Collaborative Design Space Research Articles

Educational materials as collaborative design space?

The study presented constitutes the first step in a research project aiming at gaining more insight into the processes of creating educational materials through a collaborative design space. Additionally, it focuses on the possibilities of and challenges involved in creating valuable and meaningful educational materials drawing on teachers’ remix practices. The purpose of the study is to investigate how teachers' collaborative interaction with educational tools may influence ongoing improvement of the courses and materials included in design of contextualized learning paths. By taking our point of departure in existing theories and knowledge, we designed a triangulated methodology using a combination of questionnaires, interviews and user behaviour data focusing on the use of the CourseBuilder as a collaborative space. The article focuses on the possibilities and barriers of developing a collaborative design space that enables a (re)design of digital educational materials which looks at teachers’ interest in: 1) designing their own teaching materials, 2) working professionally with the redesign and remixing of materials from many different sources, and 3) adapting them to the many contexts in which materials of this type are included. This article should be seen as a step towards a deeper understanding of opportunities and challenges within teachers' cooperation on designing, sharing, redesigning and resharing teaching materials. It shows that there is a high degree of acceptance of digital teaching materials among teachers of upper secondary schools in Denmark. Furthermore, there seems to be a collaborative culture, where the majority of teachers indicate that they already collaborate professionally regarding course planning and they see advantages connected with these practises. In prior research, factors promoting the adaptation of virtual collaboration are mentioned. These include teachers’ digital skills, professional development through courses, allocated time and integration of tools that allow teachers to enter into re-design networks with colleagues. All the institutions participating in our study show a supportive environment regarding the use of CourseBuilder. However, several factors were identified indicating that CourseBuilder is not the ideal version of a design collaborator. Although the necessary factors for a successful collaborative environment are present, somehow there seems to be a missing link in the fulfilment of CourseBuilder as collaborative design space. Put differently, there are collaborative supportive environments at the specific institutions - but the productive remix practices are not facilitated by CourseBuilder, despite the design intentions and layout.

Design, Making and the Digitisation Trap

The article aims to investigate the evolutionary dynamics and critical issues emerging around makerspace communities, collaborative design and prototyping spaces whose practices have radically impacted the world of education, enterprise and social innovation. Through an exploratory approach, experts from the maker movement and design students have been involved to understand the health of the model underlying makerspaces. The perspective of the research is to graft the debate on the forms of these practices into the dichotomy between physical and digital, socialization practices of design and the ability of these bottom-up models to work on complex solutions. A list of recurring conditions occurring at the time of the creation of these communities has been elaborated. The discussion then covers risks and limitations of the physical dimension of makerspaces in relation with digitization of operations and relations at every level, calling for a necessary re-thinking of co-design practices.

Organizing for Teacher Agency in Curricular Co-Design

Cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) approaches to intervention aim for transformative agency, that is, collective actions that expand and bring about new possibilities for activity. In this article, we draw on CHAT as a resource for organizing design research that promotes teachers’ agency in designing new science curriculum materials. We describe how CHAT informed our efforts to structure a collaborative design space in which teachers and other participants sought to develop new curriculum materials intended to help realize a new vision for science education. Specifically, we describe the tools and routines we deployed to support the design process, and we analyze the ways in which teachers took up elements of our design process as well as how they adapted, resisted, and suggested alternative tools and strategies to help develop new curriculum materials. In so doing, we illustrate ways in which CHAT can serve as a guide both for organizing collaborative design processes and for analyzing their efficacy.

Experimental zones: two cases of exploring frames of participation in a dialogic museum

A matter of concern for dialogic institutions such as museums is the struggle to find appropriate ways of integrating social media and digital technologies into dialogues with visitors. This paper addresses how co-creation and experimental methods may be applied in a situated, natural environment, exploring how these technologies may be shaped to support museum visitor relations. The concept ‘experimental zone’ is suggested as a format for a collaborative design space where digital media-based dialogues are explored in line with professional practices. This concept is discussed in relation to two design experiments undertaken in collaboration with the Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology.

Designing for competence: spaces that enhance collaboration readiness in healthcare

Many universities in the United States are investing in classrooms and campuses designed to increase collaboration and teamwork among the health professions. To date, we know little about whether these learning spaces are having the intended impact on student performance. Recent advances in the identification of interprofessional teamwork competencies provide a much-needed step toward a defined outcome metric. Rigorous study of the relationship between design and student competence in collaboration also requires clear specification of design concepts and development of testable frameworks. Such theory-based evaluation is crucial for design to become an integral part of interprofessional education strategies and initiatives. Current classroom and campus designs were analyzed for common themes and features in collaborative spaces as a starting place for specification of design concepts and model development. Four major themes were identified: flexibility, visual transparency/proximity, technology and environmental infrastructure. Potential models linking this preliminary set of design concepts to student competencies are proposed and used to generate hypotheses for future study of the impact of collaborative design spaces on student outcomes.

Research on the Relation Expression for District Collaborative Design

The district collaborative design is an advanced design organization mode. The problem of definition and expression of correlation in collaborative design is aimed. The organization characteristics are analyzed based on district collaborative design space. The connection relationship acyclic graph which includes connection semantics is achieved and the relationship specialty and connection mode are explained. The algorithm is proposed to solve correlation for district collaborative design by use of correlation information model, and the correlation management model based on PDM is illustrated. Finally, a case study is conducted to prove these theory and method.

Relation Expression and System Design for District Collaborative Design

The district collaborative design is an advanced design organization mode. The problem of definition and expression of correlation in collaborative design is aimed. The organization characteristics are analyzed based on district collaborative design space. The connection relationship acyclic graph which includes connection semantics is achieved and the relationship specialty and connection mode are explained. The algorithm is proposed to solve correlation for district collaborative design by use of correlation information model, and the correlation management model based on PDM is illustrated. Finally, a case study is conducted to prove these theory and method.

The Definition and Solution to the Correlation in District Collaborative Design

The district collaborative design is an advanced design organization mode. The problem of definition and expression of correlation in collaborative design is aimed. The organization characteristics are analyzed based on district collaborative design space. The connection relationship acyclic graph which includes connection semantics is achieved, and the relationship specialty and connection mode are explained. The algorithm is proposed to solve correlation for district collaborative design by use of correlation information model, and the correlation management model based on PDM is illustrated. Finally, a case study is conducted to prove these theory and method

Research on Relation Expression based on District Collaborative Design

The district collaborative design is an advanced design organization mode. The problem of definition and expression of correlation in collaborative design is aimed. The organization characteristics are analyzed based on district collaborative design space. The connection relationship acyclic graph which includes connection semantics is achieved and the relationship specialty and connection mode are explained. The algorithm is proposed to solve correlation for district collaborative design by use of correlation information model, and the correlation management model based on PDM is illustrated. Finally, a case study is conducted to prove these theory and method.

Exploratory modeling with collaborative design spaces

Enabling ordinary people to create high-quality 3D models is a long-standing problem in computer graphics. In this work, we draw from the literature on design and human cognition to better understand the design processes of novice and casual modelers, whose goals and motivations are often distinct from those of professional artists. The result is a method for creating exploratory modeling tools, which are appropriate for casual users who may lack rigidly-specified goals or operational knowledge of modeling techniques. Our method is based on parametric design spaces, which are often high dimensional and contain wide quality variations. Our system estimates the distribution of good models in a space by tracking the modeling activity of a distributed community of users. These estimates drive intuitive modeling tools, creating a self-reinforcing system that becomes easier to use as more people participate. We present empirical evidence that the tools developed with our method allow rapid creation of complex, high-quality 3D models by users with no specialized modeling skills or experience. We report analyses of usage patterns garnered throughout the year-long deployment of one such tool, and demonstrate the generality of the method by applying it to several design spaces.

A multi‐agent system for distributed collaborative design

Presents a multi‐agent system (MAS) for collaborative design in the construction sector. The system is intended to form a basis for integrating the often distributed cross‐functional activities that characterise collaborative design in construction. The MAS supports interaction and negotiation between the different agents that represent various participants that are usually engaged in a typical collaborative project design. The system is composed of different agents that provide services within the MAS environment. While some of the support services are provided by the agent platform, task agents that represent various functional disciplines undertake the real design activities. Describes details of the MAS, which simulates and demonstrates peer‐to‐peer interaction, communication and negotiation between the design agents in a collaborative design space. Also highlights important issues in MAS development and makes recommendations on how to improve collaborative design in construction using the MAS paradigm.

A/E/C Teamwork: A Collaborative Design and Learning Space

This paper describes an ongoing effort focused on combined research and curriculum development for multidisciplinary, geographically distributed architectureengineeringconstruction (AEC) teamwork. ...