Understanding Learning Processes
Dr. Larry Leifer
Professor,
Mechanical Engineering Design
and Director of the Stanford University Center for
Design Research - March 23, 2003
Abstract:
For over 15 years PhD candidates in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Stanford, through its Center for Design Research (CDR) [Leifer 1997, Mabogunje 1997, Cannon 1998, Brereton 1999, Eris 2002] have been observing engineers in continuing education design teams working on industry sponsored projects. The researcher’s intent has been to understand the learning processes that takes place during design activity in order to instrument behavior and increase performance parameters to produce better learning experiences, better engineers, and better products. The focus at CDR has been on developing the human environment and information technology to enhance peer-to-peer communication, and thus, the cogeneration and sharing of design knowledge. Parallel field studies have been conducted in industry to identify key issues. We report on ethnographic field studies that produced a product development knowledge acquisition model [Eris 2002, Figure-1] to frame and focus knowledge management resources in the corporate and academic situations.
Bio:
Dr. Larry Leifer is professor of mechanical engineering design and founding director of the Stanford Center for Design Research (1982-). He has published in the areas of diagnostic electro-physiology, functional assessment of voluntary movement, human operator information processing, rehabilitation robotics, design team protocol analysis, design knowledge management, and concurrent engineering. Prior to joining Stanford University, Professor Leifer worked for Hewlett-Packard, General Motors, NASA Ames Research Center, the MIT Man-Vehicle Laboratory, and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland, where he taught Biomedical Systems Analysis. A member of the Stanford faculty since 1976, he taught product design, created the smart product design (mechatronics) curriculum at Stanford, and most recently teaches a graduate course in “Team-Based Design Innovation with Corporate Partners.” He was founding director of the Stanford-VA Rehabilitation Research and Development Center (1978-1989), and more recently founding director of the Stanford University Learning Lab (1997-2001). With the intent to disseminate orphaned medical device technology he co-founded Lingraphicare America (1989) and Independence Works (1992).