Multi Institution Projects Year 1 (2012-2013)
Educating Teenage Drivers in the Pacific Northwest Regarding the Dangers of Distracted Driving
PI: David S. Hurwitz (OSU)
Co-Investigators: Karen Dixon (OSU), Bryan Vila (WSU), Ahmed Abdel-Rahim (UI), Linda Boyle (UW), Billy Connor (UAF)
Dates: 05/16/2012 – 7/31/2014
Led By: Oregon State University (OSU) Professor David S. Hurwitz, this project is the PacTrans Multi-Institution Outreach Project for 2012-2013.
Final Project Report: PacTrans-7-OSU-Hurwitz
Driver distraction can be defined as the diversion of driver attention away from the driving task, and it can result from factors both within and outside of the vehicle (Sheridan, 2004). It can include anything that distracts a driver from the primary task of driving and has been categorized as follows: visual (e.g., reading a map), auditory (e.g., listening to a conversation), biomechanical (e.g., tuning a radio), and cognitive (e.g. ‘being lost in thought,’ and ‘looking but not seeing’) (Ranney et al., 2000). Most distractions are actually a combination of these, thus it may be more useful to categorize distractions according to the task that drivers are engaged in while driving (rather than the combination of the forms of distractions). For example, cell phones are associated with cognitive, auditory, biomechanical, and potentially, visual distractions.
Digital Dissemination Platform of Transportation Engineering Educational Materials Founded in Adoption Research
PI: Shane Brown (WSU)
Co-Investigators: D. Hurwitz (OSU), M. Hallenbeck (UW), M. Kyte (UI), R. Perkins (UAF)
Dates: 05/16/2012 – 7/31/2014
Led By: Washington State University (WSU) Professor Shane Brown, this project is the PacTrans multi-institution Education Project for 2012-2013.
Final Project Report: PacTrans-6-OSU-Brown
National interest abounds in improving engineering education in the US. This interest stems from low performance on concept inventories (P.S. Steif, Dollar, & Dantzler, 2005; Paul S Steif & Hansen, 2006) concerns over the role of the US as a national economic leader (The National Academies, 2006), evidence of best practices in curriculum development and pedagogy, and a sense that we can just do things better. These concerns have led to the development of an abundance of materials and methods that are based on effective methods of development and/or been shown to be effective on student learning and other important educational outcomes.
