Improving and Maintaining Torque Accuracy in Aerospace Manufacturing: A Case Study

Needs assessment is a systematic and systemic process intended to identify and define gaps between current performance and desired performance. Needs assessments are most beneficial if they address issues that affect successful accomplishment of operational or tactical processes as well as outcomes that allow an organization to meet its overall strategic goals. A team of graduate students took on a needs assessment project to ascertain the causes of declining accuracy in a key task in an aerospace manufacturing process. The project encountered numerous barriers within the client organization, but the team systematically applied human performance technology methods in multiple stages to gather and analyze the available data. The end result was a set of identified root causes and recommended interventions focused on improving performance.     

Reworking practice through an AfL project: an analysis of teachers’ collaborative engagement with new assessment guidelines

In recent years, the concept of Assessment for Learning (AfL) has travelled across countries, giving rise to a range of educational policy initiatives and school development projects. While researchers have focused on issues such as how formative assessment can support student learning and lead to more efficient classroom practices, less attention has been paid to the collaborative work required to develop shared assessment practices at the school level, and to the integration of AfL‐related principles and tools in the collective practice. This paper focuses on the challenges emerging for a teacher team engaging with an AfL project in a lower secondary school in Norway. By employing concepts and perspectives from social practice theory, AfL is understood as a problem complex that needs to be explored and developed locally. We have analysed data from seven video‐recorded meetings of an AfL team, supplemented by interviews and field notes, in order to make visible the micro processes of teachers' collaborative work. The analysis shows how the teachers needed to rework historically established practices and principles, which in turn called for a negotiation and re‐contextualisation of new concepts and artefacts in their efforts to develop shared assessment practices. This again required ways of representing existing practices and imagining future scenarios. Based on these observations we recommend that AfL projects be understood in their wider curricular, institutional, and social contexts, and that the constructive dimensions of teachers' collaborative work in such projects should be acknowledged.     

Creating and maintaining online communities of practice in Malaysian Smart Schools: challenging realities

Wenger describes an educational community of practice (CoP) as a group of professionals who share a passionate concern for practice‐based issues and who voluntarily choose to deepen their knowledge, understanding and skills through collaborative and critical dialogue. Peer collaboration of this kind, which involves social interaction, reflection and a critical engagement with practice issues, has been widely suggested to be effective for teacher learning and professional development. The online continuing professional development for teachers (e‐CPDelT) Vision 2020 model outlined here aims to bring about innovation in practice through an online or virtual CoP (VCoP). Twenty Malaysian teachers in five Smart Schools were invited to take part in a Higher Education (HE) project, funded by one of the main universities in Malaysia. By participating collaboratively in this CoP, it was anticipated that the teachers would form an active online CoP that would lead in turn to innovation in teaching and learning practices in the schools. An action research approach was used in tracing the developmental process of the three subject‐based CoPs (namely, Mathematics, Science and English) and identifying challenges faced by the higher education institution (HEI) project team in fostering the active participation and commitment of the teachers. Preliminary data generated from mentor forum discussion, focus groups and blogs suggested that low levels of participation in VCoP activities were a result of low levels of trust and social affiliation, performance anxiety, time pressure and failure to see the relevance of online interaction as directly related to their individual needs as practitioners. Approaches to remediating these challenges and promoting more authentic teacher engagement are outlined.     

Student Interior Design Projects in Saudi Arabia

Interior design students should be able to use research and evidence‐based design outcomes to make decisions that promote health, safety and wellbeing. This approach will contribute to resolving social, environmental and community issues through design‐oriented thinking Accordingly, the aim of this research in a senior design studio course is to promote a better connection to the local environment needs without losing the creativity aspect. This study covered two semesters and used multiple data collection methods, including interviews, observational field notes, discussions and personal reflections. The findings showed that jury critiques and case study analysis were the most beneficial sources of information for students to develop their project ideas and solutions. The paper illustrates processes, products and aspects that are used in senior projects to find solutions to environmental needs. In addition, the study offers lessons learned and reflections to raise students’ awareness of the cultural needs in relation to the interior design field. This study shows findings similar to earlier research that found that students who identified and analysed a local case study understood the design problem better and were creative in linking their project design solution to the society's needs. The study also reveals that students who relied on analysis of well‐defined local case studies developed focused and detailed concepts and design solutions according to the instructor's and jurors’ assessments. The study also contributes to literature by using a multi‐method approach and offers implications for local and international policy‐makers on interior design curricula.     

An entrepreneurial approach to project-based courses

A senior project course is often employed to expose students to industrial problems and teamwork. Students are expected to use industrial strength tools to deal with issues such as requirements, design, process models, collaboration, management, testing, maintenance and more. In addition, the senior project often plays a large role in satisfying outcomes related to the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) accreditation process. The senior projects are often provided by the schools industry partners, however, this does not guarantee student interest and commitment. From the student's perspective, as the semester ends, so does the project. This study presents a case study for an alternative method to senior projects – an entrepreneurial approach that motivates students and aids with the ABET assessment process.     

Qualitative data analysis in cross‐cultural projects

Large‐scale research projects, conducted in a cross‐European context, are increasingly attractive to educational researchers and policy‐makers. However, this form of comparative research across cultures brings problems concerning the standardization of data collection and analysis, particularly where ethnographic research is concerned, as it prioritizes a full range of qualitative research strategies. This paper outlines the use of a universal model and the approaches recently taken by two research teams and contrasts these with another recent nine‐partner comparative European study that used ethnographic methods. We then describe the analytical procedures used in the project, which encouraged participant observation and individual researcher interpretation in order to generate grounded accounts and outline how they were culturally sensitive and meaningful to research teams who used varied analytical approaches. However, this raised difficult issues for the ‘final’ analysis and the production of a loosely coupled research report. Our pragmatic solution was a process of ‘qualitative synthesis’ whereby individual partner reports were collated by the Project Director and treated as data and a grounded theory approach was applied to generate tentative theory in respect of creative learning. The paper concludes by arguing that data generated by a loosely coupled approach to qualitative comparative research which uses a wide range of data collection methods can be effectively analysed with a qualitative synthesis.     

Clinicians and caseworkers: issues in consultation and collaboration regarding protective service clients

From a social systems and family systems perspective, this paper considers the relationships among protective service clients, caseworkers in protective service agencies and clinicians asked to provide mental health services. It argues that effective clinical services often depend on the clinician's understanding of the role of the caseworker, the caseworker's role-related stresses, and the larger system that serves as context for the caseworker-client relationship. Dynamics leading to inappropriate or collusive involvement of clinicians with families and caseworkers are discussed. Special consideration is given to four stress-related issues: issues of assessment and investigation; needs for validation; problems of responsibility and authority; and feelings towards clients. Strategies to help clinicians become more effective collaborators with caseworkers are suggested and the use of a team approach to the provision of clinical services is reviewed.     

Innovation and Performance Improvement Integration

G2000's HR Execution Excellence—Retail Attendance System was one of the innovative projects to receive the ISPI Award of Excellence in 2016. It is a continuous improvement project that applies the concept of holistic human performance improvement using an ISPI human performance technology (HPT) model (ISPI, 2012) to streamline the front‐end and back‐end processes of our Retail Attendance System. As a result, it leads us to achieve one of our business goals: employment regulatory compliance. In our case, the project team was tasked with seeking solutions to ensure that the payroll process for retail staff could be performed accurately and in a timely manner. After applying the HPT model to conduct the gap analysis and identify the causes or factors that were limiting our performance, we integrated the concept of human‐centered design approach at the solution‐design phase of the project, to lead us to innovative solutions.     

Pragmatic,problem-solving approaches to curriculum and assessment policy

This paper examines curriculum and assessment policy in Australian vocational education and training. Throughout the 1990s curriculum and assessment policy in Australia has been enacted through demand-side market oriented policies. Training policy has focused on the development of a competitive national economy through centralist policies for competency-based training, which emphasize the development of standard outcomes of training to meet industry needs and requirements. Competency-based training is conceptualized into dichotomies that reflect a rational orientation based on an underlying positivistic approach in which facts and values, means and ends are separated as rational, managerial mechanisms of control. An alternative coherentist view of pragmatic problemsolving approaches to curriculum and assessment policy is advocated. In this framework the tentative and evolutionary nature of theory are acknowledged. Rather than a concern for universal solutions, pragmatic evolutionary approaches are concerned to develop an enduring capacity in the system to recognize and deal with shared problems, issues and dilemmas.     

Object‐Oriented Performance Improvement

In this paper, a framework to support an object‐oriented approach to performance analysis is described. The framework includes the use of collaboration, automation, visual modeling, and reusable repositories of analysis knowledge. The need for a new framework is related to the increasing concern with the cost effectiveness of student and employee development. Efforts to improve the return‐on‐investment in such development have been hindered by a craft orientation to the design and construction of learning and performance support materials. One solution to this problem has been to enhance the reuse of such materials. Rather than build every new system from scratch in a craft‐oriented manner, it is envisioned that systems will be constructed largely of standardized, reusable objects shared through Web‐based repositories. Currently, the main focus is on the technological framework necessary for an object‐based approach to learning system development. There appears to be little consideration of the changes in analysis and design thinking required for the move towards object‐based systems. Such systems should still be required to be directly linked to performance problems and opportunities at both the organizational and individual system levels.     

Evaluation of the Redesign of an Undergraduate Cell Biology Course

This article offers a case study of the evaluation of a redesigned and redeveloped laboratory-based cell biology course. The course was a compulsory element of the biology program, but the laboratory had become outdated and was inadequately equipped. With the support of a faculty-based teaching improvement project, the teaching team redesigned the course and re-equipped the laboratory, using a more learner-centered, constructivist approach. The focus of the article is on the project-supported evaluation of the redesign rather than the redesign per se. The evaluation involved aspects well beyond standard course assessments, including the gathering of self-reported data from the students concerning both the laboratory component and the technical skills associated with the course. The comparison of pre- and postdata gave valuable information to the teaching team on course design issues and skill acquisition. It is argued that the evaluation process was an effective use of the scarce resources of the teaching improvement project.     

Using action research to address the mental health needs of older people: a reflection and discussion of real‐world problems

Action research provides an opportunity to implement and understand the process of change in practice settings, as well as develop theoretical insights into complex social situations. The provision of mental healthcare for older people within the general hospital is one such situation, and this paper presents a discussion and reflection on the use of action research in this setting. The background to the project is described, followed by a discussion of three major issues that emerged for us: the extent to which we were able to promote democracy and maintain and demonstrate democratic behaviour, the problems and pitfalls of operationalising grounded theory methodology within an action research approach, and the challenges of developing an authentic and credible account of the care of older people with mental health needs. This paper aims to add to a discourse regarding action research and will be of value to researchers using this approach across a range of health, social care and educational settings.     

Integrating Evaluation and Needs Assessment: A Case Study of an Ergonomics Program

This case study focuses on the relationship between evaluation and needs assessment and how both processes were integrated in one project. The project involved evaluating a 10‐year‐old ergonomics course. The course was one component of a broader organizational change initiative, aimed to reduce or eliminate on‐the‐job injuries. The success of the change initiative depended on applying knowledge from the course as well as other workplace variables, such as management commitment, plant communications, and the relationship between management and union labor. Robert Stake's (1967) countenance framework was modified to consider both instructional and performance issues in the research design. Data collection included observing the course, conducting focus groups with past course attendees who were ergonomic committee members, interviewing ergonomic teams in manufacturing plants, and reviewing course materials and other related documents. The findings illustrate the overlap between the needs assessment and evaluation processes. The discussion addresses how these labels can limit perception of the system of interest, the importance of adapting the research design to take advantage of naturally occurring organizational events, the value of integrating both needs assessment and evaluation perspectives, and the importance of differentiating evaluation and needs assessment recommendations.     

Team Research at the Biology–Mathematics Interface: Project Management Perspectives

The success of interdisciplinary research teams depends largely upon skills related to team performance. We evaluated student and team performance for undergraduate biology and mathematics students who participated in summer research projects conducted in off-campus laboratories. The student teams were composed of a student with a mathematics background and an experimentally oriented biology student. The team mentors typically ranked the students'' performance very good to excellent over a range of attributes that included creativity and ability to conduct independent research. However, the research teams experienced problems meeting prespecified deadlines due to poor time and project management skills. Because time and project management skills can be readily taught and moreover typically reflect good research practices, simple modifications should be made to undergraduate curricula so that the promise of initiatives, such as MATH-BIO 2010, can be implemented.     

Creating a Process for Capturing and Leveraging Intellectual Capital

This article introduces an example project to describe a process with a practical mechanism to capture and disseminate intellectual capital in an organization. Five phases of the process are described for the example project: needs analysis, design process, development process, evaluation, and performance environment. A knowledge‐base is used as the practical mechanism for capturing the expertise of individuals and making it available to other members of the organization. The knowledge‐base grows as members of the organization solve new problems and enter that expertise into the knowledge‐base. Productivity increases as members consult the knowledge‐base and reuse solutions that were developed by other members of the organization. The article concludes by noting that the technology plays an important role in automating the capture and retrieval of knowledge, but a ehange in the belief structure of the members of the organization is essential to sucessfully utilize the knowledge‐base for capturing and disseminating intellectual capital.     

Using Performance Analysis for Training in an Organization Implementing Integrated Manufacturings A Case Study

Focused efforts to improve organizational and individual performance begin with analysis of the needs. However, the theory and practice of performance analysis are not well connected. This case study examined the use of a theory-based model, the Performance Analysis for Training (PAT) Model, for assessing performance needs within an organization that was integrating its manufacturing processes. The results showed that the PAT Model was a useful guide for assessing performance needs. This research also showed that the process and product of the performance analysis were influenced by the organization's characteristics, the decision maker's characteristics, and the analyst's characteristics. In practice, the PAT model and the actual process of performance analysis were similar. However, the analyst noted three adaptations of the model. These adaptations suggest that performance analysis in some instances may be more an iterative than a linear process.     

Classroom Discourse as a Tool to Enhance Formative Assessment and Practise in Science

This study details an innovative approach to coordinating and enhancing multiple levels of assessment and discursive feedback around an existing multi‐media curricular environment called Astronomy Village^®. As part of a broader design‐based research programme, the study analysed small group interactions in feedback activities across two design cycles. The goal of this analysis is to develop an understanding of the ways that a situative approach to assessment and practise supports learning. Findings demonstrate ways that student and teacher engagement in collaborative activities support and constrain meaningful understanding, which we consider in terms of a trajectory of participation in and across conversations and written assessments, as well as individual learning gains on formal classroom examinations and standards‐oriented external tests. Analyses of complementary formulations of domain concepts—discourse practises and assessment performance—suggest that participation in social forms of scientific engagement supports both learning and subsequent performance in more formal contexts. We suggest design principles for integrating the formative functions of discursive feedback with the summative functions of traditional assessment, through participation in different forms of science discourse(s).     

Performance of student software development teams: the influence of personality and identifying as team members

One prominent approach in the exploration of the variations in project team performance has been to study two components of the aggregate personalities of the team members: conscientiousness and agreeableness. A second line of research, known as self-categorisation theory, argues that identifying as team members and the team's performance norms should substantially influence the team's performance. This paper explores the influence of both these perspectives in university software engineering project teams. Eighty students worked to complete a piece of software in small project teams during 2007 or 2008. To reduce limitations in statistical analysis, Monte Carlo simulation techniques were employed to extrapolate from the results of the original sample to a larger simulated sample (2043 cases, within 319 teams). The results emphasise the importance of taking into account personality (particularly conscientiousness), and both team identification and the team's norm of performance, in order to cultivate higher levels of performance in student software engineering project teams.