Collaborative knowledge management - A construction case study

Due to the new threats and challenges faced by the construction industry today, construction companies must seek new solutions in order to remain ahead of the competition. Knowledge has been identified to be a significant organisational resource, which if used effectively can provide competitive advantage. A lot of emphasis is being put on how to identify, capture and share knowledge in today's organisations. It has been argued over the years that due to the fragmented nature of the construction industry and ad-hoc nature of the construction projects, capture and reuse of valuable knowledge gathered during a construction project pose a challenge. As a result critical mistakes are repeated on projects and construction professionals have to kee

E-SKILLS IP – MASTERING THE 21ST CENTURY SKILLS

In this paper we will present the results of a case study carried out with attendees of an Erasmus Intensive Programme (e-skills IP - Competences for Collaboration and Knowledge Sharing in Digital Society), which has promoted the development of 21st century skills among participants. The 21st century skills are a set of abilities that students need to develop in order to succeed in the information age. The Intensive Programme took place during 2014 spring in Timisoara, Romania involving the participation of teachers (with skills in the areas of ICT, digital literacy, non-formal education and intervention, design & illustration and teacher education) and students (of teacher training, social education and intercultural relations and migration fields) from four different countries. The classes covered different tools and six tutors were involved. At the end, attendees were: able to master the different tools & applications; capable to use and select the most adequate web 2.0 tools & applications according with a specific situation; able to create and manage their PLE/N; able to share and work collaboratively in a synchronous and asynchronous way; able to communicate an idea and to interact with peers from different countries. The working methodology was hands on workshop based and a package of a two and a half weeks of sessions covering a variety of web 2.0 tools was prepared and delivered to the participants. The e-skills IP had a positive impact in the participants since they saw their 21st century skills enhanced along with foreign language skills improvement. They had the opportunity to learn about different cultures through the nation nights activities and to discover a bit more about cultural aspects of the host region/country through the social events. A website was built in order to aggregate all the contents and results of the IP. The IP gave an intense overview about the different tools that are available in the web 2.0 and that can be very useful for teaching/learning activities. Learning, literacy and life skills are key competences in this information age, with an impact not only in our daily lives but also in our professional and academic careers.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Enhancing design learning using groupware

Project work is increasingly used to help engineering students integrate, apply and expand on knowledge gained from theoretical classes in their curriculum and expose students to 'real world' tasks [1]. To help facilitate this process, the department of Design, Manufacture and Engineering Management at the University of Strathclyde has developed a web±based groupware product called LauLima to help students store, share, structure and apply information when they are working in design teams. This paper describes a distributed design project class in which LauLima has been deployed in accordance with a Design Knowledge Framework that describes how design knowledge is generated and acquired in industry, suggesting modes of design teaching and learning. Alterations to the presentation, delivery and format of the class are discussed, and primarily relate to embedding a more rigorous form of project-based learning. The key educational changes introduced to the project were: the linking of information concepts to support the design process; a multidisciplinary team approach to coaching; and a distinction between formal and informal resource collections. The result was a marked improvement in student learning and ideation

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

Digital learning objects: a local response to the California State University system initiative

The purpose of this paper is to present a virtual library plan created by library directors of the 23 California State University (CSU) system campuses. The information literacy portion of the project offers a repository of high quality interactive digital learning objects (DLOs) in the MERLOT repository. Therefore, DLOs created locally at the Dr Martin Luther King, Jr Library at San José State University (SJSU) focus on topics that supplement the “core” DLO collection

An Ontology for Product-Service Systems

Industries are transforming their business strategy from a product-centric to a more service-centric nature by bundling products and services into integrated solutions to enhance the relationship between their customers. Since Product- Service Systems design research is currently at a rudimentary stage, the development of a robust ontology for this area would be helpful. The advantages of a standardized ontology are that it could help researchers and practitioners to communicate their views without ambiguity and thus encourage the conception and implementation of useful methods and tools. In this paper, an initial structure of a PSS ontology from the design perspective is proposed and evaluated

The David and Lucile Packard Foundation OE Goldmine Research Project: Executive Summary

In response to growing demand for learning information from the nonprofit capacity?building field, the Packard Foundation launched the OE Goldmine Research Project to collect, organize, and analyze data from its OE Program in April 2010. Initial work on the project was conducted by the Data Center, who administered a survey to former OE grantees and organized the vast amounts of data related to the program. The Foundation subsequently engaged TCC Group, a national consulting firm that provides evaluation and planning services to nonprofits and foundations, as partners in the learning process