Relevance of Adult Higher Education on Knowledge Management in the Healthcare Sector

Organizations, including the healthcare sector, are subject to changes in market, technology and regulations. This requires enhanced and different types of knowledge and has led to an increased demand for adult higher education. However, the competencies required need to be met by the providers of higher education. This article presents a qualitative case study investigating the work relevance of an adult education study bachelor program for middle managers of the public health sector in Norway. The paper explores how the education has shaped the interplay between the student/practitioner and his/her surroundings. The data in the study have been collected using in-depth interviews. The case study showcases the potential impacts of higher education within public healthcare management in the workplace, also highlighting the factors that are predominant regarding the application and dissemination of formal knowledge in the workplace. The primary findings of this study are that there is an interplay between the form and content of the education, personal capabilities, and individual characteristics of the student (employee/health manager), as well as an organizational maturity pertaining to knowledge-management and the exposure to organizational innovation in the broader healthcare system. The case study contributes to the field of knowledge management issues by showing how a study program can support the development of knowledge management practices in an organization, through focusing on the relevance pronounced through the management practices.publishedVersio

The Importance of Tacit and Explicit Knowledge Transfer in an Onboarding Programme

Abstract: “Onboarding” is one way of facilitating training for newcomers to get them socialized and trained for the job in question. Getting newcomers “up to speed” and reducing turnover is cost saving for a company. In this paper, we showcase how this has been done in a company in Norway. This organization suffered from high turnover and a lengthy training period for newcomers. Theory on socio-cultural learning, organizational culture, and knowledge management has enlightened our study. To display the interplay between organizational socialization and learning at work, we will present our findings on the development of an onboarding initiative. We dive into the subtleties of the border between formal structures of the onboarding and the informal best practices. Tacit knowledge conveyed through the informal best practices can be transferred and adapted through conversation and behavior. The data material is collected through qualitative in-depth interviews over a period of three years. The onboarding is not only contributing towards higher effectiveness and less turnover, but also developing, and continuously improving, learning structures in the organization.publishedVersio

Increasing Quality of Learning Experience using Augmented Reality Educational Games

Adequate pedagogical approaches for integration of technology in the learning process create new opportunities for improving the quality of teaching and learning experiences, raising students’ interest and motivation for the classroom activities at the same time. Game-based learning implemented with different technologies can utilize students’ energy and enthusiasm for educational purposes. To increase the quality of experience of the learning process, elements of popular games (e.g., mobile games and augmented reality games) should be used in the educational context. This paper proposes methodological guideline that can be used for the integration of games in education. The methodological guideline defines the two steps process of creating educational games starting from students’ attitudes and needs, and then incorporates educational outcomes. As a case-study augmented reality educational games platform was designed to illustrate the possibilities and benefits of the proposed approach.publishedVersio

Migration of an Escape Room–Style Educational Game to an Online Environment: Design Thinking Methodology

The COVID-19 pandemic outbreak has led to a sudden change in education, closing schools and shifting to online teaching, which has become an enormous challenge for teachers and students. Implementing adequate online pedagogical approaches and integrating different digital tools in the teaching process have become a priority in educational systems. Finding a way to keep students' interest and persistence in learning is an important issue that online education is facing. One possible way to establish engaging and interactive learning environments, using the energy and enthusiasm of students for educational purposes, is the use of game-based learning activities and gamification of different parts of the educational process. This paper presents a use case of migrating an escape room–style educational game to an online environment by using the design thinking methodology. We wanted to show that the design thinking methodology is useful to create engaging and motivating online games that provide educational value. Starting from students’ perspective, we created a simple digital escape room–style game where students got an opportunity to self-assess their knowledge in computer science at their own pace. Students tested this prototype game, and their opinions about the game were collected through an online survey. The test's goal was to evaluate the students' perceptions about the implemented digital escape room–style educational game and gather information about whether it could achieve students' engagement in learning computer science during online teaching. In total, 117 students from sixth and seventh grades completed the survey regarding the achieved student engagement. Despite the differences in students’ answers about game complexity and puzzle difficulty, most students liked the activity (mean 4.75, SD 0.67, on a scale from 1 to 5). They enjoyed the game, and they would like to participate in this kind of activity again (mean 4.74, SD 0.68). All (n=117, 100%) students found the digital escape room–style educational game interesting for playing and learning. The results confirmed that digital escape room–style games could be used as an educational tool to engage students in the learning process and achieve learning outcomes. Furthermore, the design thinking methodology proved to be a useful tool in the process of adding novel educational value to the digital escape room–style game.publishedVersio

"Face-to-Face" or Sim-to-Sim: Pros and cons regarding groupwork using a games based environment

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Knowledge Management during a long-term crisis – challenges with distributed employees

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Relevance of Adult Higher Education on Knowledge Management in the Healthcare Sector

Organizations, including the healthcare sector, are subject to changes in market, technology and regulations. This requires enhanced and different types of knowledge, and has led to an increased demand for adult higher education. However, the competencies required need to be met by the providers of higher education. This article presents a qualitative case study investigating the work relevance of an adult education study bachelor programme for middle managers of the public health sector in Norway. The paper explores how the education has shaped the interplay between the student/practitioner and his/her surroundings. The data in the study have been collected using in‑depth interviews. The case study showcases the potential impacts of higher education within public healthcare management in the workplace, also highlighting the factors that are predominant regarding the application and dissemination of formal knowledge in the workplace. The primary findings of this study are that there is an interplay between the form and content of the education, personal capabilities and individual characteristics of the student (employee/health manager), as well as an organizational maturity pertaining to knowledge‑management and the exposure to organizational innovation in the broader healthcare system. The case study contributes to the field of knowledge management issues by showing how a study programme can support the development of knowledge management practices in an organization, through focusing on the relevance pronounced through the management practices

Teacher motivation during the corona crisis, facing "black screens" and missing "watercoolers"

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On Work Relevance of Adult Education: A Case Study Narrative

There is an increased focus on relevance of higher education. Mostly it is about enhanced job opportunities or job advancements for the individual. However, relevance of higher education may also be towards solving important issues or problems at a workplace. There are some necessary preconditions as to how an educational activity becomes relevant. Firstly, the student must be capable to discover how generic knowledge and acquired skills may or may not apply to concrete situations at work. This requires experience, understanding of the norms and culture of the organisation and a certain form of practical intelligence. Secondly, the conditions at work place must be conducive to innovation and change in various ways. In this article, we present a case study where employee turnover and lack of effective training routines were a major efficiency constraint in a Norwegian firm. With constant competition, changes in markets and other factors that influence the sustainability of an organization, cutting costs, such as high turnover and the time from being newcomer to being fully operative in the job. The responsible for training activities in the firm realized that additional formal education at the higher education level was needed, and he decided to enrol in a Knowledge Management study program at The Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences in order to learn how he could improve knowledge management and learning processes of new employees at his workplace. The case study ultimately demonstrates how crucial the interplay between content and form of education on one hand and specific conditions facilitating changes and improvements at work on the other is for the relevance in formal higher education narrative