Exigencies for engaging undergraduates in rhetorical problem solving : insights from engineering managers and A3 report analyses

Undergraduate education has a historical tradition of preparing students to meet the problem-solving challenges they will encounter in work, civic, and personal contexts. This thesis research was conducted to study the role of rhetoric in engineering problem solving and decision making and to pose pedagogical strategies for preparing undergraduate students for workplace problem solving. Exploratory interviews with engineering managers as well as the heuristic analyses of engineering A3 project planning reports suggest that Aristotelian rhetorical principles are critical to the engineer's success: Engineers must ascertain the rhetorical situation surrounding engineering problems; apply and adapt invention heuristics to conduct inquiry; draw from their investigation to find innovative solutions; and influence decision making by navigating workplace decision-making systems and audiences using rhetorically constructed discourse. To prepare undergraduates for workplace problem solving, university educators are challenged to help undergraduates understand the exigence and realize the kairotic potential inherent in rhetorical problem solving. This thesis offers pedagogical strategies that focus on mentoring learning communities in problem-posing experiences that are situated in many disciplinary, work, and civic contexts. Undergraduates build a flexible rhetorical technê for problem solving as they navigate the nuances of relevant problem-solving systems through the lens of rhetorical practice.

A COMPARATIVE STUDY AND EVALUATION OF COLLABORATIVE RECOMMENDATION SYSTEMS

Consumers currently enjoy a surplus of goods (books, videos, music, or other items) available to purchase. While this surplus often allows a consumer to find a product tailored to their preferences or needs, the volume of items available may require considerable time or effort on the part of the user to find the most relevant item. Recommendation systems have become a common part of many online business that supply users books, videos, music, or other items to consumers. These systems attempt to provide assistance to consumers in finding the items that fit their preferences. This report presents an overview of recommendation systems. We will also briefly explore the history of recommendation systems and the large boost that was given to research in this field due to the Netflix Challenge. The classical methods for collaborative recommendation systems are reviewed and implemented, and an examination is performed contrasting the complexity and performance among the various models. Finally, current challenges and approaches are discussed.