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2010). A x for xation? Rerepresenting and abstracting as creative processes in the design of information systems. Articial Intelligence for Engineering Design, AbstractFixation prevents the associations that are bridges to new designs. The inability to see alternative solutions, or even to see how to map known solutions onto current problems, is a particularly acute problem in the design of software-intensive systems. Here, we explored two related ways of liberating fixated thinking: abstracting and rerepresenting. Although both techniques helped designers generate original ideas, not all the added ideas fit the problem constraints. We discuss ways the results might be used to generate reflective design aids that help designers to first generate original ideas and later prune them.

Thinking often entails interacting with cognitive tools. In many cases, notably design, the predominant tool is the page. The page allows externalizing, organizing, and reorganizing thought. Yet, the page has its own properties that by expressing thought affect it: path, proximity, place, and permanence. The effects of these properties were evident in designs of information systems created by students Paths were interpreted as routes through components. Proximity was used to group subsystems. Horizontal position on the page was used to express temporal sequence and vertical position to reflect real-world spatial position. The permanence of designs on the page guided but also constrained generation of alternative designs. Cognitive tools both reflect and affect thought.

The assessment of student learning outcomes in the tertiary school sector has seen an increase in global popularity in recent years. Measurement instruments that target higher order skills are on the rise, whereas assessments that foster the recall of factual knowledge are declining. The Assessment of Higher Education Learning Outcomes (AHELO) project was designed with the goal of developing a cross-national concept for valid assessment of generic and domain-specific student learning outcomes on an international comparative basis. AHELO and other international comparative assessment systems face numerous methodological challenges that pertain to test design and development, translation, adaptation, student sampling, scoring, reporting, and the validity of score interpretations. The goal of this paper is to generate ideas for the improvement of cross-national research agendas, such as the AHELO project. The main purpose is to focus on the lessons learned from the AHELO feasibility study and other international assessment studies that help inform the research of future multinational educational assessment studies.

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