Assessing architectural design processes of diverse learners

Given that what students learn is so strongly related to how they learn, the modes of delivery and assessment that we as teachers provide them with have a major impact on their ability to learn. As this paper shows, good learning environments are constructed from a range of modes that respond to student learning styles and seek to align activities and learning outcomes with assessment tasks, to better accommodate a diversity of student learning styles and backgrounds. This paper uses a number of models of learning to critique and analyse the traditional practices of assessment in an architectural design class, and then proposes and reports on an alternative pattern of assessment. It discusses the issues of accommodating a group of first-year architecture students at Queensland University of Technology in 2009. These students arrived with diverse prior learning backgrounds, the group being evenly split between those with drawing capabilities and those without. They also had a variety of learning style preferences. The experiment in alternative assessment patterns presented here shows that what has traditionally been considered a diverse and difficult cohort of students can benefit from the assessment of a range of task types at different stages in the learning cycle.

Iterative design within a local community communication fabric

Our research considers the problem designing support for local community communications. We present a description of a suburban community communication fabric as revealed through observations of long-term use of a networked community noticeboard and the introduction of tailored email digest to registered noticeboard users. The paper contributes an understanding of how iterative situated design in a user community can help us to design for participation in the use of technologies that can support growth of a community communication fabric. The different roles of the situated display and email digest are discussed.

Investigating challenges and opportunities of water sensitive urban design for knowledge based development of Australian cities

A new approach that is slowly replacing neoclassical models of economic growth and commodity based industrial activities, knowledge based urban development (KBUD) aims to provide opportunities for citiesw to foster knowledge creation, exchange and innovation, and is based on the concepts of both sustainable urban development and economic prosperity; sustainable uses and protection of natural resources are therefore integral parts of KBUD. As such, stormwater, which has been recognised as one of the main culprits of aquatic ecosystem pollution and as therefore a significant threat to the goal of sustainable urban development, needs to be managed in a manner that produces ecologically sound outcomes. Water sensitive urban design (WSUD) is one of the key responses to the need to better management urban stormwater runoff and supports KBUD by providing an alternative, innovative and effective strategy to traditional stormwater management.

High bandwidth voltage and current control design for voltage source converters

In this paper, two different high bandwidth converter control strategies are discussed. One of the strategies is for voltage control and the other is for current control. The converter, in each of the cases, is equipped with an output passive filter. For the voltage controller, the converter is equipped with an LC filter, while an output has an LCL filter for current controller. The important aspect that has been discussed the paper is to avoid computation of unnecessary references using high-pass filters in the feedback loop. The stability of the overall system, including the high-pass filters, has been analyzed. The choice of filter parameters is crucial for achieving desirable system performance. In this paper, the bandwidth of achievable performance is presented through frequency (Bode) plot of the system gains. It has been illustrated that the proposed controllers are capable of tracking fundamental frequency components along with low-order harmonic components. Extensive simulation results are presented to validate the control concepts presented in the paper.

Designing participation : Reconsidering agile ridesharing with evolutionary distributed design thinking

This paper explores design thinking from the perspective of designing new forms of interaction to engage people in community change initiatives. A case study of an agile ridesharing system is presented. We describe the fundamental premise of the design approach taken—deploying simple interactive prototypes for use by communities in order to test the design hypothesis, evolve the design in use and grow the community of participants. Real-time use data and feedback from participants influences our understanding of the design approach and feeds into the gradual evolution of the prototype while it continues to be used. We then reflect upon this form of evolutionary distributed design thinking. In contrast to the conventional IT wisdom of building systems to automate ride matching and fare calculation using structured forms, our initial phase of design revealed a preference for informal messaging, negotiation and caution in the sharing of specific location information.

How HCI design influences web security decisions

Even though security protocols are designed to make computer communication secure, it is widely known that there is potential for security breakdowns at the human machine interface. This paper reports on a diary study conducted in order to investigate what people identify as security decisions that they make while using the web. The study aimed to uncover how security is perceived in the individual's context of use. From this data, themes were drawn, with a focus on addressing security goals such as confidentiality and authentication. This study is the first study investigating users' web usage focusing on their self-documented perceptions of security and the security choices they made in their own environment.

Robust multidisciplinary design optimisation using CFD and advanced evolutionary algorithms

Computation Fluid Dynamics (CFD) has become an important tool in optimization and has seen successful in many real world applications. Most important among these is in the optimisation of aerodynamic surfaces which has become Multi-Objective (MO) and Multidisciplinary (MDO) in nature. Most of these have been carried out for a given set of input parameters such as free stream Mach number and angle of attack. One cannot ignore the fact that in aerospace engineering one frequently deals with situations where the design input parameters and flight/flow conditions have some amount of uncertainty attached to them. When the optimisation is carried out for fixed values of design variables and parameters however, one arrives at an optimised solution that results in good performance at design condition but poor drag or lift to drag ratio at slightly off-design conditions. The challenge is still to develop a robust design that accounts for uncertainty in the design in aerospace applications. In this paper this issue is taken up and an attempt is made to prevent the fluctuation of objective performance by using robust design technique or Uncertainty.

Shock control bump design optimization on Natural Laminar Aerofoil

The chapter investigates Shock Control Bumps (SCB) on a Natural Laminar Flow (NLF) aerofoil; RAE 5243 for Active Flow Control (AFC). A SCB approach is used to decelerate supersonic flow on the suction/pressure sides of transonic aerofoil that leads delaying shock occurrence or weakening of shock strength. Such an AFC technique reduces significantly the total drag at transonic speeds. This chapter considers the SCB shape design optimisation at two boundary layer transition positions (0 and 45%) using an Euler software coupled with viscous boundary layer effects and robust Evolutionary Algorithms (EAs). The optimisation method is based on a canonical Evolution Strategy (ES) algorithm and incorporates the concepts of hierarchical topology and parallel asynchronous evaluation of candidate solution. Two test cases are considered with numerical experiments; the first test deals with a transition point occurring at the leading edge and the transition point is fixed at 45% of wing chord in the second test. Numerical results are presented and it is demonstrated that an optimal SCB design can be found to significantly reduce transonic wave drag and improves lift on drag (L/D) value when compared to the baseline aerofoil design.

Preface : rethinking sustainable development : urban management, engineering, and design

In an atmosphere where civilization is progressing and becoming more aware of the consequences of careless development decisions, rethinking sustainable development - particularly sustainable urban and infrastructure development - has become an inevitable necessity. ------ ----- Rethinking Sustainable Development: Urban Management, Engineering, and Design considers the role of urban, regional and infrastructure planning in achieving sustainable urban and infrastructure development, providing insights into overcoming the consequences of unsustainable development. This companion volume to Sustainable Urban and Regional Infrastructure: Technology, Planning and Management, overviews all aspects of sustainable urban and infrastructure development.

Design process : similarities and differences

The research is based on studying the early stage of the design process. It aims to identify differences in design approaches across two design domains. The research is based on the analysis of the observational data from the conceptual stage of (i) product and (ii) software design process. The activities captured from the analysis of the design process are utilized to outline similarities and differences across the two domains. This will contribute to a better understanding of the connections between, and integration of, design process variables, and to a better understanding of design expertise transfer to other domain (e.g., science or nursing).

Expertise in software design : novice and expert models

This paper investigates how software designers use their knowledge during the design process. The research is based on the analysis of the observational and verbal data from three software design teams generated during the conceptual stage of the design process. The knowledge captured from the analysis of the mapped design team data is utilized to generate descriptive models of novice and expert designers. These models contribute to a better understanding of the connections between, and integration of, designer variables, and to a better understanding of software design expertise and its development. The models are transferable to other domains.

Assessing the leanness in product design : a model for planned design reuse

Shrinking product lifecycles, tough international competition, swiftly changing technologies, ever increasing customer quality expectation and demanding high variety options are some of the forces that drive next generation of development processes. To overcome these challenges, design cost and development time of product has to be reduced as well as quality to be improved. Design reuse is considered one of the lean strategies to win the race in this competitive environment. design reuse can reduce the product development time, product development cost as well as number of defects which will ultimately influence the product performance in cost, time and quality. However, it has been found that no or little work has been carried out for quantifying the effectiveness of design reuse in product development performance such as design cost, development time and quality. Therefore, in this study we propose a systematic design reuse based product design framework and developed a design leanness index (DLI) as a measure of effectiveness of design reuse. The DLI is a representative measure of reuse effectiveness in cost, development time and quality. Through this index, a clear relationship between reuse measure and product development performance metrics has been established. Finally, a cost based model has been developed to maximise the design leanness index for a product within the given set of constraints achieving leanness in design process.

Changing relationships: activating student and staff engagement in a design studio

In the design studio learning environment, traditional student and staff expectations are of close contact teaching and learning. In recent years at QUT students have experienced reduced personal staff attention, and have increasingly felt “anonymous” and correspondingly disengaged, to the detriment of quality learning (Carbone 1998: 8; Biggs 2003). Concurrently, there has been a necessary increase in teaching by sessional staff at QUT with varied levels of experience and assurance. This paper outlines the first iteration of an action research project exploring whether changing the current QUT design studio student and staff relationships may lead to more engaged, dynamic learning environments. “Engagement” is understood as a primarily emotional, rather than operational student concern (Solomonides and Martin 2008; Austerlitz and Aravot 2007). The project inverted the standard QUT design studio teaching structure, and evaluated the new structure and activation of student engagement across four identified markers: attendance, participation, learning and performance (ACER 2009; NSSE 2005; Chapman 2003). Student and staff surveys and focus groups, corporate data, and informal feedback informed these evaluations. Overall, the results support the premise that when students and staff feel part of a reasonably-sized studio class with a dedicated lecturer and self-selected project, the majority are inclined to value these relationships, to feel actively engaged, and to experience some improvement in their learning and teaching performances.

Spatial stimulus : Model making in the architectural design studio

This action research examines the enhancement of visual communication within the architectural design studio through physical model making. „It is through physical model making that designers explore their conceptual ideas and develop the creation and understanding of space,‟ (Salama & Wilkinson 2007:126). This research supplements Crowther‟s findings extending the understanding of visual dialogue to include physical models. „Architecture Design 8‟ is the final core design unit at QUT in the fourth year of the Bachelor of Design Architecture. At this stage it is essential that students have the ability to communicate their ideas in a comprehensive manner, relying on a combination of skill sets including drawing, physical model making, and computer modeling. Observations within this research indicates that students did not integrate the combination of the skill sets in the design process through the first half of the semester by focusing primarily on drawing and computer modeling. The challenge was to promote deeper learning through physical model making. This research addresses one of the primary reasons for the lack of physical model making, which was the limited assessment emphasis on the physical models. The unit was modified midway through the semester to better correlate the lecture theory with studio activities by incorporating a series of model making exercises conducted during the studio time. The outcome of each exercise was assessed. Tutors were surveyed regarding the model making activities and a focus group was conducted to obtain formal feedback from students. Students and tutors recognised the added value in communicating design ideas through physical forms and model making. The studio environment was invigorated by the enhanced learning outcomes of the students who participated in the model making exercises. The conclusions of this research will guide the structure of the upcoming iteration of the fourth year design unit.