Multi Institution Projects Year 2 (2013-2014)
Educating Younger Drivers in the Pacific Northwest Regarding the Dangers of Distracted Driving Phase II
PI: David Hurwitz (OSU), david.hurwitz@oregonstate.edu
Co-Investigators: Linda Boyle (UW), Ahmed Abedl-Rahim (UI), Ghulam Bham (UAF), William Cofer (WSU)
Dates: 07/01/2013 – 7/31/2015
Led by: (Oregon State University) Professor David Hurwitz, this project is the PacTrans multi-institution Outreach Project for 2013-2014. (A phase II project, it builds on the successes of the phase I PacTrans multi-institution Outreach Project for 2012-2013.)
Final Project Report: PacTrans-28-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). Read More
Refinement and Dissemination of a Digital Platform for Sharing Transportation Education Materials
PI: Kevin Chang (UI), kchang@uidaho.edu
Co-Investigators: Shane Brown (OSU), David Hurwitz (OSU), Bill Cofer (WSU), Robert Perkins (UAF), Linda Boyle (UW)
Dates: 6/01/2013 – 7/31/2015
Led by: (University of Idaho) Professors Kevin Chang and Ahmed Abdel-Rahim, this project is the PacTrans multi-institution Education Project for 2013-2014. (A phase II project, it builds on the successes of the phase I PacTrans multi-institution Education Project for 2012-2013.)
Final Project Report: PacTrans-41-UI-Chang
National interest abounds in improving engineering education stemming from concerns over the role of the US as a national economic leader (NRC 1999; NRC 1999), low performance on concept inventories (Hestenes, Wells et al. 1992; Olds, Streveler et al. 2004; Gray, Costanzo et al. 2005; Allen 2006), and a sense that we can improve the state-of-the-practice. These concerns have led to the development of an abundance of materials and methods that have been shown to be an effective means of improving student learning and other important educational outcomes. Read More