{"id":4983,"date":"2006-07-01T14:13:23","date_gmt":"2006-07-01T18:13:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/?p=4983"},"modified":"2014-11-14T16:04:19","modified_gmt":"2014-11-14T21:04:19","slug":"phd-students-look-for-patterns-in-teaching-strategies-and-creative-projects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/2006\/07\/phd-students-look-for-patterns-in-teaching-strategies-and-creative-projects\/","title":{"rendered":"PhD students look for patterns\u2014in teaching strategies and creative projects."},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Nicole Wishart<\/strong> and David Hinds<\/strong>, both PhD students in the Department of Decision Sciences and Information Systems (DSIS) in the College of Business Administration, are focusing on patterns. Though the subject matter is quite different\u2014teaching conceptual database design and innovation communities \u2014their findings have a number of features in common, including their practical applicability.<\/p>\n

Nicole Wishart weighs rules versus patterns.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\nNicole Wishart <\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

As an instructor in the DSIS department, Wishart noticed that students were having a difficult time understanding database design. She wondered if teaching design using a pattern-based approach would be more effective than using the traditional rule-based approach.<\/p>\n

\u201cA rule-based approach prescribes a sequence of rules for modeling the conceptual constructs and the action to be taken at various stages while developing a conceptual model,\u201d she said. \u201cA pattern-based approach presents data modeling structures that occur frequently in practice and prescribes guidelines about how to recognize and use these structures.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is no definitive approach for database design, though Dinesh Batra<\/strong>, professor, DSIS, had already formulated a rule-based approach and described it in an article titled \u201cThe Use of a Knowledge-Based System in Conceptual Data Modeling.\u201d Written with Solomon<\/strong> Antony<\/strong> (PhD \u201997) and a colleague, and based on Antony\u2019s dissertation, the article recently was ranked the tenth most downloaded paper in the journal, Decision Support Systems<\/em>. A conversation with Batra prompted Wishart to examine the two approaches more closely\u2014an examination that evolved into her dissertation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\nDinesh Batra <\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\u201cBatra felt strongly that research would give the benefit to the rule-based approach, and in certain instances, it did,\u201d said Wishart, who took on the subject matter with an open mind. \u201cThe rule-based approach was significantly better in the low-complexity and the high-complexity cases, but there was no statistical difference in the medium-complexity cases.\u201d<\/p>\n

In doing her research, which included a thorough inspection of case studies to extract what the patterns were, Wishart came to see that the idea of patterns crosses disciplines, from computer science to grammar.<\/p>\n

\u201cInitially, I was interested simply because it was the way that I learned, and I thought it might work for others,\u201d she said. \u201cI never lost faith in the pattern-based approach, but over time, I learned how to use the rule-based approach and became fond of it, eventually realizing that we need both.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her dissertation topic suited her practical bent, tying together cognitive studies and pedagogy without excluding conceptual methods.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy work can be applied to practitioners,\u201d she said. \u201cIt is very satisfying to think it may have an impact on improving teaching techniques.\u201d<\/p>\n

David Hinds looks at networks.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\nDavid Hinds<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

There\u2019s a network that might be far more influential in business than ABC, CBS, or NBC. It\u2019s called a social network, and David Hinds<\/strong>, working on his PhD in international management information systems, is one of the researchers involved in social network analysis (SNA). Along with Ronald M. Lee<\/strong>, professor, DSIS, Hinds is using SNA to reveal how certain leadership and customer involvement patterns may facilitate the building of communities and the generation of innovation.<\/p>\n

Hinds likens the state of SNA to the invention of the microscope.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the microscope was first invented and used, we could see things that were previously invisible,\u201d he said. \u201cHowever, we didn\u2019t really know what we were looking at. Similarly, we now can see social structures that we couldn\u2019t see before, but we\u2019re not sure yet what these structures mean.\u201d<\/p>\n

For his dissertation, he is analyzing Open Source Software (OSS) projects to see how groups function, how they are structured, and ways they might be improved. OSS provides an ideal repository for research.<\/p>\n

\u201cArchives from OSS projects are open, are maintained online, and most or all of the discussion and work records also are available online,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\nRonald M. Lee<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Through his research, Hinds hopes to shed further light on just what the networks in the OSS archives do signify. For example, he is looking for communication network patterns associated with low-key leadership styles and high levels of customer involvement, both of which he believes are important success factors for innovation communities like OSS projects.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we are able to show that certain network structures lead to more successful innovation efforts, the information will be valuable to managers,\u201d he said. \u201cThey could use this knowledge to assess their own innovation communities to determine if they have the right kinds of structures or if changes might be necessary. We would be one of the pioneers in showing how to distinguish between a good network structure and a bad one.\u201d<\/p>\n

With twenty-five years of management, executive, and entrepreneurial experience, Hinds had always wanted to get a PhD. Having brought practical insights into his graduate work, he looks forward to \u201cbringing academe back into business\u201d once he completes the degree.<\/p>\n

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Nicole Wishart and David Hinds, both PhD students in the Department of Decision Sciences and Information Systems (DSIS) in the College of Business Administration, are focusing on patterns. Though the subject matter is quite different\u2014teaching conceptual database design and innovation communities \u2014their findings have a number of features in common, including their practical applicability. Nicole […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":71,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[568,3959,651,682,2014,2456],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4983"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/71"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4983"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4983\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24408,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4983\/revisions\/24408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}