Developing classroom‐focused research in technology education

Abstract

During the last 10 years, curriculum documents in Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Hong Kong, and New Zealand have emphasized the importance of students’ developing technological literacy. In utilizing research findings to consider future curriculum needs, there is the danger that the field may come to be understood in light of the research undertaken, not in light of what needs to be done. Past research has tended to focus on curriculum issues and the defining of the subject. If technology education is to advance as a curriculum area of worth and as a focus of research, then much more of our research effort must be on student and teacher learning in technology. This paper argues that classroom‐based research must become the focus of research over the next 10 years. While there is published research on what students do when involved in technological activities, we still lack significant research on students’ learning in technology and on ways in which this learning can be enhanced. Teacher and student conceptualization of technology is a complex issue and requires an understanding of the many factors that influence it. Classroom culture and student expectations appear to influence strongly the way in which students carry out their technological activities. Student learning in technology can be enhanced by effective formative interactions occurring between teacher and student and between student and student. Part of technology assessment should provide evidence of progression in learning, about which we currently know very little. This paper describes some fruitful areas of classroom‐based research that could inform technology curriculum development.     

A RESEARCHER'S RESEARCH AGENDA FOR SCHOLARLY COMMUNICATION IN CANADA

Despite millions of dollars being spent on research each year in Canada, little attention is paid to the dissemination of the results of research. There is a disconnect between Canadian public policies in this area; although a high priority is assigned to the generation of research, there is a lack of policies addressing its dissemination. Meanwhile, the environment in which research knowledge is being disseminated is undergoing a profound transformation because of several important drivers. In particular, these drivers include new technology, changing research patterns, new users, economics, and commercialization. The major objective of this study was to examine the rapidly transforming environment in which research knowledge is disseminated and determine whether there is a need for a national research strategy to adapt to the new, dynamic scholarly communication environment in Canada. To address the latter question, the study adopted a consensus panel process. A consensus panel of 10 Canadian academic researchers from across Canada from a variety of disciplines and at different stages of their careers was recruited from over 70 volunteers. The objective of the panel was to reach a consensus on priorities for research into scholarly communication in Canada. The consensus panel identified five major themes in which there is a need for research in scholarly communication in Canada: Knowledge systems; knowledge/data storage and retrieval; power and infrastructure within the academy; knowledge production and the social contract; copyright and intellectual property. These themes are expanded upon in more detail in the full paper and specific research topics discussed. The results of this study also clearly support the creation of a more holistic and integrated knowledge ecosystem for scholarly communication. In its report, the consensus panel strongly recommended that, ‘a coherent national policy of knowledge preservation and dissemination must be devised to create a greater cohesion, accessibility, security and access to research findings’.     

Cultural Heritage As a Vehicle for Basic Research in Computing Science: Pasteur's Quadrant and a Use‐Inspired Basic Research Agenda

Donald Stokes argued [ [Sto97] ] that for 50 years from the end of the Second World War to the end of the 20th century, there was an unhealthy taxonomy of research types which was formulated on a linear scale from pure to applied. The argument goes that the best research is only possible in environments which are free from contemplation of the potential uses to which results might be applied. In this paper, current research challenges in the application of ICTs to cultural heritage information are reviewed in order to consider where these applications‐linked needs require solutions that will advance the understanding of computational principles and help to develop new basic understanding in computer science, including shape manipulation and other aspects of importance in computer graphics and virtual environments. The paper draws extensively on the recently published EPOCH research agenda [ [AG07] ] for illustrations of the types of research which are required for the Cultural Heritage sector and the relationship between these and basic research challenges in Computing Science.     

The development of Bridger: A methodological study of research on the use of machine learning in design

Research is a design activity whose decisions involve the ways in which research is carried out and its results interpreted. These activities comprise what is referred to as research methodology. This paper brings the concepts of capturing design rationale and machine learning to bear on the design of research itself. Therefore, design decisions concerning research must be recorded to allow for understanding feedback and updating of research strategies. In addition, successes as well as failures of research decisions must be reported to facilitate learning about research. This requires a shift in the way research is carried out and reported. This paper illustrates this shift in the context of a specific project on machine learning in design.     

Evolutionary multi-objective optimization: some current research trends and topics that remain to be explored

This paper provides a short review of some of the main topics in which the current research in evolutionary multi-objective optimization is being focused. The topics discussed include new algorithms, efficiency, relaxed forms of dominance, scalability, and alternative metaheuristics. This discussion motivates some further topics which, from the author’s perspective, constitute good potential areas for future research, namely, constraint-handling techniques, incorporation of user’s preferences and parameter control. This information is expected to be useful for those interested in pursuing research in this area.     

The optimal level of fuzz: case studies in a methodology for psychological research

Cognitive science research is hard to conduct, because researchers must take phenomena from the world and turn them into laboratory tasks for which a reasonable level of experimental control can be achieved. Consequently, research necessarily makes tradeoffs between internal validity (experimental control) and external validity (the degree to which a task represents behaviour outside of the lab). Researchers are thus seeking the best possible trade-off between these constraints, which we refer to as the optimal level of fuzz. We present two principles for finding the optimal level of fuzz, in research, and then illustrate these principles using research from motivation, individual differences and cognitive neuroscience.     

Information systems as social systems: Implications for developing countries

Abstract

Computer‐based information systems should be conceptualised as social systems in which technology is only one of the dimensions. This broader perspective on information systems offers opportunities for a deeper understanding of their development and use. The social systems approach is illustrated in the paper by two research projects in the UK on the evaluation of information systems and information systems strategy formulation. The relevance of the UK research to a developing country context is discussed and it is argued that methodologies which aim to provide an understanding of the organisational, social and political context are highly suitable for organisations in developing countries. Some implications are drawn for research, education and practice related to information systems in developing countries.     

Strategic information systems research: An archival analysis

The Journal of Strategic Information Systems (JSIS) has been an international outlet for Information Systems research that focuses on strategic issues since 1991. This paper reports on an analysis of the research published in JSIS to date. The paper presents a preliminary classification system for research topics related to Strategic Information Systems into which all 316 JSIS research papers as at end 2009 are classified. Discussion on changing emphases in topics over time is provided, in the context of the editorial philosophy of the journal. The paper seeks to stimulate discussion on future directions for research in Strategic Information Systems.     

Twelve years of diagrams research

Research into the use of diagrams is an interdisciplinary endeavour, encompassing disciplines as diverse as psychology, architecture and artificial intelligence. It is also a relatively new research area, with the first meeting of like-minded researchers interested in studying diagrams taking place in 1997. Now that diagrams research is more established, it is timely to review its scope, nature and progress. This paper reviews diagrams research over the past twelve years, as represented in the proceedings of the International Conference on the Theory and Application of Diagrams. In summarising the contents of these proceedings, a taxonomy describing the scope of diagrams research is proposed, the several research issues covered are identified, and the extent to which layout and aesthetics form part of this body of research is discussed. In concluding, trends and under-represented areas are noted and discussed. The aim of the paper is not only to summarise the research covered in this particular conference, but to provide a basis for on-going discussion on the changing nature of diagrams research.     

物联网环境下感知网络密钥管理技术研究

物联网环境下感知网络密钥管理技术研究是感知网络安全方面的一项基础性研究,具有重要意义。对目前国 内外学者关于这方面的研究成果进行综述,以给未来有关这方面的研究工作带来启发。首先,阐述了物联网环境下感知网络 密钥管理技术的研究内容以及所面临的挑战;其次,对目前国内外关于物联网环境下感知网络密钥管理技术的研究成果进行 了分类总结,并探讨了已有成果所存在的问题与不足;最后指出了物联网环境下感知网络密钥管理技术下一步的研究重点。     

深度学习在软件定义网络研究中的应用综述

数据转发与控制分离的软件定义网络(softwaredefinednetworking,简称SDN)是对传统网络架构的彻底颠覆,为网络各方面的研究引入了新的机遇和挑战.随着传统网络研究方法在SDN中遭遇瓶颈,基于深度学习的方法被引入到SDN的研究中,在实现实时智能的网络管控上成果颇丰,推动了SDN研究的深入发展.调查了深度学习开发平台,训练数据集、智能SDN架构等深度学习引入SDN的促进因素;对智能路由、入侵检测、流量感知和其他应用等SDN研究领域中的深度学习应用进行系统的介绍,深入分析了现有深度学习应用的特点和不足;最后展望了SDN未来的研究方向与趋势.     

A systematic review on security in Process-Aware Information Systems – Constitution,challenges, and future directions

ContextSecurity in Process-Aware Information Systems (PAIS) has gained increased attention in current research and practice. However, a common understanding and agreement on security is still missing. In addition, the proliferation of literature makes it cumbersome to overlook and determine state of the art and further to identify research challenges and gaps. In summary, a comprehensive and systematic overview of state of the art in research and practice in the area of security in PAIS is missing.ObjectiveThis paper investigates research on security in PAIS and aims at establishing a common understanding of terminology in this context. Further it investigates which security controls are currently applied in PAIS.MethodA systematic literature review is conducted in order to classify and define security and security controls in PAIS. From initially 424 papers, we selected in total 275 publications that related to security and PAIS between 1993 and 2012. Furthermore, we analyzed and categorized the papers using a systematic mapping approach which resulted into 5 categories and 12 security controls.ResultsIn literature, security in PAIS often centers on specific (security) aspects such as security policies, security requirements, authorization and access control mechanisms, or inter-organizational scenarios. In addition, we identified 12 security controls in the area of security concepts, authorization and access control, applications, verification, and failure handling in PAIS. Based on the results, open research challenges and gaps are identified and discussed with respect to possible solutions.ConclusionThis survey provides a comprehensive review of current security practice in PAIS and shows that security in PAIS is a challenging interdisciplinary research field that assembles research methods and principles from security and PAIS. We show that state of the art provides a rich set of methods such as access control models but still several open research challenges remain.     

Doing critical information systems research – arguments for a critical research methodology

Critical information systems (IS) research, it is argued, does not have a distinct methodological identity. While some research methods are closely related to the positivist research paradigm (experiments, surveys, and structural equation modelling) and others to the interpretivist paradigm (field study, ethnography, and action research), the critical paradigm is not identified with specific ‘critical methods’ and typically relies on the appropriation of interpretivist methods (such as critical ethnography). The criticism of the critical research paradigm in IS has often focused on the lack of distinctly critical research methods and even the neglect of methodological issues (Klein; McGrath). This paper questions the notion of and the arguments behind the quest for ‘critical research methods’ defined in contrast to positivist and interpretivist methods. Instead, the paper argues that it is a critical research methodology – understood as an overall strategy of conceptualizing and conducting an inquiry, engaging with studied phenomena, and constructing and justifying socially relevant knowledge, which distinguishes critical from other research paradigms. Building on a Kleinian argument regarding the need for common principles across diverse critical IS inquiries (Klein; Myers & Klein) this paper proposes a framework that describes key dimensions of a critical research methodology that distinguish critical from other research paradigms and provide methodological guidance in the doing of critical research.     

Design research for cadastral systems

Cadastral information is a reference data component, of any spatial data infrastructure (SDI). During recent years, several organisational and individual research projects have investigated the cadastral domain. Two paradigms characterize much of this research and their methodologies: a behavioural paradigm or, alternatively, a ‘design research’ paradigm. While some efforts have focused on behavioural research methodologies, design research methodologies have not been addressed by the cadastral, geographical information system (GIS) and SDI research community so far. The present article, therefore, aims to demonstrate usage of the design research paradigm through a methodological analysis of recent cadastral research, which addresses information system issues and within this context, designs information system artefact. The analysis is based on five doctoral dissertations and an array of papers representing the development of the ISO/WD 19152.3 Land Administration Domain Model. The analysis is supplemented with a review of related theory. The main contribution of this article is an explication of a design research methodology and a theoretical framework for research in cadastral information, cadastral systems and the units of property rights reflected in these systems.     

水下移动无线传感器网络拓扑

水下移动无线传感器网络是当今世界各国的研究热点之一. 水下复杂环境以及传感器节点移动特性使得水 下移动无线传感器网络拓扑具备了动态演化性, 同时, 水声通信也对水下移动无线传感器网络的可靠性产生了一定 影响. 首先归纳分析水下移动无线传感器网络国内外的研究现状及进展, 并剖析了水声通信对水下移动无线传感器 网络拓扑的影响; 然后凝炼出3 个科学问题, 重点论述了拓扑生成、拓扑愈合及拓扑优化; 最后对未来研究方向进行 了展望, 以期为该领域的深入研究提供清晰的思路.

     

A changing society and problems of method: a politically committed research type

This essay examines a politically engaged research genre, which follows the biography of the author who founded two journals: one on mathematical models published in English (Quality and Quantity) and one on politically committed social and economic research published in Italian (Inchiesta). The research considered focuses on Italy in the 1950s, the research by Lazarsfeld in Vienna in the 1920s and in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s, and post-1968 politically committed research in Italy. The analysis of such politically committed types of research (all very different from one another in terms of the interpretative model of reality, the methods used and the relations with the tendering party and the people observed) allows one to understand how this kind of research can be performed with very different methods—all of which do, however, seek to modify reality on the grounds of the research results. The metaphor of the crystal and the flame presented by Italo Calvino in order to classify facts and ideas and styles and feelings can also be used to visualise the polarity (and the difficulty/impossibility of contact) that has always been present in sociology between two different tendencies: towards a discipline that offers the most abstract and objective interpretative model of reality possible with the use of mathematical models (the crystal), and, instead, towards a discipline in which an interpretative model of reality is central, one that produces a social change and in which the qualitative and quantitative methods utilised are at the service of this change (the flame). This polarity thus allows us to separate first and foremost all the politically committed research performed by others for different purposes (market research, research to verify some theoretical hypotheses, etc.) but the same polarity also lies within the politically committed research. We can, indeed, identify a type of politically committed research in an area that has, at one extreme, research tending towards the utmost objectivity and scientific quality of the results and where the co-ordinators try to have all the information on the subjects maintaining the greatest possible distance (the subjects must not know they are being observed); at the other extreme, there is a type of research in which the coordinator completely involves the subjects in the gathering of information that will serve to realise a piece of research whose political aims are explicitly shared. For the identification of a sufficiently articulated typology it has been important to consider five dimensions of politically committed research: (a) the characteristics of the research coordinator (his/her belonging to the type and the academic/non-academic professional status) and his/her interpretative model of reality (b) some general characteristics of the research (the tender and funding, the topic choice, the aims, the contributions to the sociological theory, the duration); (c) the research coordinators relations with the political actors (the intensity of the relations, the political use of the research); (d) the relations of the research co-ordinator with the research subjects; (e) the methodological choices (the basic strategies, the methods used, the use of mathematical procedures). The research that exemplifies this typology is all politically committed to the left and was realised in different times and contexts. I start by considering a kind of politically engaged research (co-research) that appeared in Italy in the 1950s; I then analyse two types of politically engaged research realised in Austria at the end of the 1920s and one in the United States in the 1950s; there then follow two kinds of research realised in the 1960s and 1970s in the United States and a further two kinds realised in Italy in the 1970s and early 1980s. In order to have other kinds of research please refer to the two Journals of which I am the editor: one is an English language journal of mathematical models (Quality and Quantity, International Journal of Methodology, founded in 1966 and published today by Kluwer of Amsterdam), and a politically engaged review (Inchiesta, founded in 1971 and still published today by Dedalo of Bari).     

Towards a Comprehensive Understanding of Lead Userness: The Search for Individual Creativity

In innovation research the identification of lead users has attracted considerable research effort. While lead user research has made important advances, there is still a significant lack in terms of understanding antecedents to lead userness. Therefore the aim of this paper is to offer a framework which is rooted in creativity psychology in order to provide a more comprehensive understanding of who leading‐edge users are. It will allow for a systematic investigation and detection of innovative users. We conducted an empirical study in the field of small kitchen appliances in co‐operation with Philips Consumer Lifestyle, a field which lacks some of the typical characteristics that have been emphasized in markets traditionally studied in lead user research. With our research we show that (1) lead userness is fundamentally linked to individual creativity; (2) particularly creativity‐ and domain‐relevant skills (cognitive style, product knowledge and use experience) are related to lead userness; (3) creativity‐relevant skills can be explained by personal characteristics, such as education, gender and openness to experience.     

The science and education of mechatronics engineering

We try to get to the heart of multidisciplinary engineering, of which mechatronics is an excellent example, and point out how the integration of disciplines leads to new degrees of freedom in design and corresponding research directions that otherwise would not have been investigated. This is the major contribution achieved by a multidisciplinary approach to engineering science; it leads to a new important research field and at the same time helps to push research in related fields into new fruitful directions. We point to a number of areas that have benefited from the interdisciplinary perspective and a focus on interactions between disciplines including: engineering curriculum; mechatronics research; control of nonlinear mechanical systems; real time control systems modelling; and time varying control systems