Fostering collaborative knowledge construction with visualization tools

This study investigates to what extent collaborative knowledge construction can be fostered by providing students with visualization tools as structural support. Thirty-two students of Educational Psychology took part in the study. The students were subdivided into dyads and asked to solve a case problem of their learning domain under one of two conditions: 1) with content-specific visualization 2) with content-unspecific visualization. Results show that by being provided with a content-specific visualization tool, both the process and the outcome of the cooperative effort improved. More specifically, dyads under that condition referred to more adequate concepts, risked more conflicts, and were more successful in integrating prior knowledge into the collaborative solution. Moreover, those learning partners had a more similar individual learning outcome

Knowledge Management and TQM: An Integrated Approach to Management

Knowledge management (KM) is the name given to the set of systematic and disciplined actions that an organisation can take to obtain the greatest value from the knowledge available to it. Knowledge management has received increasing attention from 1990. For a few years, it was the next big thing after business process reengineering and total quality management. This paper describes and compares concepts of KM and TQM. At the end, it concludes that KM and TQM are complementary and to be successful, it is necessary to take an integrated approach to management

Conceptual and socio-cognitive support for collaborative learning in videoconferencing environments

Studies have shown that videoconferences are an effective medium for facilitating communication between parties who are separated by distance. Furthermore, studies reveal that videoconferences are effective when used for distance learning, particularly when learners are engaged in complex collaborative learning tasks. However, as in face-to-face communication, learners benefit most when they receive additional support for such learning tasks. This article provides an overview of three empirical studies to illustrate more general insights regarding some of the more and less effective ways of supporting collaborative learning with videoconferencing. The focus is on conceptual support, such as structural visualization and socio-cognitive support, such as scripts. Based on the results of the three studies, conclusions can be drawn about the conceptual and socio-cognitive support measures that promote learning. Conclusions can also be reached about the need for employing both conceptual and socio-cognitive support to provide learners with the most benefit

Integrating land use and transport knowledge in strategy-making

There is broad and growing consensus regarding the central place of integrated Land Use and Transport (LUT) strategy development in establishing more efficient and sustainable urban environments. However, empirical evidence shows that such integration is hard to achieve in daily planning practice, due to many institutional barriers and substantive differences. More specifically, the tools developed to support LUT strategy development have very low implementation rates in daily planning practice. This paper introduces the concept of ‘knowledge generation’ as a potentially useful mechanism for closing the gap between support tools and planning practice. Through two specific Dutch planning cases, we analyze the applicability of this concept in supporting integrated LUT strategy development. The paper focuses on the developed strategies, how these differ from current practice, and how knowledge generation supported their development. We argue that socialization produces shared strategies and that effective socialization needs to be supported by efficient mutual exchange between tacit and explicit knowledge. We conclude by discussing the implications of this argument for the wider practice of LUT planning integration

Fostering collaborative knowledge construction in desktop videoconferencing. Effects of content schemes and cooperation scripts in peer teaching settings

Video-conferencing is expected to become increasingly important for tele-learning environments. In contrast to asynchronous, text-based computer-mediated communication, video-conferencing facilitates cooperation tasks that require highly frequent and continuous coordination. Typical kinds of such cooperation tasks are found in peer teaching settings. Despite the growing application of video-conferencing, only little is known about possibilities of enhancing collaboration in video-conferencing settings. This study investigates the effects of different types of support for cooperation on the learning outcomes of peer dyads in a video-conferencing scenario. The main research question is how cooperation scripts and content schemes enhance the students' cognitive activities and foster the outcomes of cooperative learning. Two factors were varied experimentally: The content scheme (with/without) and the cooperation script (with/without). 86 university students of educational psychology participated in the study. Each student of a dyad received a text dealing with a psychological theory in the field of the nature-nurture-debate. The students' tasks were (1) to teach their partners the relevant contents of their text and (2) to reflect ideas that went beyond the scope of the text. Results indicate that in particular the cooperation script en-hances learning outcomes of collaborative knowledge constructionVideokonferenzen werden für die Gestaltung netzbasierter Lernumgebungen zunehmend interessant. Im Gegensatz zu asynchroner, textbasierter computervermittelter Kommunikation, ermöglichen Videokonferenzen Kooperationsaufgaben, die einen ho-hen Grad an Koordination erfordern. Typische Beispiele hierfür sind Peer-Tutoring- bzw. Peer-Teaching Arrangements. Trotz der zunehmenden Bedeutung von Videokonferenztechnologien ist bisher nur relativ wenig hinsichtlich der Förderung kooperativen Lernens mit diesem Medium bekannt. Diese Studie untersucht die Effekte verschiedener Fördermaßnahmen auf Ergebnisse der gemeinsamen Wissenskonstruktion beim dyadischen Lernen in einer Videokonferenz. Untersucht wird hierbei der Einfluss eines Kooperationsskripts und eines inhaltlichen Strukturschemas. In einem zweifaktoriellen Design wurden die beiden Einflussfaktoren Kooperationsskript (mit/ohne) und inhaltliches Strukturschema (mit/ohne) experimentell variiert. 86 Studierende der Pädagogik nahmen an der Studie teil. Jeder Teilnehmer erhielt einen Text über eine psychologische Theorie zum Thema der Anlage-Umwelt Debatte. Die Aufgabe der Studierenden bestand darin, (1) dem Lernpartner die relevanten Inhalte des eigenen Theorietextes zu vermitteln und (2) Ideen, die über die Inhalte des Textes hinausgingen zu elaborieren. Die hier vorgestellten Ergebnisse zeigen, dass insbesondere das Kooperationsskript den Lernerfolg steigert. Weitere Prozessanalysen sind notwendi

Notions of Knowledge Management

{Excerpt} Knowledge management is getting the right knowledge to the right people at the right time, and helping them (with incentives) to apply it in ways that strive to improve organizational performance. Data are facts, and information is interpreted data. Knowledge is created and organized by flows of information, shaped by their holder. It is tacit or explicit. Tacit knowledge is nonverbalized, intuitive, and unarticulated knowledge that people carry in their heads. It is hard to formalize and communicate because it is rooted in skills, experiences, insight, intuition, and judgment, but it can be shared in discussion, storytelling, and personal interactions. It has a technical dimension, which encompasses skills and capabilities referred to as know-how. It has a cognitive dimension, which consists of beliefs, ideals,values, schemata, or mental models. Explicit knowledge is codified knowledge that can be expressed in writing, drawings, or computer programs, for example, and transmitted in various forms. Tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge are mutually complementary forms of meaning

Managing knowledge in organizations : a Nonaka’s SECI model operationalization

Purpose: The SECI model (Nonaka, 1994) is the best-known conceptual framework for understanding knowledge generation processes in organizations. To date, however, empirical support for this framework has been overlooked. The present study aims to provide an evidence-based groundwork for the SECI model by testing a multidimensional questionnaire Knowledge Management SECI Processes Questionnaire (KMSP-Q) designed to capture the knowledge conversion modes theorized by Nonaka. Methodology: In a twofold study, the SECI model was operationalized via the KMSP-Q. Specifically, Study One tested its eight-dimensional structure through exploratory and confirmatory factorial analyses on 372 employees from different sectors. Study Two examined the construct validity and reliability by replicating the KMSP-Q factor structure in knowledge-intensive contexts (on a sample of 466 health-workers), and by investigating the unique impact of each dimension on some organizational outcomes (i.e., performance, innovativeness, collective efficacy). Findings: The overall findings highlighted that the KMSP-Q is a psychometrically robust questionnaire in terms of both dimensionality and construct validity, the different knowledge generation dimensions being specifically linked to different organizational outcomes. Research/Practical Implications: The KMSP-Q actualizes and provides empirical consistency to the theory underlying the SECI model. Moreover, it allows for the monitoring of an organization’s capability to manage new knowledge and detect the strengths/weaknesses of KM-related policies and programs. Originality/Value: This paper proposes a comprehensive measure of knowledge generation in work contexts, highlighting processes that organizations are likely to promote in order to improve their performance through the management of their knowledge resources