Combining hierarchical task analysis and usage scenarios to help embed human factors in design

1 INTRODUCTION Design education usually employs project-based learning, in which students learn to research, plan, design and reflect on the creation of technological projects [1], [2]. Student experience issues may influence students' design process, as well as their perception of professional knowledge development. Studies have pointed out students are ill-informed about design education when entering university [3]. In the field of design, although there have been student surveys to analyze design thinking skills and for assessing design literacy. However, these studies are primarily assessment tools, and do not investigate students’ attitudes or experiences of their design courses. While several studies focus on measuring students’ cognitive knowledge, assessments of affective variables, such as attitude, are far fewer in number. The objective of this study was to investigate student experiences, specifically the issues and challenges faced by students in three foundational design courses – focusing on introductory design, architectural design and engineering design – at the . We investigate issues such as how do students experience various instruction modes such as lectures and studio; and their experience of working individually or as teams in the three foundational design courses. 2 METHOD We conducted a survey in three foundational design courses, in both online and paper format. The survey comprised quantitative and qualitative components. Respondents consisted of 248 students from the introductory design course, 48 students from the introductory architectural design course and 71 students from the engineering design course. Respondents rated their perceptions on 23 items in two types of questions: Likert, semantic differential. Additionally, they provided their input in two open-ended questions. 3 RESULTS A principal component analysis conducted on the data revealed five factors that primarily contributed to students’ perception of foundational design courses: (1) the fun aspects of design, (2) the stressful aspects of design, (3) Course Pressures, (4) Student temperament issues, (5) Teamwork experience. Performance pressures majorly affected student experience in all three courses. The architectural design course was seen to be the most enjoyable for students, as fun scores were higher than the stress scores, and low course pressures. The engineering design course was observed to be very stressful for students, with low scores for fun. 4 SIGNIFICANCE Student perception of foundational design courses is important because it can be used to drive forward changes in curriculum and pedagogy. While this study uses data from one university, the issues reported here are generic and relevant for instructors developing design courses across different parts of the world. Research in student experience and perspectives is crucial to develop design education and propel it into the future. REFERENCES [1] Y. Doppelt, “Assessing creative thinking in design-based learning,” International Journal of Technology and Design Education, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 55–65, 2009, [2] N. Lee, “Project methods as the vehicle for learning in undergraduate design education: a typology,” Design Studies, vol. 30, no. 5, pp. 541–560, Sep. 2009, [3] A. B. Gencosmanoglu, “Learning, teaching and administration in design education: DESIGNtrain Project: Training tools for developing design education,” in Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2010.

This paper is presented to participate in a symposium under the theme of “Human Factors in Design”. The title “Human Factors in Design” refers to the research on machine/device designs and studies based on considerations given to the people who use these machines/devices.

1 - Introduction

– Inconsistent transfer policies, lack of articulated syllabi, and subsequent differences on the delivery of comparable courses are a few examples of the obstacles that Ontario students face when trying to change programs. This study sought to develop a framework to support transfer between engineering and engineering technology programs in Ontario using explicit and implicit course outcomes to help develop and define new pathways. Primarily focusing on program expectations in introductory design courses this study compared the content and context of design projects in different institutions and programs across the province. The contextual framework, namely the “Outcome Comparison Framework for Engineering and Technology”, synthesized relevant elements from existing frameworks which can collectively identify the differences in the context of learning in engineering and technology disciplines. This framework looks into disciplinarity, use of tools and design thinking required to successfully finish a design project. We collected design projects from 5 technology programs and 4 engineering programs across the province and coded them based on the content targeted by the project description and the three dimensions of the framework. Content analysis for design courses showed an overall low percentage of alignment between the learning outcomes and the project descriptions across the board. It was found that engineering design courses were more focused on principles of engineering design (problem definition, stakeholder needs, idea generation, decision making) and development of professional characteristics (workplace communication skills, ethics, etc.); but technology design courses, focused on the use of more “hands-on”' skills (building/implementation, troubleshooting, etc.)

Focusing on the application of human factors and ergonomics in the design of alarm systems, this book brings together all the disparate areas in a single volume. The aim of the book is to present current human factor issues regarding alarm design in a variety of setting, such as industrial alarm systems in process industries, aviation, automobiles and intensive care. It argues that the severe short comings of alarm systems can be overcome through the use of human factors evaluation and design integration techniques. Contributors cover the areas of HCI, task analysis, training, personnel selection, and design and human behavior in an emergency, which of course, can be influenced positively and negatively by the design and deployment of alarm systems.

When data for a completely randomised design are categorical rather than continuous, the Cochran–Mantel–Haenszel suite of tests may be applied, albeit that there is only one stratum. In introductory design courses this design, and the randomised block design, are usually the first designs introduced. Using the completely randomised design instead of the randomised block design ignores blocks (strata) and results in expressions for the tests statistics that are simpler than if the usual general test statistics are applied. Based on models given here, the usual Cochran–Mantel–Haenszel tests for the completely randomised design are shown to be Wald-type tests.

Welding operations are known for high safety risk which requires urgent identification and prevention before they result in huge negative impacts on the nations’ gross domestic product, organizations, workers and the environment. This research aimed at developing a human factor engineering model that support loss prevention in welding industry by assessing the impact of human factors on incident frequency and safety performance in Nigerian Oil and Gas industry. The study was carried out using coded skilled welders who had at least two years’ experience and above. Descriptive study design with structured questionnaire was used for data collection and Satistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 26 Structural equation modelling software for data analysis. The results revealed that Pearson’s correlation coefficient between human factors and safety performance were statistically significant with a p-values of -0.45, 0.72, -0.50, 0.77 and 0.32 for workplace, task, personal, organizational and design factors respectively. Pearson’s correlation coefficient between human factors and incident frequency and fatality rates were 0.64, -0.55, 0.71, -0.89, and -0.45 for workplace, task, personal, organizational and design factors respectively. The structural equation regression model showed that human factors and safety performance was statistically significant with a path coefficient of -0.733, 0.860, -0.615, 0.616 and 0.430 for personal, organizational, workplace, design and task factors respectively. The structural equation regression model showed that human factors and incident frequency was statistically significant with a path coefficient of 0.59, -0.79, 0.63, -0.60 and -0.31 for personal, organizational, workplace, design and task factors respectively.The research concluded that engineered human factors would lead to improved safety performance, structural integrity and reduction in incident frequency rate. The study recommended that national, international agencies, government, professional bodies and companies should focus on human factor engineering in delivering products with structural integrity, boost performance and reduce lost time injuries and occupational diseases.

The purpose of this document is to provide an overview of the recommended activities and methods to be employed by a team of human factors engineers during the development of a nuclear waste retrieval system. This system, as it is presently conceptualized, is intended to be used for the removal of storage canisters (each canister containing a spent fuel rod assembly) located in an underground salt bed depository. This document, and the others in this series, have been developed for the purpose of implementing human factors engineering principles during the design and construction of the retrieval system facilities and equipment. The methodology presented has been structured around a basic systems development effort involving preliminary development, equipment development, personnel subsystem development, and operational test and evaluation. Within each of these phases, the recommended activities of the human engineering team have been stated, along with descriptions of the human factors engineering design techniques applicable to the specific design issues. Explicit examples of how the techniques might be used in the analysis of human tasks and equipment required in the removal of spent fuel canisters have been provided. Only those techniques having possible relevance to the design of the waste retrieval system have been reviewed. This document is intended to provide the framework for integrating human engineering with the rest of the system development effort. The activities and methodologies reviewed in this document have been discussed in the general order in which they will occur, although the time frame (the total duration of the development program in years and months) in which they should be performed has not been discussed.

HUMAN FACTORS IN DESIGN VALIDATION OF INTERACTIVE DEVICES

“Introduction to Engineering” was designed in 1994 by a cross-disciplinary group of seven engineering faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The faculty group had recently completed a nine-month team-based professional development program, where they studied, discussed, and reflected upon the learning process. The group was asked by the administration to design a course to improve the retention of freshmen engineering students, with specific emphasis on the retention of underrepresented student groups. This paper highlights the human factors and job design foundations of this course in two ways. First, in that the course itself was created using theories of work motivation taken from classic literature and applied to the “work” of learning. Second, by creating a course that ultimately would be considered service-learning, students and faculty from diverse engineering departments would need and become familiar with human factors in design.

1 Why Study the Design Process? 2 Describing Mechanical Design Problems and Process 3 Designers and Design Teams 4 The Design Process 5 Project Definition and Planning 6 Understanding the Problem and the Development of Engineering Specifications 7 Concept Generation 8 Concept Evaluation 9 The Product Design Phase 10 Product Generation 11 Product Evaluation for Performance and the Effects of Variation 12 Product Evaluation for Cost, Manufacture, Assembly, and other Measures 13 Launching and Supporting the Product Appendixes A Properties of 25 Materials Most Commonly Used in Mechanical Design B Normal Probability C The Factor of Safety as a Design Variable D Human Factors in Design E TRIZ F Belief Map Masters

Designing a chest tube checklist using a multidimensional human factor approach: a hierarchical task analysis, a failure mode and effect analysis, and a bow-tie analysis.

As the brain of Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), Main Control Room (MCR) is an integrated system which comprises varieties of Human System Interfaces (HSIs), procedures, operators and environment. HSI is the medium that the operators monitor and control the Nuclear Power Plant. To improve the operating performance and avoid human errors, Human Factor Engineering (HFE) is required to be implemented in the new plant HSI design for plant safety. HPR1000 has followed the NUREG-0711 as the guidelines of HFE program, in which 12 elements are included. Task Analysis (TA) and Human Factor Verification & Validation (HF V&V) are two important elements for the HSI design. For task analysis, the design engineers could analyze the human actions (HAs) to identify the tasks that the operators must perform to accomplish the plant functions. Task analysis identifies not only the specific tasks needed to accomplish HAs but also the information, and controls required to complete those tasks which are considered as important input for the MCR HSI design. HF V&V is one of the final stages of the Human Factors Services as included in NUREG-0711. The HF V&V objective is to evaluate that the HSI design conforms to HFE design principles and that the adequacy of the interfaces enable plant personnel to successfully perform their tasks and other operational goals, assuring plant safety. The V&V element consists of four major activities: Sampling of Operational Conditions, Design Verification, Integrated System Validation, and HED Resolution. For different targets, Design Verification could be separated into two kinds of activities: HSI Task Support Verification (TSV) and HFE Design Verification (DV). TSV is an evaluation to verify that the HSI supports the requirements of personnel tasks, as defined by task analyses. The HAs, controls and information identified in task analysis could be used as the basic input for HSI TSV. To provide adequate input for the HSI design and TSV, the operational conditions of task analysis should be sampled as many as possible to cover all the typical conditions, which include normal conditions, transients, Design Based Accidents (DBA), Beyond Design Based accidents (BDBA), even severe accidents. The sampled conditions for task analysis would be available for the task support verification of the related HSIs. In conclusion, the task analysis could be used as the design input for HSI, while the task support verification could review the designed HSI with the output information from TA. This paper addresses the research and engineering implementation methodologies for task analysis and HSI task support verification. As the first reactor of HPR1000, HFE program have been carried out in Fuqing 5&6 MCR from preliminary design to final test. The Fuqing 5&6 TA and TSV achievements for MCR HSIs design are summarized in the paper.

In 1990, the A. James Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland at College Park initiated a reevaluation of the introductory design course in order to increase design in the classroom and to recruit, retain, and graduate more women and underrepresented minorities. The resulting course, ENES 100, has been highly successful. A High School Teacher-in-Residence program was initiated in 1995. Sue Schwartz, a Physics teacher from Montgomery County's Paint Branch High School began a residency at the School of Engineering to learn and be a partner in the first year Introduction to Engineering Design course. Throughout the two semesters she actively participated in 4 sections of the course and interacted with all aspects of the freshman program. A major outcome of the interaction was a well defined, detailed, year-long high school curriculum in engineering design. That curriculum has had a pilot test throughout the 1996-97 academic year. The high school curriculum in engineering design and the results of the pilot study is the focus of the presentation.

Highly mechanized forestry operations are essential for efficient timber harvesting. Therefore, the skills of harvester operators appear to be key to productive and sustainable use of the machines. Recent research has revealed a knowledge deficit regarding the work practices of forest machine operators. This urges systematic research into forestry machine handling and a corresponding refinement of analytical methods. Current analyses of operator tasks in forestry are less formalized and focus predominantly on machine efficiency and overall performance, but not so much on the human-related conditions of work performance and workload. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to introduce hierarchical task analysis (HTA) into forestry science. HTA is a versatile, formalized human-factors method that can be used to describe the work objectives of forest machine operators. HTA is suitable, for example, for describing (in)efficient work practices and thus as a basis for designing machine operator training and for systematically evaluating assistive technologies. The task analyses in this paper draw on a recently published empirical approach to analyzing work practices, workflows, and machine operator behavior for optimal human–machine collaboration in forestry application research. Specifically, the main work methods of clearcutting and thinning stand in European forestry were considered, with examples from Scandinavian and German method application. The process of HTA is described and a prototypical approach to HTA for both working methods provided. As a result, this work could show that a single work practice affects operator goals within different work elements and sets out how inefficient work practices can be described in terms of operator goals. With the introduction and exemplary application of HTA, a structured task definition in human-centered approaches is encouraged to analyze work practices, workflows, and machine operator behavior for optimal human–machine collaboration in forestry application research.