Hilary Grierson

The importance of structuring information and resources within shared workspaces during collaborative design learning

This paper investigates how the organization or structure of information and resources in shared workspaces influences team sharing and design learning. Two groupware products, BSCW and TikiWiki, were configured so that teams could structure and share resources. In BSCW the resources were structured hierarchically using folders and subfolders whereas in TikiWiki resources were structured using interlinked wiki pages (like web pages). The results showed that the groupware technology used, the collaborative task set and opportunities to reflect all influenced the way teams structured resources and that well‐structured resources facilitated team collaboration and design learning. The discussion focuses on the need to help students develop information literacy skills and on why asking students to structure resources might help develop their design expertise.

Embedding an integrated learning environment and digital repository in design engineering education: lessons learned for sustainability

This paper describes how a system comprising a learning environment and digital repository is being embedded into the teaching and learning of Design Engineering at the University of Strathclyde. It then maps out the issues that have been encountered, how these have been overcome and how other departments or institutions would be affected if they were to roll out and scale up the use of such tools. These issues are categorised as technological, pedagogical and cultural, and include the adequate provision of support, creating a critical mass of resources, ensuring quality and integration with other technologies. Successful embedding and sustainability requires that senior managers reflect on these key issues at a departmental and/or institutional level before implementation.

Using visual representations for the searching and browsing of large, complex, multimedia data sets

This research investigates the feasibility of using visual representations for the searching and browsing of large, complex, multimedia data sets.A graphical interface, SIZL, that uses an explicit zoomable timeline to support the display of multiple search results is presented.Participants could achieve the same accuracy in SIZL in less time compared using File Manager.Participants stated a preference for the overall visualization of the SIZL system. Recent years have seen a huge increase in the digital data generated by companies, projects and individuals. This has led to significant challenges in visualizing and using large, diverse collections of digital information. Indeed the speed and accuracy with which these large datasets can be effectively mined for information that is relevant and valuable can have a significant effect on company performance. This research investigates the feasibility of using visual representations for the searching and browsing of large, complex, multimedia data sets. This paper introduces the SIZL (Searching for Information in a Zoom Landscape) system, which was developed to enable the authors to effectively test whether a 2.5D graphical representation of a multimedia data landscape produces quantifiable improvements in a users ability to assess its contents. The usability of this visualization system was analyzed using experiments and a combination of quantitative and qualitative data collection methods. The paper presents these results and discusses potential industrial applications as well as future work that will improve the SIZL data visualization method.

An evaluation study of a digital library of ideas: Workflow Model and classroom use

The Department of Design Manufacturing and Engineering Management at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK, has been developing a digital library to support design engineering student learning through the Digital Libraries for Global Distributed Innovative Design Education and Teamwork project (http://www.didet.ac.uk, December, 2007). Previous related studies have observed and analysed how students search for, store, structure and share design engineering information (Grierson et al. in paper presented at the Network Learning Conference, pp. 572–579, 2004; Nicol et al. in Open Learning 20(1):31–49, 2005) and these studies have identified the need for the design and development of a digital library with two system components, which best suit the design process: (i) an informal shared workspace; the ‘LauLima’ Learning Environment and (ii) a repository of more formal searchable and browsable design information; the ‘LauLima’ Digital Library (McGill et al. in Br. J. Educ. Technol. 36(4):629–642, 2005). This paper focuses on the Workflow Model developed to populate the digital library and presents findings from early use of the digital library by students and staff.

A framework for design engineering education in a global context

Abstract This paper presents a framework for teaching design engineering in a global context using innovative technologies to enable distributed teams to work together effectively across international and cultural boundaries. The Digital Libraries for Global Distributed Innovative Design, Education, and Teamwork (DIDET) Framework represents the findings of a 5-year project conducted by the University of Strathclyde, Stanford University, and Olin College that enhanced student learning opportunities by enabling them to partake in global, team-based design engineering projects, directly experiencing different cultural contexts and accessing a variety of digital information sources via a range of innovative technology. The use of innovative technology enabled the formalization of design knowledge within international student teams as did the methods that were developed for students to store, share, and reuse information. Coaching methods were used by teaching staff to support distributed teams and evaluation work on relevant classes was carried out regularly to allow ongoing improvement of learning and teaching and show improvements in student learning. Major findings of the 5-year project include the requirement to overcome technological, pedagogical, and cultural issues for successful eLearning implementations. The DIDET Framework encapsulates all the conclusions relating to design engineering in a global context. Each of the principles for effective distributed design learning is shown along with relevant findings and suggested metrics. The findings detailed in the paper were reached through a series of interventions in design engineering education at the collaborating institutions. Evaluation was carried out on an ongoing basis and fed back into project development, both on the pedagogical and the technological approaches.

Influence of sketch types on distributed design team work

Product development is a collaborative activity more often than ever carried out by distributed design teams. It is critical to determine how sketches are used in such environments in order to improve the design process. Sketches produced by students participating in a collaborative design project of three European Universities are classified according to the intention of the designer when producing a sketch, the level of detail shown in the sketch and the phase when the sketch was produced. The adapted classification system used in this paper helps to analyse type of sketches with most variety of ideas. Furthermore, this paper reviews which type of sketches offers the most potential to be further developed. Results show that persuasive sketches offer the broadest range of ideas since they are produced as a combination of ideas from brainstorming sessions. Shared sketches help to achieve consensus in decision-making since the sketches are most likely to be produced by the entire group rather than individually.

A web‐based tool for dissertation writing Rosanne Strachan, Rowena Murray and Hilary Grierson

Online web tools are becoming an important and accessible means of supporting learning in higher education. Student writing is central to teaching and learning (Lillis, 2001). This paper describes an online tool designed to support dissertation writing. By combining three types of online space— instructional material, a writing space and planning templates—this tool aimed to provide a holistic approach to writing and writing development. This paper demonstrates how the tool was used in an academic course in order to address certain teaching and learning problems identified by the course tutor. Student feedback suggests that while further development is needed, the tool was still useful. This paper raises awareness of the complex array of issues involved in dissertation writing and provides insights into solutions to writing problems. While we designed what we considered to be a web-based tool for dissertation writing, we argue that the writing space and planning templates go some way towards creating an environment for the development of learning (Hakkinen, 2002). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Conceptual Framework for Understanding the Impact of Digital Libraries on Engineering Design Learning

Engineering design is an information intensive activity. Right from need finding to final prototyping, designers are constantly acquiring, assimilating, transforming and giving out information. In fact in a design process, designers act as autonomous learners actively seeking and processing information. However, the mechanism by which information influences design learning is not well understood. This paper presents a conceptual framework for studying the impact of information resources on design learning based on a survey conducted on engineering students participating in a two-week long global collaborative design exercise to build bicycles out of paper materials.Copyright

The Impact of Documentation and Reflection on Student Learning in Engineering Design

As product development teams become global in scale, more of this process is carried out in the digital domain. This paper examines the impact of basing a student design project in this environment, and in particular how the increased documentation and reflection afforded by this impacts upon student learning. The mechanisms for achieving this included templates, information repositories and video presentations. It was found that a shared information resource had an impact on concept direction and that although students found critical reflection on their design process difficult, that the increased documentation of a digital repository encouraged more transparent working practices.