Carolyn MacGregor

The situational risks of young drivers: The influence of passengers, time of day and day of week on accident rates

This paper provides new insight into the situational risks of young drivers, especially in terms of the passenger effect. Two 1988 data bases from the Ontario Ministry of Transportation were used to estimate accident involvement rates by number of passengers, time of day and day of the week--first individually and then for all two-way combinations with the passenger variable. Accident data were derived from police reports for all accidents involving a fatality, personal injury or property damage exceeding

Collaborative sensemaking on a digital tabletop and personal tablets: prioritization, comparisons, and tableaux

700. Estimates of exposure were based on the most up-to-date provincial travel survey available at the time of the study. Results indicate that the accident involvement rates of 16-19 year old drivers are higher than those of 20-24 and 25-59 year olds in all situations that were examined, but that they were disproportionately high on weekends, at nighttime and with passengers. The results of the passenger variable are particularly interesting because, unlike weekends and nighttime, the negative effect of passengers on overall accident rates was evident only for 16-19 year old drivers. This effect was quite pronounced for both sexes, with accident involvement rates being approximately twice as high with passengers as without. For 16-19 year olds, accident rates were also significantly higher for two or more passengers versus one passenger. The highest rates for this age group occurred with passengers at nighttime. Possible explanations for these patterns and policy implications are discussed.

Using 3D sound as a navigational aid in virtual environments

We describe an investigation of the support that three different display configurations provided for a collaborative sensemaking task: a digital table; personal tablets; and both the tabletop and personal tablets. Mixed-methods analyses revealed that the presence of a digital tabletop display led to improved sensemaking performance, and identified activities that were supported by the shared workspace. The digital tabletop supported a groups ability to prioritize information, to make comparisons between task data, and to form and critique the groups working hypothesis. Analyses of group performance revealed a positive correlation with equity of member participation using the shared digital table, and a negative correlation of equity of member participation using personal tablets. Implications for the support of sensemaking groups, and the use of equity of member participation as a predictive measure of their performance are discussed.

USING ACCOUNTABILITY LOGS TO ASSESS INDIVIDUAL STUDENT CONTRIBUTIONS TO CAPSTONE PROJECTS: WHAT HAPPENS WHEN ONE STUDENT ON A TEAM FAILS?

As current virtual environments are less visually rich than real-world environments, careful consideration must be given to their design to ameliorate the lack of visual cues. One important design criterion in this respect is to make certain that adequate navigational cues are incorporated into complex virtual worlds. In this paper we show that adding 3D spatialized sound to a virtual environment can help people navigate through it. We conducted an experiment to determine if the incorporation of 3D sound (a) helps people find specific locations in the environment, and (b) influences the extent to which people acquire spatial knowledge about their environment. Our results show that the addition of 3D sound did reduce time taken to locate objects in a complex environment. However, the addition of sound did not increase the amount of spatial knowledge users were able to acquire. In fact, the addition of 3D auditory sound cues appears to suppress the development of overall spatial knowledge of the virtual environment.

Tech-note: Vtrail: Supporting trailblazing in virtual environments

To discourage social loafing, the need for fair differential grading among team members led to the development and use of Accountability Logs(ALs) and associated evidence-based rubrics as tools to help Capstone Coordinators identify individual students failing to make meaningful and competent technical contributions. While traditional Engineering logbooks tend to be hard-covered notebooks documenting the design analysis, sketches, calculations, and results of a project, ALs can be in electronic format to allow for importing of multi-media examples of works in-progress or completed. ALs must contain a) Evidence explicit accounting of the student’s independent technical contributions to the project on a minimum weekly basis; b) Learning reflection on value added from personal contributions to the overall project goals; and c) Planning articulation of logical next steps for moving forward with technical contributions to meet project goals. The AL components align with the Graduate Attribute of Life-Long Learning. Through experience with three cohorts of students (Fall 2014 – Winter 2017), we explain the evolving use of ALs; how ALs are currently situated in the overall assessment of the student team members of Capstone Engineering Projects; and our current recovery options for students who receive failing grades in the Capstone course.

The Design of a Virtual Trailblazing Tool

Trails are a proven means of improving performance in virtual environments (VE) but there is very little understanding or support for the role of the trailblazer. The Use-IT Lab is currently designing a tool, the VTrail System, to support trailblazing in VEs. The objective of this document is to introduce the concept of trailblazing, present the initial prototype for a tool designed specifically to support trailblazing and discuss results from an initial usability study.

Input interface device with transformable form factor

Trails are a proven means of improving performance in virtual environments (VE) but there is very little understanding or support for the role of the trailblazer. The Use-IT Lab is currently designing a tool, the VTrail System, to support trailblazing in VEs. The objective of this document is to introduce the concept of trailblazing, present the initial prototype for a tool designed specifically to support trailblazing and discuss results from an initial usability study.