Contextual Inquiry is a method developed by Beyer and Holtzblatt for grounding design in the context of the work being performed. In this paper, we adapted the method successfully for analyzing pre-existing videotaped presentations. Our goal was to find improvements for a slide presentation program currently in development, called 'SlideShow Commander.' Contextual Inquiry provided us with meani...

A significant challenge for science teachers’ training is to understand how to enact teaching strategies that would encourage students to perceive learning as a memorable experience instantiated through an activity; and thereby getting involved in a process of meaning-making. This paper describes SimAULA, a serious game that aims to integrate inquiry learning into game dynamics for scaffolding ...

In this article it is proposed that approached in the right way, literature reviews can be an opportunity for creative inquiry. The process of the literature review is framed as a participation in a community, a dialogue with those who are part of the community now and with one’s “ancestors.” The literature review can also explore the deeper underlying assumptions of the larger community or com...

In epistemology and philosophy of science there has been a growing interest in group inquiry and ways that it might differ fundamentally from individual inquiry. The interest in this topic is understandable. Science is predominately collaborative work. If we want to understand the epistemic success of science, we need to understand group inquiry and it is an important part of this to learn whet...

Both Knowledge Management and Appreciative Inquiry attempt to amplify human and organizational capacities by leveraging the best of each. Whereas knowledge management systems aim to help identifying the substantive organizational knowledge in its broadest sense and leveraging it to benefit the organization and its stakeholders, the appreciative inquiry methodology is also about the search for t...

Traditionally, software processes improvement (SPI) has been approached from a problem-oriented perspective, focusing on diagnosing and solving problems using methods such as the IDEAL model and DMAIC. In contrast, appreciative inquiry is an approach that focuses on what is best in an organization in order to further develop this to create a better future. It is, therefore, interesting to explo...

In 2011, the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) initiated an inquiry to determine whether there is a need for expanded ethical guidance in the form of a discrete guidance document for alcohol and other drug (AOD) research. An issues paper was developed to frame the inquiry. AOD researchers, Human Research Ethics Committees and others were invited to discuss whether ...

Background and Objectives: Test anxiety can have undesirable consequences for learning and academic achievement. The control-value theory of achievement emotions assumes that test anxiety is experienced if a student appraises an achievement situation as important (value appraisal), but feels that the situation and its outcome are not fully under his or her control (control appraisal). According...

Contextual Inquiry is a method developed by Beyer and Holtzblatt for grounding design in the context of the work being performed. In this paper, we describe how we adapted the method successfully to perform analyses of pre-existing videotaped presentations. Our goal was to find improvements for a slide presentation program currently in development, called ‘SlideShow Commander,’ which runs on ha...

Inquiry skills are an essential tool for assessing and integrating knowledge. In facilitated face-to-face settings, inquiry skills were improved successfully by using a “question-based dialog” and its resulting visual representation. However, groups that work without a facilitator, or in which members collaborate asynchronously or in different geographical regions, such as Communities of Practi...