Change process towards ICT supported teaching and learning

Abstract Technological advancement in the field of information-and-communication technologies (ICT) was rapid during the first decade of the new millennium. Universities started to use the new information-and-communication technologies more in their core processes, which speeded up their transformation from the traditional campus mode toward virtual universities. Research done in this thesis first investigates the traditional campus university’s change process toward the virtual university model. During the implementation process a geographically distributed e-learning concept was also developed for university use. This concept was transferred and researched in the small and medium enterprise (SME) context in the last part of this research. In large and complex organizations such as universities, it is difficult to find out how the change really was implemented. The literature on change management is voluminous but is dominated by descriptions of single projects. To overcome the limitations of such case studies, this research applies a longer and wider perspective to the change process and, by the introduction of an overarching method that categorizes the investments, shows more clearly the trends, stages of, and the barriers to the development. This long-term study is based on 116 development projects during a ten-year period in a decentralized and networked development environment. In the company setting, conventional training is being replaced more and more by e-learning. To scaffold SMEs in their e-learning adaptation, the concept of e-learning was transferred to the SME environment. The company cases’ part of the thesis presents how the transferability of geographically distributed e-learning concept was developed and tested in the SME environment. As a result, the principles that guided ICT strategy implementation and how the strategies were implemented during a ten-year period are presented. The concept for geographically distributed e-learning environments and its development are also introduced. Finally, the process and results from the concept implementation to the SME environment are presented. This thesis presents university management with an understanding of how larger long-term trends give us the possibility to better understand today’s fast-paced changes. It also gives company managers an example of how models developed in the university environment can be transferred to the company environment.Tiivistelmä Tietotekniikan kehitys on ollut nopeaa vuosituhannen vaihteen jälkeen monilla aloilla. Yliopistoissa sitä on alettu käyttää yhä enemmän osana perustoimintoja, mikä on edistänyt niiden kehitystä traditionaalisista kampusyliopistoista kohti virtuaaliyliopistoja. Tämän tutkimuksen ensimmäisessä osassa on tarkasteltu perinteisen kampusyliopiston muutosprosessia kohti aktiivisesti uutta teknologiaa hyödyntävää yliopistoa ja toisessa osassa muutosten yhtenä tuloksena syntynyt konsepti siirrettiin yritysympäristöön. Yliopistossa muutos toteutettiin määrittelemällä ensin tavoitteet strategioiksi ja sen jälkeen niiden toimeenpanoprosessin avulla. Suurissa organisaatioissa, kuten yliopistoissa, on vaikea hahmottaa kuinka muutokset todellisuudessa toteutetaan. Kirjallisuutta ja tutkimusta organisaatiomuutoksen toteuttamisesta on paljon, mutta suuri osa siitä keskittyy tarkastelemaan yhden projektin aikana tapahtunutta muutosta. Tässä tutkimuksessa on pyritty esittämään laajempi ja pitkäkestoisempi kuva muutosprosessista. Tutkimus pohjautuu 116 kehitysprojektin saamaan rahoitukseen kymmenen vuoden ajalta. Sen avulla on tarkasteltu yliopiston kehitystrendejä ja keskeisiä kehityskohteita. Rahoitus on jaettu projekteille strategioissa määriteltyjen tavoitteiden mukaisesti strategioiden toimeenpanemiseksi. Osana toimeenpanoprosessia syntyi yliopistokäyttöön maantieteellisesti hajautetun oppimisympäristön konsepti. Yritysympäristössä perinteinen koulutus on korvattu yhä useammin teknologiaa hyödyntävillä koulutuksen muodoilla. Pienillä ja keskisuurilla yrityksillä on kuitenkin varsin rajoitetut resurssit koulutuksessa käytettävien teknologioiden käyttöönottoon ja tehokkaaseen käyttöön. Tämän tutkimuksen toisessa osassa yrityksen maantieteellisesti hajautetun oppimisympäristön käyttöönottoa pyrittiin tukemaan tarjoamalla sen käyttöön valmis yliopistoympäristössä kehitetty konsepti. Tämän konseptin siirrettävyyttä ja käyttöönottoa tutkittiin tutkimuksen toisessa osassa. Tämän tutkimuksen tuloksena esitetään periaatteet, jotka ohjasivat yliopiston tieto- ja viestintätekniikan opetuskäytön strategian laadintaa ja toimeenpanoa vuosina 2000–2009. Lisäksi esitellään maantieteellisesti hajautetun oppimisympäristön konsepti. Lopuksi esitellään konseptin käyttöönottoa yritysympäristössä. Tämä väitöskirja esittelee yliopiston johdolle ja toimijoille, kuinka pitkäkestoisten trendien tunteminen auttaa ymmärtämään nykyhetkeä ja sen nopeita muutoksia. Yritysjohdolle väitöskirja tarjoaa esimerkin, kuinka yliopistoympäristöön kehitetty konsepti voidaan siirtää yritysympäristöön

Managing Emerging Business Ecosystems – A Knowledge Management Viewpoint

Technology-based services are increasingly being developed in business ecosystems. Business ecosystems benefit companies by enabling shared goals and resources through collaboration, but a successful business ecosystem also requires internal management of knowledge. Strategic funding is currently being offered for the formation of new business ecosystems in the ICT industry to develop new digital business. We followed two such emerging business ecosystems developing new technology-based services in the health and well-being domain that were funded by research programs in Finland. Applying a knowledge conversion model to the analysis of activities aimed at facilitating the formation of business ecosystems, new directions for emerging ecosystems management research are explored. We present the knowledge capture, sharing, and creation practices and activities used in these two cases. By analyzing the knowledge conversion perspective, we add to the understanding of formation of emerging business ecosystems as well as possibilities for improving it

ACTIVE INNOVATION — CASE STUDY IN SMART EXERCISE ENVIRONMENTS: COMPARING TRADITIONAL AND EXPERIMENTAL INNOVATION METHODS

The purpose of this paper is to improve the existing methods of building new product concepts in a qualitative "two-case" case study with action research approach combined with method comparison. Companies need an effective method to create radical product concepts and product visions. The commonly used focus group method is too simplistic for achieving deep understanding about the user needs. Innovation competitions are seen as a solution to the following major industry challenges: ineffectiveness of traditional market research, structural innovation gap, closed innovation paradigm, and the low amount, low quality and low variance of innovation opportunities. A new design for next generation innovation competition, the "InnoCoop" method, is introduced. InnoCoop produces more holistic product concepts, involves management in participation, is active in terms of working methods, offers more surprise elements, and produces more creative ideas. Traditional method produces singular, but concrete ideas and is more passive in terms of working methods.User innovation, innovation methods, method comparison, fitness club concepts, idea competitions

Software factory project for enhancement of student experimental learning

Abstract Providing opportunities for students to work on real-world software development projects for real customers is critical to prepare students for the IT industry. Such projects help students to understand what they will face in the industry and experience real customer interaction and challenges in collaborative work. To provide this opportunity in an academic environment and enhance the learning and multicultural teamwork experience, the University of Oulu, Finland offers the software factory (SWF) project. This paper presents the design of the SWF course and the learning environment and assessment techniques, and it discusses the importance of reflective learning diaries and serious games. Additionally, this paper examines factors in the SWF learning environment that affect student learning in the SWF course. Survey data were collected from the last six years of SWF projects. The results show that students consider the SWF to be a good collaborative learning environment that helps them achieve academic triumphs and enhances various professional skills. The learning diaries are effective for increasing students learning experiences as well as providing an opportunity for teaching staff to monitor students progress and offer better facilitation. These results are helpful for academic institutions and industry when developing such a learning environment

Enhancement of experiential learning in software factory project-based course

Abstract To better prepare the next generation of software professional, it is important to provide opportunities for them to work on real software project along with real customer during their studies. This is the reason universities around the world offer project-based capstone course. Such courses help students to understand what they will face in the industry and experience real customer interaction and challenges in collaborative work. In regards, University of Oulu, Finland offers a software factory (SWF) course to enhance the learning and experience multicultural teamwork. This paper presents the design of the SWF course and student and teacher experiences. It discusses the importance of reflective learning diaries and serious games. Additionally, this paper examines factors in the SWF learning environment that affect student learning in the SWF course. Survey data were collected from the last 6 years of SWF projects. The results show that students consider the SWF to be a good collaborative learning environment that helps them achieve academic triumphs and enhances various professional skills. The learning diaries are effective for increasing students’ learning experiences as well as providing an opportunity for teaching staff to monitor students’ progress and offer better facilitation. These results are helpful for academic institutions and industry when developing such a learning environment

Little big team:acquiring human capital in software startups

Abstract Background: Resource-based-view and human capital theories have been used for decades when studying firms, their strategies, organizations, businesses, and successes. The value of the theories as general frameworks has commonly been recognized, especially because of their flexibility in adopting new perspectives, such as the dynamic character of the resources and human capital. Startup companies represent an interesting area on a map of firms because of their specific characteristics and tendency not to strictly follow the processes common in more established companies. Despite the differences, it is reasonable to assume that startups face similar phenomena as established companies do when building up their firms and operations. Aim: In this research, we studied software startups from the perspective of resource-based-view and human capital theories. We examined what human capital resources, capabilities, knowledge, and skills, were needed in the early stages of software startups and how the startups acquired such human capital. Method: We conducted a multiple-case study on a group of software startups in Norway and Finland. Results: We identified six high-level capability areas, nine means to acquire those capabilities, and nine drivers affecting the utilization of different means. We concluded that the capabilities in software startups are dynamic, evolving by growth and learning from the basis of the founders’ prior capabilities, and the utilization of different acquiring means is a case-dependent thing with a varying set of drivers. We also found the uniqueness of the resources, as proposed by the resource-based-view theory, was not reached in our case startups, but replaced with a combination of commonly-available resources, innovation, and application-specific capabilities

Information needs and presentation in agile software development

Context: Agile software companies applying the DevOps approach require collaboration and information sharing between practitioners in various roles to produce value. Adopting new development practices affects how practitioners collaborate, requiring companies to form a closer connection between business strategy and software development. However, the types of information management, sales, and development needed to plan, evaluate features, and reconcile their expectations with each other need to be clarified. Objective: To support practitioners in collaborating and realizing changes to their practices, we investigated what information is needed and how it should be represented to support different stakeholders in their tasks. Compared to earlier research, we adopted a holistic approach – by including practitioners throughout the development process – to better understand the information needs from a broader viewpoint. Method: We conducted six workshops and 12 semi-structured interviews at three Finnish small and medium-sized enterprises from different software domains. Thematic analysis was used to identify information-related issues and information and visualization needs for daily tasks. Three themes were constructed as the result of our analysis. Results: Visual information representation catalyzes stakeholder discussion, and supporting information exchange between stakeholder groups is vital for efficient collaboration in software product development. Additionally, user-centric data collection practices are needed to understand how software products are used and to support practitioners’ daily information needs. We also found that a passive way of representing information, such as a dashboard that would disturb practitioners only when attention is needed, was preferred for daily information needs. Conclusion: The software engineering community should consider reviewing the information needs of practitioners from a more holistic view to better understand how tooling support can benefit information exchange between stakeholder groups when making product development decisions and how those tools should be built to accommodate different stakeholder views.Peer reviewe

Toward Collective Ambidexterity in Public Sector Digital Initiatives: A Case of the Finnish Water Sector

The digital transformation era calls for digital innovations affecting the public sector, but such organizations often focus more on the efficiency and exploitation of current resources, ascribing less attention to explorative innovation. Innovation in new capabilities and technologies often require inter-organizational collaboration. In this context, public sector organizations do not operate in isolation—often engaging in interactions within their service sectors. While the contemporary literature on organizational ambidexterity primarily focuses on the balancing opportunities of a focal organization, radical sector-level development requires collaboration among various actors to achieve collective ambidexterity. Drawing on the research question of the influence of inter-organizational collaboration on the outcomes of digital initiatives, this exploratory case study on the Finnish water sector found that simultaneously operating modes of inter-organizational collaboration can facilitate different aspects of collective ambidexterity in an inter-organizational field and, consequently, the expected benefits from initiatives. Our theoretical contribution lies in demonstrating collaboration modes that can enhance specific aspects of collective ambidexterity. Accordingly, we suggest that collective ambidexterity through deliberately adopted modes of inter-organizational collaboration requires field-level facilitation in parallel with organizational ambidexterity. Furthermore, consequent practical implications for managing such collaborations are suggested for policymakers, interest groups, and the public sector.Godkänd;2024;Nivå 0;2024-01-16 (hanlid);Full text license: CC BY</p

How are product ideas validated?:the process from innovation to requirements engineering in software startups

Abstract Although software startups are considered important for economic development due to their ability to quickly create cutting-edge technologies and their potential to scale to a wide market, contextual knowledge about the product idea development process of startups is poorly understood in the literature. This study explores the idea validation process of software startups in an attempt to understand the practices used for idea validation, discover how the process is affected by the founder’s prior competencies, and determine the effect of those practices on requirement gathering. We conducted an exploratory multiple case study in nine software startups to determine the kind of practices they used for idea validation. We identified ten practices used as elements of the idea validation process. Our results show that idea validation is a highly non-linear process in which several validation practices are used in varying combinations and timing. The most frequently used practices included copying existing products, prototyping, utilizing expert support, and cooperating closely with customers. The founder’s prior competencies also influenced the selected practices. Copying and prototyping were common practices when the founders had prior competencies in the application area, while utilizing expert support was a widespread practice to compensate for the founder’s missing competencies. We also observed that the idea validation practices identified in the study serve requirement gathering at different levels of abstraction, varying from business-related requirements down to design-level requirements