from a single interview in this study conducted with Kevin, a graduating mechanical engineer. We transparently share a reflexive account of conducting IPA research in order to introduce IPA as an excellent research tool for open areas of engineering education research. Further, our goals are to instill confidence in novice qualitative researchers as they embark on the arduous but rewarding path of conducting engineering education research using qualitative methods.

Implementation issues in the development of the PARSEC parser

This paper describes the implementation of a constraint‐based parser, PARSEC (Parallel ARchitecture SEntence Constrainer), which has the required flexibility that a user may easily construct a custom grammar and test it. Once the user designs grammar parameters, constraints, and a lexicon, our system checks them for consistency and creates a parser for the grammar. The parser has an X‐windows interface that allows a user to view the state of a parse of a sentence, test new constraints, and dump the constraint network to a file. The parser has an option to perform the computationally expensive constraint propagation steps on the MasPar MP‐1. Stream and socket communication was used to interface the MasPar constraint parser with a standard X‐windows interface on our Sun Sparcstation.

Work in progress: Understanding professional competency formation in a service-learning context from an alumni perspective

Engineering educators daily negotiate the formidable task of developing the twenty-first century engineers competence to enter and thrive in the workplace. With this focus, many have conducted investigations into both what defines such professional competence and how such competence forms within students. In this investigation, we study how professional competence has developed among alumni of Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS), as understood through their retrospective perceptions. We are conducting a mixed methods study in order to understand competence development, and this paper presents the design and administration of a survey questionnaire that is informing the qualitative portion of the study. Findings from both aspects of the study will be presented at the conference.

Work in progress — Assessing moral decision making skills in the engineers of 2020

In the context of a large, multi-section, interdisciplinary design course, we have designed measures to integrate the instruction and assessment of moral decision making into the core curriculum. This paper provides an overview of our work currently in progress on one of these measures, our assessment instrument. We will describe the foundational pedagogical frameworks we explored, the existing instruments we considered, and the processes we used to design the instrument as it is currently. We will share lessons learned from the process of our work, including the mistakes we made and the path we took to arrive at our current direction. We will share what preliminary data we have, our experiences with initial pilots, and our thoughts on how this will influence our direction going forward. Finally, since this work is ongoing and dependent on our interaction with students, we will share our plans for the future, both short and long term.

Analyzing Cross-disciplinary Design Teams

Seventy student teams in a university service learning program were studied to assess the nature of cross-disciplinary team collaboration, learning, and performance. The development of assessment tools was grounded in three theories/frameworks: activity theory, cross-disciplinary learning, and performance support systems. Using a comparative, multiple-case study design in this mixed methods study, questionnaires were administered to all teams, while observations and interviews were conducted with select teams. The relationships and contradictions within team activity systems, barriers and enhancers to performance, and the degree to which teams evolved toward cross-disciplinary learning during projects were examined. Results indicated that students on CDL teams worked with teammates from different disciplines; made decisions through consensus; and appreciated others techniques and approaches with more frequency than non-CDL teams. The use of activity theory, and cross-disciplinary learning and performance support frameworks to assess teams as a foundation for the design of Web-based collaborative learning environments were discussed

Parallel parsing of spoken language

The authors extended H. Maruyamas (1990) constraint dependency grammar (CDG) to process a lattice of sentence hypotheses instead of separate test strings. A postprocessor to a speech recognizer producing N-best hypotheses generates the word lattice representation, which is then augmented with information required for parsing. The authors summarize the CDG parsing algorithm and describe how the algorithm is extended to process the lattice on a single processor machine. They outline the CRCW P-RAM algorithm for parsing the word lattice, which requires O(n/sup 4/) processors to parse in O(k+n) time.<<ETX>>

Giving and responding to feedback through visualisations in design critiques

Abstract Designers develop skills and knowledge through experience and feedback – feedback from colleagues, clients, supervisors, users, stakeholders, or the success or failure of a solution and design instructors. However, the design coaches (instructors and industry clients) and design students must negotiate ambiguity in the feedback process. In this article, we investigate visualisation within a design critique setting, where the industrial design instructor and the students are navigating ambiguity while the instructor is providing feedback on the design work. Using a constitutive research approach, we investigate the relationships among visualisation, ambiguity and critique, where each of these components offers a lens into understanding how designers use the tensions within ambiguity and clarity to achieve designs that fulfil assignments or other purposes. As part of this process, we characterise differences between the ways the instructor and the student interact with the human and non-human agents. The negotiations of ambiguity among human and non-human agents through and within the constitutive processes of visualisation offers fresh insights into how design is accomplished as well as how visualisation can be expanded productively in design education contexts.

Insights from a first-year learning community to achieve gender balance

Engineering remains challenged with regard to underrepresentation by gender and ethnicity. Lack of gender parity in engineering has been a problem since the very start of engineering but conversations about and efforts to address the lack of women in engineering has grown in momentum over the past 30 years. The problem is not only that gender disparity exists, but also an inability to make significant progress in closing the gap over time on a national level. This lack of change suggests that new approaches to understanding the complex problem of underrepresentation of women are needed. Research has advanced our understanding of what can attract women to engineering and retain them within the field. This paper presents data from a service-learning program that aligns pedagogically with the literature on gender and diversity more broadly. Specifically a first-year learning community of 120 students that was 54% female is examined to provide the student perspective. 77% percent of the women cited gaining experience in engineering as a motivation for selecting the learning community. 55% of the women cited the opportunity to impact others with 42% combining the two. Sample comments and quotes from the male and female students are presented and discussed.

Using scaffolded, integrated, and reflexive analysis (SIRA) of cases in a cyber-enabled learning infrastructure to develop moral reasoning in engineering students

Each year thousands of new engineers join the workforce and face novel issues raised by radical technological advances. Concurrently, changing societal responses to new technologies introduce novel conflicts in research and development that challenge the scope of established professional codes of ethics. These issues create a critical demand for new approaches for developing moral reasoning for ethical decision-making. Our multidisciplinary team of engineering, communication, and ethics educators has developed and tested a novel pedagogical framework of Scaffolded, Integrated, and Reflexive Analysis (SIRA) of ethics cases to enhance development of moral reasoning that extends beyond case-based analyses. Implemented as a series of two-week cyber-enabled learning modules, with cases from several engineering disciplines, this theory-based, data-driven, cyber-enabled framework for ethics education has applicability across a broad spectrum of disciplines and provides engineering educators with limited ethics training a tested framework and set of resources and modules to adapt and use in their own disciplines. In this paper, we discuss our work in progress on the SIRA framework, its implementation, and our assessment of changes in moral reasoning and student satisfaction when utilizing this model.