Final report of work-with-IT: the JISC study into evolution of working practices

Technology is increasingly being used to underpin business processes across teaching and learning, research, knowledge exchange and business support activities in both HE and FE. The introduction of technology has a significant impact on the working practices of staff, often requiring them to work in a radically different way. Change in any situation can be unsettling and problematic and, where not effectively managed, can lead to poor service or functionality and disenfranchised staff. These issues can have a direct impact on institutional effectiveness, reputation and the resulting student experience. The Work-with-IT project, based at the University of Strathclyde, sought to examine changes to working practices across HE and FE, the impact on staff roles and relationships and the new skills sets that are required to meet these changes

Semantic discovery and reuse of business process patterns

Patterns currently play an important role in modern information systems (IS) development and their use has mainly been restricted to the design and implementation phases of the development lifecycle. Given the increasing significance of business modelling in IS development, patterns have the potential of providing a viable solution for promoting reusability of recurrent generalized models in the very early stages of development. As a statement of research-in-progress this paper focuses on business process patterns and proposes an initial methodological framework for the discovery and reuse of business process patterns within the IS development lifecycle. The framework borrows ideas from the domain engineering literature and proposes the use of semantics to drive both the discovery of patterns as well as their reuse

Teaching with wikis: addressing the digital divide

This paper addresses some aspects of the digital divide affecting teachers and learners in higher education. These relate to divisions arising from variable rates of technology adoption by teachers, which may be especially problematic when students’ uptake of technology is much more rapid than those who teach them, and also to divisions within the student body which teachers need to accommodate when they plan the design of learning. To address these divisions, we designed a pilot online workshop to prepare a small group of teaching staff at two Australian universities for using wikis in teaching and assessment. Participants were immersed in the experience of collaborating on a project in a wiki as learners, and then asked to reflect on this experience as teachers. We used a participatory action research approach with a view to developing a community of enquiry to investigate this experience for improving future offerings, and informing the participants’ teaching practice. This paper reports on the professional development effort, reflecting on the successes and limitations of the work, and lessons learned in relation to bridging the above aspects of the digital divide. We then comment on the potential for further development in the context of the evolution of learning technology as a research discipline

The relationship between task, culture and communication technology in virtual collaboration

Virtual collaboration is a growing trend and characterized by computer mediated communication and high cultural diversity (Clear & MacDonell, 2011). Because of its composition, virtual collaboration is exposed to several challenges which prejudice the performance (Hollingshead, McGrath, & O’Connor, 1993). Team effectiveness and performance can be improved by a good fit between task and communication technologies (Beise, Carte, Vician, & Chidambaram, 2010). This study is aimed to learn more about how the choice of technology is related to the different tasks in virtual collaboration. An additional aim is to better understand the influence of culture on this relationship. A qualitative research method was implemented by conducting interviews, via communication technologies, with participants from various cultural backgrounds who are involved in virtual collaboration. The interviews were transcribed prior to the data analysis phase, where the data were coded based on content using a semi-inductive interpretation method. Based on the results a clear relationship between the task and technology choice was confirmed. Routine or support tasks, are mainly executed through asynchronous communication tools that offer information richness. For non-routine tasks, which require synchronous communication technologies, the media richness and social presence that the technologies offer is more important. For building and maintaining relationships a variation in use between the various technologies is essential, since all technologies contribute in their own way to building and maintaining relationships. Cultural dimensions limited impact the task-technology relationship, which can be explained by a low awareness of cultural diversity among the participants. When considerable time differences or a gap in infrastructure exist, this can have a big impact on the choice of technology, because technologies get useless. The language barrier affects the task in the sense that more accuracy or interactivity can be required, leading to increased use of complementary technologies.A colaboração virtual é uma tendência crescente, caracterizada pela comunicação mediada por computador e diversidade cultural (Clear & MacDonell, 2011). Devido à sua composição, a colaboração virtual é uma forma de trabalhar exposta a vários desafios, prejudicando o desempenho (Hollingshead, McGrath, & O'Connor, 1993). A eficácia e o desempenho das equipas podem ser melhorados através do ajuste entre as tecnologias de comunicação e a tarefa (Beise, Carte, Vician, & Chidambaram, 2010). Este estudo tem como objetivo saber mais sobre a escolha de tecnologia em relação com as diferentes tarefas na colaboração virtual. Um objetivo adicional é entender melhor a influência da cultura nesta relação. Um método de investigação qualitativa foi implementado através da realização de entrevistas, via tecnologias de comunicação, com participantes de várias culturas estando ativamente envolvidos em colaboração virtual. As entrevistas foram transcritas antes da fase de análise de dados, onde os dados foram codificados com base no conteúdo usando um método de interpretação semi-indutivo. Os resultados deste estudo mostram que a tarefa e a escolha da tecnologia estão claramente relacionados. Tarefas rotineiras ou de apoio são executadas principalmente por ferramentas de comunicação assíncrona que oferecem uma riqueza de informações. Para tarefas não rotineiras síncrona, a riqueza dos media e presença social são importante. Para construir e manter relacionamentos, uma conjugação entre as diversas tecnologias é essencial, dado que as tecnologias contribuem na sua própria maneira para isso. As dimensões culturais não afetam drasticamente a relação tarefa-tecnologia, podendo isto ser explicado por uma baixa consciência da diversidade cultural entre os participantes. Quando existem grandes diferenças temporais ou lacunas na infraestrutura pode haver um grande impacto nesta escolha, porque as tecnologias tornam-se inúteis. A barreira da língua afeta a tarefa de tal forma que pode ser necessária mais precisão ou interatividade, levando ao aumento do uso de tecnologias complementares

Acquiring and Applying Knowledge in Transnational Teams: The Roles of Cosmopolitans and Locals

This paper examines the roles of cosmopolitans and locals in transnational teams that work on knowledge-intensive projects. I propose that cosmopolitan and local team members can help their teams to acquire and apply knowledge more effectively, by bringing both internal and external knowledge to their teams and enabling them to more successfully transform this knowledge into improved project performance. Findings from a study of 96 project teams at an international development agency reveal that the roles of cosmopolitans and locals were complex and sometimes valuable, but cosmopolitans offered greater benefits than locals and too many of each could hurt. Implications for theory and research on international management, virtual teams, exploration and exploitation, and organizational knowledge are discussed

Teaching with wikis : addressing the digital divide

This paper addresses some aspects of the digital divide affecting teachers and learners in higher education. These relate to divisions arising from variable rates of technology adoption by teachers, which may be especially problematic when students&rsquo; uptake of technology is much more rapid than those who teach them, and also to divisions within the student body which teachers need to accommodate when they plan the design of learning. To address these divisions, we designed a pilot online workshop to prepare a small group of teaching staff at two Australian universities for using wikis in teaching and assessment. Participants were immersed in the experience of collaborating on a project in a wiki as learners, and then asked to reflect on this experience as teachers. We used a participatory action research approach with a view to developing a community of enquiry to investigate this experience for improving future offerings, and informing the participants&rsquo; teaching practice. This paper reports on the professional development effort, reflecting on the successes and limitations of the work, and lessons learned in relation to bridging the above aspects of the digital divide. We then comment on the potential for further development in the context of the evolution of learning technology as a research discipline.<br /

Improving customer satisfaction: changes as a result of Customer Value Discovery

Objective: To identify Gold Standard Services for customers in an academic library and determine whether interventions following the identification of customer value increased student satisfaction. Methods: “Customer Discovery Workshops” were undertaken with academic staff and undergraduate on‐campus students to provide managers and library staff with information on the services and resources that customers valued, and what irritated them about existing services and resources. The impact of interventions was assessed two years after the research using a university student satisfaction survey and an independent national student satisfaction survey. Results: The findings resulted in significant changes to the way forward‐facing customer services were delivered. A number of value adding services were introduced for the customer. Overall customer satisfaction was improved. Evidence Based Library and Information Practice 2008, 3:1 34 Conclusions: The Customer Value Discovery research has created a culture of innovation and continuous improvement. An operational plan was introduced to track activity and performance against the objectives identified in the customer value research. However, there is a constant need to innovate

Conclusion: Directions for Research in Online Learning Cultures

In this chapter, the authors review issues currently under-represented in research on the cultural dimensions of e-learning, such as the institutional cultural hegemony over pedagogy that is enjoyed by Westernized constructions of learning and teaching, identity-work carried out by participants in linguistic and cultural online communication, and issues of power and embodiment in network-based language learning. The Open Educational Resources initiative is identified as a site for future research on learning cultures

Proceedings ICPW'07: 2nd International Conference on the Pragmatic Web, 22-23 Oct. 2007, Tilburg: NL

Proceedings ICPW'07: 2nd International Conference on the Pragmatic Web, 22-23 Oct. 2007, Tilburg: N