Coordinating Networked Learning Activities with a General-Purpose Interface

Classrooms equipped with wirelessly networked tablets and handhelds can engage students in powerful collaborative learning activities that are otherwise impractical or impossible. However, the system must fulfill certain technological and pedagogical requirements such as tolerance for latecomers, supporting disconnected mode gracefully, robustness across dropped connections, promotion of both positive interdependence and individual accountability, and accommodation of differential rates of task completion. Two approaches to making a Tuple Space-based computer architecture for connectivity into an inviting environment for the generation and creation of novel coordinated activities were attempted. One approach made the technological “bones” of the system very clear but assumed user vision of the complex goals and settings of real education. The more satisfactory approach made clear how Tuple Spaces matches the complex goals and settings of real education, but backgrounded technical complexity. This approach provides users with a system, Group Scribbles, which may inspire a wide range of uses.SRI International Virginia Tech Newport Universit

Coordinating Knowledge Work in Multi-Team Programs: Findings from a Large-Scale Agile Development Program

Software development projects have undergone remarkable changes with the arrival of agile development methods. While intended for small, self-managing teams, these methods are increasingly used also for large development programs. A major challenge in programs is to coordinate the work of many teams, due to high uncertainty in tasks, a high degree of interdependence between tasks and because of the large number of people involved. This revelatory case study focuses on how knowledge work is coordinated in large-scale agile development programs by providing a rich description of the coordination practices used and how these practices change over time in a four year development program with 12 development teams. The main findings highlight the role of coordination modes based on feedback, the use of a number of mechanisms far beyond what is described in practitioner advice, and finally how coordination practices change over time. The findings are important to improve the outcome of large knowledge-based development programs by tailoring coordination practices to needs and ensuring adjustment over time.Comment: To appear in Project Management Journa

Social relations, human resource management, and knowledge transfer in work organisations: toward an integrated approach

Hailed as the basis for competitive advantage of contemporary firms, knowledge transfer has recently emerged as a key research topic in the organisation and management field. Despite wide recognition of the importance of social relations for effective knowledge transfer, there is little understanding of the micro-sociological foundations of this process, and even less understanding of the ways in which human resource management practices can support social relations conducive to knowledge transfer and sharing. The present study developed an integrated conceptual model with the aim to improve understanding of the mechanisms for and the conditions under which social relations can be transformed into useful, actionable knowledge. To test this model, quantitative data were gathered through a questionnaire survey of 135 knowledge workers from three Irish-based organisations. Qualitative data were also collected through semi-structured interviews with the human resource managers and knowledge managers of these organisations. The findings demonstrated that, at the interpersonal level of analysis, the effective transfer of knowledge hinges upon the extent to which individuals share a common lexicon for communication and trust each other, both professionally and personally. In particular, personal trust was found to be key to the transfer of tacit knowledge, thereby underlining the importance of positive affect as a criterion for the formation of productive knowledge exchange relations. In regard to the role of human resource management, it was found that employees’ perceptions of reciprocal task interdependence, job feedback, selective staffing, intensive socialisation, and relational-oriented training and development are related strongly to their perceptions of a social climate of teamwork and cooperation and, consequently, of knowledge sharing attitudes. Importantly, the effect of these practices was found to be mediated by employees’ perceptions of line managers’ support for knowledge sharing. The study concluded by suggesting the need for further integration of social relations into research on the role of human resource management practices in knowledge transfer and organisational learning

Engineering performance and teamwork perceptions shaped by structured learning experiences in a makerspace.

The ability to work on teams is of critical importance to the field of engineering and a critical competency for future engineers. Fostering performance of effective teamwork through the education of engineers emphasizes the humanistic dimension of the engineering profession and engages future engineering professionals in complex and dynamic team experiences. Team performance and effectiveness of student teams is strongly influenced by individual student perceptions of teamwork as a learning mechanism for successful collective learning experiences. Initial perceptions of teamwork among first year engineering students are often negative due to prior adverse or unproductive team performance. Makerspace learning environments are becoming more prominent in engineering education as promising environments for open-ended, team-based learning experiences that promote positive perceptions of teamwork and performance. The educational potential that makerspaces have to promote engineering design-thinking among the community of teams has great appeal among engineering education. This study explored the engineering performance and student teamwork perceptions of a cohort of first year engineering students (N=488, 126 teams) engaged in a team-based learning experience within a makerspace learning environment. The mixed methods convergent case study design examined teams within and across cases to extract systematic patterns within and across the three constructs of this study: 1) team effectiveness, 2) engineering practice, and 3) teamwork perceptions. Using a 3-phase analysis approach teams were found to be effective in their ability to perform and a relationship emerged between the effectiveness of a team and the team’s collective efficacy. Student perceptions were found to shift over time and through experience. The team-based learning experience implemented through the course was valuable to improving student perceptions of teamwork by 1) ensuring multidisciplinary teams, 2) gradually releasing teams to perform complex, ill-structured problem solving, and 3) using the resources and space within the makerspace to encourage teams to creatively solve the design problem. More research is needed to investigate the inner dynamics of the teams, particularly how well makerspace learning environments engage diverse individuals and what differences exist among experiences

Teamwork Training Needs Analysis for Long-Duration Exploration Missions

The success of future long-duration exploration missions (LDEMs) will be determined largely by the extent to which mission-critical personnel possess and effectively exercise essential teamwork competencies throughout the entire mission lifecycle (e.g., Galarza & Holland, 1999; Hysong, Galarza, & Holland, 2007; Noe, Dachner, Saxton, & Keeton, 2011). To ensure that such personnel develop and exercise these necessary teamwork competencies prior to and over the full course of future LDEMs, it is essential that a teamwork training curriculum be developed and put into place at NASA that is both 1) comprehensive, in that it targets all teamwork competencies critical for mission success and 2) structured around empirically-based best practices for enhancing teamwork training effectiveness. In response to this demand, the current teamwork-oriented training needs analysis (TNA) was initiated to 1) identify the teamwork training needs (i.e., essential teamwork-related competencies) of future LDEM crews, 2) identify critical gaps within NASAs current and future teamwork training curriculum (i.e., gaps in the competencies targeted and in the training practices utilized) that threaten to impact the success of future LDEMs, and to 3) identify a broad set of practical nonprescriptive recommendations for enhancing the effectiveness of NASAs teamwork training curriculum in order to increase the probability of future LDEM success

Competing through business models

In this article a business model is defined as the firm choices on policies, assets and governance structure of those policies and assets, together with their consequences, be them flexible or rigid. We also provide a way to represent such business models to highlight the dynamic loops and to facilitate understanding interaction with other business models. Furthermore, we develop some tests to evaluate the goodness of a business model both in isolation as well as in interaction with other business models of different organizations, be those competitors, complements, suppliers, partners, etc.Business model; Interaction; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Dynamics;

Aprendizagem significativa e o ensino de conceitos na Educação Física escolar: um estudo de caso com os jogos Olímpicos

The aim of this research was to investigate the influence of an instructional planning based on assumptions of the meaningful learning, from principles of Joseph D. Novak’s Educational Theory, using concept maps and other teaching resources in the learning of concepts in physical education classes. Students made a pre-and post-intervention concept map. The analysis of the results showed that there were improvements in the concept maps’ quality and in the understanding of concepts related to the Olympic Games, organized under the Educational Theory principles of Novak and that new teaching and learning tools should be part of physical education classes.O objetivo desta pesquisa foi investigar a influência de um planejamento instrucional baseado nas premissas da aprendizagem significativa, a partir dos princípios da Teoria Educacional de Joseph D. Novak, utilizando mapas conceituais e outros recursos didáticos na aprendizagem de conceitos em aulas de educação física. Os alunos fizeram um mapa conceitual pré e pós-intervenção. A análise dos resultados mostrou que houve melhoria na qualidade dos mapas conceituais e no entendimento de conceitos relacionados aos Jogos Olímpicos, organizados sob os princípios da Teoria Educacional de Novak e que novas ferramentas de ensino e aprendizagem deveriam fazer parte das aulas de educação física