THEORY AND PRACTICE: REVIEWING TECHNOLOGY--MEDIATED LEARNING RESEARCH

Prior researchers of technology-mediated learning (TML) have expressed concerns about the lack of theoretical foundation and the lack of the investigation of the role of information technology (IT) in enabling individualized learning methods. In this paper, I review the literature published during the period of 2002–2006. Based on 28 articles reviewed, it is noted that a majority of the papers are firmly grounded on theories or theoretical frameworks; empirical research has been dominant in TML literature; and most of the investigations focus on relationships between contextual factors and learning outcomes and learning experience

The Design and Evaluation of a Knowledge-intensive System

AbstractTo make an appropriate decision, a manager needs to be supported with qualified information and adequate knowledge in interpreting the information. A challenging situation arises when the manager has only limited time for formulating an appropriate decision. One of the solutions is to support the manager with a Knowledge-intensive System (KIS). The paper presents the findings of an evaluation of a KIS called Leading to Information Access (LIA). There are four principal components in the evaluation of LIA, namely (1) an acceptable satisfaction level in using LIA, (2) good assessment of LIA s performance, (3) an acceptable level of computer literacy, and (4) a high confidence of LIA s usefulness

Knowledge sharing and social media: Altruism, perceived online attachment motivation, and perceived online relationship commitment

Social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, have become extremely popular. Facebook, for example, has more than a billion registered users and thousands of millions of units of information are shared every day, including short phrases, articles, photos, and audio and video clips. However, only a tiny proportion of these sharing units trigger any type of knowledge exchange that is ultimately beneficial to the users. This study draws on the theory of belonging and the intrinsic motivation of altruism to explore the factors contributing to knowledge sharing behavior. Using a survey of 299 high school students applying for university after the release of the public examination results, we find that perceived online attachment motivation (β = 0.31, p \u3c 0.001) and perceived online relationship commitment (β = 0.49, p \u3c 0.001) have positive, direct, and significant effects on online knowledge sharing (R2 0.568). Moreover, when introduced into the model, altruism has a direct and significant effect on online knowledge sharing (β = 0.46, p \u3c 0.001) and the total variance explained by the extended model increases to 64.9%. The implications of the findings are discussed

Online communities of practice as a strategy for staff involvement in SWITCH

Comprehensive School Physical Activity Programs (CSPAP) target physical activity behaviors through the recommended “whole-of-school” approach which recommends staff from all areas of school should be involved in health promotion. The component of Staff Involvement is highly effective at improving student health behaviors; however, descriptive research in this area is limited. One program that focuses on supporting school staff to lead school wellness programing is SWITCH. It is recommended that school staff should be given opportunities for professional development that are ongoing and collaborative, and online communities of practice (CoP) have been shown to support staff in this way. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to examine the usefulness and feasibility of an online CoP as a resource for staff involvement in SWITCH. An online CoP was developed for school staff, extension members and the SWITCH team to interact and share resources and best practices. The sample consisted of 70 school staff and members of extension, ages 18-69, with the majority being classroom teachers (32.9%) and extension members (21.4%). Feasibility and usefulness of the CoP was measured with number of posts and comments (ning platform throughout the 12 weeks of SWITCH implementation); page views and average time of visits (Google Analytics throughout implementation); perceived value, support, sense of belonging and perceived barriers (Qualtrics survey upon completion of implementation); and self-reported use and importance (checkpoint survey midway and satisfaction survey upon completion of implementation). Descriptive statistics were used for all variables and correlations for intention, value, belonging, support, and obstacles Overall visits and average time spent per visit was high with 620 total sessions, 4.67 pages viewed per session, and 3.3 minutes average session duration. Thirty-seven percent of members showed somewhat to high engagement. The CoP was perceived as highly valued and interesting (M=4.32 on a 5-point scale). Members perceived a sense of belonging (M=4.09 on a 5-point scale) and reported intentions to use it in the future (79.1%). Intention to continue to use the CoP was significantly correlated with sense of belonging (especially with trust from the SWITCH team), as well as value and interest in the CoP and perceived support. Perceived obstacles for using the CoP were overall low (M=1.94 on a 4-point scale) with the highest obstacles relating to effort, usability, and self-competence. Significant negative correlations existed between all obstacles and support, belonging, value and interest, similarity, and trust. This thesis supports the usefulness and feasibility of an online CoP as a tool for SWITCH programming. Members perceived it as valuable and important, and overall obstacles were low. Communities of practice are viewed as a tool to support teachers and provide ongoing collaborative learning opportunities. The present thesis supports the use of online communities of practice in the implementation of SWITCH and their potential as a tool for staff involvement in CSPAP programming

The deferred model of reality for designing and evaluating organisational learning processes: A critical ethnographic case study of Komfo Anokye teaching hospital, Ghana

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.The study proposed an evidence-based framework for designing and evaluating organisational learning and knowledge management processes to support continuously improving intentions of organisations such as hospitals. It demarcates the extant approaches to organisational learning including supporting technology into ‘rationalist’ and ‘emergent’ schools which utilise the dichotomy between the traditional healthcare managers’ roles and clinicians’ roles, and maintains that they are exclusively inadequate to accomplish transformative growth intentions, such as continuously improving patient care. The possibility of balancing the two schools for effective organisational learning design is not straightforward, and fails; because the balanced-view school is theoretically orientated and lack practical design to resolve power tensions entrenched in organisational structures. Prior attempts to address the organisational learning and knowledge management design and evaluation problematics in actuality have situated in the interpretivist traditions, only focusing on explanations of meanings. Critically, this is uncritical of power relations and orthodox practices. The theory of deferred action is applied in the context of critical research methods and methodology to expose the motivations behind the established organisational learning and knowledge management practices of Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) which assumed rationality design conceptions. Ethnographic data was obtained and interpreted with combined critical hermeneutics and narrative analyses to question the extent of healthcare learning and knowledge management systems failures and unveil the unheard voices as force for change. The study makes many contributions to knowledge but the key ones are: (i) Practically, the participants accepted the study as a catalyst for (re)-designing healthcare learning and knowledge management systems to typify the acceptance of the theory of deferred action in practice; (ii) theoretically, the cohered emergent transformation (CET) model was developed from the theory of deferred action and validated with empirical data to explain how to plan strategically to achieve transformative growth objectives; and (iii) methodologically, the sense-making of the ethnographic data was explored with the combined critical hermeneutics and critical narrative analyses, the data interpretation lens from the critical theory and qualitative pluralism positions, to elucidate how the unheard emergent voices could bring change to the existing KATH learning and knowledge management processes for improved patient care