The research reported in this article provides descriptions of design activities and of the evolving designs of expert procedural and expert object-oriented (OO) designers and for novice OO designers with extensive procedural experience. Analysis of procedural and OO designers, in terms of their cognitive activities, design strategies, and final…

Reviews African American cultural values that should be considered in designing urban and suburban Black communities. Discusses the following factors: (1) contact awareness; (2) a cyclical spatial orientation; (3) group orientation; (4) cooperation; (5) oneness with nature. (FMW)

The purpose of this study was to develop an information filtering system which collects, classifies, selects, and stores various kinds of information found through the Internet. A collaborative form of information gathering was examined and a model was built and implemented in the Internet information space. (AEF)

Describes the Performance-Centered Design (PCD) approach that tackles the usability dilemma of computer systems. Discusses PCD success factors; characteristics of adult learning incorporated into PCD methodology; PCD design techniques; interface requirements; and benefits of the PCD methodology. (AEF)

The development of Design and Technology curricula has always been premised on the importance of the act of designing and of the value of the contingent activity of creative thinking. Despite this, there has been a great deal of uncertainty about methods for developing creative thinking abilities in design and technology students. However, the…

Adult humans searched for a hidden goal in images depicting 3-dimensional rooms. Images contained either featural cues, geometric cues, or both, which could be used to determine the correct location of the goal. In Experiment 1, participants learned to use featural and geometric information equally well. However, men and women showed significant…

This exploratory study examines ho wan Internet-assisted design game succeeds in bringing forth children's own visions for the environment where they live and their definitions of a good environment. Two connected concepts in environmental psychology, the theory of person-environment fit and the concept of affordances, are applied in the analysis…

Business communication courses are ideal for teaching visual communication principles and techniques. Many assignments lend themselves to graphic enrichment, such as flyers, handouts, slide shows, Web sites, and newsletters. Microsoft Publisher and Microsoft PowerPoint are excellent tools for these assignments, with Publisher being best for…

Even as weblogs, content management systems, and other forms of automated Web posting and journals are changing the way people create and place content on the Web, new Web pages mushroom overnight. However, many new Web designers produce Web pages that seem to ignore fundamental principles of "good design": full of colored backgrounds, animated…

As in other regions, development on many New England campuses over the past 30 years has tended to be more random than planned. Following the same patterns of sprawl that have defined most development in today's era, the placement of new campus buildings often separated them from the life of the university, while a hodgepodge of architectural…

Stroop dilution is the reduction of the Stroop effect in the presence of a neutral word. It has been attributed to competition for attention between the color word and neutral word, to competition between all stimuli in the visual field, and to perceptual interference. Five experiments tested these accounts. The critical manipulation was whether…

Digital games and simulations are receiving considerable notice within the library and information science (LIS) community. This study adds to the depth of knowledge in this area by providing research on the likelihood a hypothetical digital game delivery method for library instruction achieves sufficient adoption to justify its development.…

The literature on competency-based human resource (HR) management provides a strong case for moving from a jobs-based to a competency-based approach to human resources. There is agreement in the literature (Dubois, Rothwell, Stern, & Kemp, 2004; Lucia & Lepsinger, 1999) on the benefits of using competencies throughout HR systems and impact…

This article describes the premises, principles, and processes for integrating TECH into instruction. TECH is an acronym designed for educators to more smoothly integrate technology into instructional activities. It includes four steps: (1) Target the students' needs and the learning outcome; (2) Examine the technology choices, then decide what to…

While the current debate in the evaluation community has concentrated on examining and explicating implications of the choice of methods for evaluating federal programs, the authors of this paper address the challenges faced by the government in the selection of funding mechanisms for supporting program evaluation efforts. The choice of funding…