Wendy C. Newstetter

The Aware Home: A Living Laboratory for Ubiquitous Computing Research

We are building a home, called the Aware Home, to create a living laboratory for research in ubiquitous computing for everyday activities. This paper introduces the Aware Home project and outlines some of our technology-and human-centered research objectives in creating the Aware Home.

Computer support for learning through complex problem solving

T ypical back-of-the-chapter problems don’t provide students with the context to make the problems motivating and to facilitate transfer (use of the knowledge in other situations). Authentic problems— problems that are real, that might arise in the student’s life, or that are known to the student—have enormous potential for learning. Authentic problems typically require a wide range of knowledge and skills for successful solution, and they encourage transfer by demonstrating when the knowledge is useful. However, authentic problems tend to be complex—students need two kinds of help to make them work for learning:

When conventions collide: the tensions of instant messaging attributed

We discuss findings from observation, interviews, and textual analysis of instant messaging use in a university research lab setting. We propose a method for characterizing the tensions that permeate instant messaging texts and that expose the collision between conventions of verbal and written communication. Given this method, we suggest a design space for exploring potential design choices in instant messaging clients. Finally, we recommend an analysis of communicative conventions as a fruitful lens through which designers might anticipate or circumvent design tensions in emergent computer-mediated communication technologies

Problem-based learning in biomedical engineering curricula

Problem-based learning (PBL) anchors learning and instruction in concrete problems. We believe that PBL is well suited to educating undergraduate and graduate students within the interdisciplinary field of biomedical engineering (BME). BME draws upon many traditional disciplines to address a range of problems, from biotechnology to clinical medicine. A challenge for BME educators is to balance this broad base of fundamentals with the analytical, in depth problem solving necessary to be successful bioengineers. The ability to adapt, be innovative, and acquire and integrate relevant information is not efficiently learned in a lecture format, but rather in a small group setting that encourages self-directed learning, such as PBL. We have developed a graduate BME program with PBL as one of the pivotal components and are embarking on the introduction of this methodology to undergraduate sections. We have found PBL to be an effective vehicle for instruction, retention of material, and introduction of topics necessary for professional development.

Fostering Integrative Problem Solving in Biomedical Engineering: The PBL Approach

The rapidly changing field of Biomedical Engineeringposes particular challenges for engineering education. Onthe educator front, medical technology changes at such arapid pace that it is hard is for BME educators to keepabreast of all the advancements in the related fields ofmolecular biology, computer science, tissue engineering,andgeneticengineering.Further,sincetextbooksforunder-graduate BME courses are few and far between, instructorseither have to patch together course material from multiplesources or use textbooks from related fields which ofteninvolves skipping over a great deal of irrelevant material.On the student front, the learning challenges are im-mense. The field demands that students develop multi-disciplinary skills and knowledge in biology, chemistry,several engineering subdisciplines and computer science.They need the modeling and quantitative skills of tra-ditional engineers, but also the qualitative systems un-derstanding representative of a more biological approach.They also need exposure to the clinical side of the dis-cipline where design applications meet the real world ofpatients and doctors. In short, students need to be fullyconversant in three intellectual traditions, which are oftenat odds with one another and have historically been taughtby distinct faculties. For an individual to reconcile thesedisparate practices and historically separated intellectualtraditions she/he will need cognitive flexibility and true in-tegrative thinking—appropriate learning goals for a BMEcurriculum.In an attempt to foster such integrative thinking andinterdisciplinary problem solving strategies, certain BMEprograms

Uncertain Science and Certain Deadlines: CDC Responses to the Media During the Anthrax Attacks of 2001

This paper presents a study in which communication personnel for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provided first-hand accounts of the experience of responding to media inquiries during the 2001 anthrax attacks. In-depth interviews were conducted with 19 communication professionals who worked either at the CDC headquarters in Atlanta or at field locations in the U.S. where persons were exposed to anthrax. The interviews sought CDC staff viewpoints on how the CDC handled a historically unprecedented level of press activity in terms of work locations and equipment, information flow and clearance, and staff roles. Staff reported that the situation led to new work practices, tools for performing the work, and an enhanced understanding of what it takes to be prepared for and to handle communication work during a terrorism-related health crisis. The paper provides a discussion of implications of the findings for CDC and for other public health organizations developing systems for communication response during health-related crises.

Naturalistic inquiry and requirements engineering: reconciling their theoretical foundations

A growing awareness of the need to take into account social and contextual factors requirements engineering (RE) has led to expanded use of naturalistic inquiry (NI) methods, such as ethnography, for capturing relevant data. There is little debate about the potential value of NI to the development of systems; however, most previous discussions have emphasized practical techniques and benefits. Less attention has been given to the ontological and epistemological commitments that a naturalistic research paradigm assume and the extent to which these assumptions conflict with those that pervade RE practice. In this paper we present the axioms that NI. In each case we address both the points of agreement and tension that arise when these axioms are compared with the implicit assumptions upon which RE practice and research methods are based. We illustrate the discussion with specific examples from published sources and our experience.

Of green monkeys and failed affordances: A case study of a mechanical engineering design course

This article reports on an ethnographic study of a mechanical engineering design class. The findings are based on participant observation of one student design team of three students as they designed, tested and built an engineered solution to a problem over a period of ten weeks. The paper describes the curricular efforts to provide social and material affordances both for learning and doing design, and the failure of students on the observed team to take up those affordances. It offers explanations for failure within a framework of conflicting classroom views and pedagogic issues. It discusses the implications of the observed student behavior for design education in general, and mechanical engineering design, in particular.

Studying the influence of culture in global software engineering: thinking in terms of cultural models

Culture appears to have a greater influence on software-engineering practice than originally envisioned. Many recent studies have reported that cultural factors greatly impact global software-engineering (GSE) practice. However, many of these studies characterize culture as a set of dimensions (e.g., Hofstedes), which significantly limits the meaning of culture. In this paper, we discuss the limitations of such a dimensional approach to studying culture by highlighting the aspects of culture that such dimensions fail to capture. Next, we present the idea of thinking of culture in terms of cultural models (inspired by Shores work), and illustrate this idea by presenting cultural models adopted by the software-engineering domain. Then, based on this idea of cultural models, we present a conceptual reference framework for studying the influence of culture in the global software-engineering setting. Finally, we present some examples that use this framework, which illustrates the benefits of such a framework for studying cultures influence on GSE practice.

Design Principles for Problem-Driven Learning Laboratories in Biomedical Engineering Education

This article presents a translational model of curricular design in which findings from investigating learning in university BME research laboratories (in vivo sites) are translated into design principles for educational laboratories (in vitro sites). Using these principles, an undergraduate systems physiology lab class was redesigned and then evaluated in a comparative study. Learning outcomes in a control section that utilized a technique-driven approach were compared to those found in an experimental class that embraced a problem-driven approach. Students in the experimental section demonstrated increased learning gains even when they were tasked with solving complex, ill structured problems on the bench top. The findings suggest the need for the development of new, more authentic models of learning that better approximate practices from industry and academia.