Die Nutzung von Social Media ist für Mitarbeiter längst zur Alltagsroutine geworden und drängt immer stärker in die Unternehmen und ihre Personalentwicklungsmaßnahmen (Gori & Robes, 2015). Aktuelle Forschungen von Franken & Franken (2015) zeigen deutlich, dass sich zukunftsorientierte Unternehmen verstärkt auf praxisorientiertes, in Arbeitsprozesse integriertes und computergestütztes Lernen fokussieren, um an die individuellen Bedarfe der Mitarbeiter angepasste Weiterbildungsmaßnahmen direkt am Arbeitsplatz zur Verfügung zu stellen. Dies führt zu einem zunehmenden Verschmelzen von Lern- und Arbeitsprozessen. Dabei sind Unternehmen mit einer ausgeprägten Lernkultur mit einer höheren Wahrscheinlichkeit innovativer, produktiver, liefern eine höhere Qualität und haben eine höhere Wahrscheinlichkeit, zu Marktführern in ihrer Branche zu gehören (Mallon, 2010). Wesentlicher Bestandteil dieser Lernkultur sind florierende, virtuelle, hochvernetzte unternehmensinterne Lern- und Wissenscommunities, in denen Kollaboration und Kooperation dominierende Arbeitsprinzipien sind. [... Einleitung]

This thesis investigates the potential for Knowledge Building in large size Pharmacy classrooms. Knowledge Building is the social creation and continual improvement of ideas (Scardamalia & Bereiter, 2003). The pedagogy and technology that underlie it are based on a complex system involving 12 interdependent principles. This research examines principle-based classroom designs, targeting two Knowledge Building principles--epistemic agency and collective responsibility for community knowledge. Successive design changes were implemented to a self-care course for undergraduate Pharmacy students (n = 182), using case study methodology. The goal underlying design changes was to develop a more dynamic classroom environment involving all students and empowering them to take charge of knowledge advancement at high cognitive levels, through assuming greater agency and collective responsibility for their knowledge advances. Design features that were incorporated into class procedures included class panels to discuss cases, student-generated self-assessment examination questions, and online discussion views in a virtual learning community, Knowledge Forum. Surveys, student comments, self-assessments, field notes, online discourse and course exam scores were used to determine effects of principle-based design changes. Results, taken as a whole, indicate that each new design feature contributed to advances with no negative effects uncovered. Raters blind to authorship of student- versus instructor-generated exam questions could not distinguish between them. Analysis of student commentary indicated advances in line with the broad network of Knowledge Building principles, as well as those specifically targeted in design improvements. Advances in performance on exams, surveys, and in student discourse further contributed to the overall picture of positive effects. Design strategies appropriate for large classroom implementation are shown to facilitate a shift from learning as an exclusively individual enterprise, to the creation of a Knowledge Building Community with students assuming levels of responsibility and agency normally assumed by the teacher.

This thesis investigates the potential for Knowledge Building in large size Pharmacy classrooms. Knowledge Building is the social creation and continual improvement of ideas (Scardamalia & Bereiter, 2003). The pedagogy and technology that underlie it are based on a complex system involving 12 interdependent principles. This research examines principle-based classroom designs, targeting two Knowledge Building principles--epistemic agency and collective responsibility for community knowledge. Successive design changes were implemented to a self-care course for undergraduate Pharmacy students (n = 182), using case study methodology. The goal underlying design changes was to develop a more dynamic classroom environment involving all students and empowering them to take charge of knowledge advancement at high cognitive levels, through assuming greater agency and collective responsibility for their knowledge advances. Design features that were incorporated into class procedures included class panels to discuss cases, student-generated self-assessment examination questions, and online discussion views in a virtual learning community, Knowledge Forum. Surveys, student comments, self-assessments, field notes, online discourse and course exam scores were used to determine effects of principle-based design changes. Results, taken as a whole, indicate that each new design feature contributed to advances with no negative effects uncovered. Raters blind to authorship of student- versus instructor-generated exam questions could not distinguish between them. Analysis of student commentary indicated advances in line with the broad network of Knowledge Building principles, as well as those specifically targeted in design improvements. Advances in performance on exams, surveys, and in student discourse further contributed to the overall picture of positive effects. Design strategies appropriate for large classroom implementation are shown to facilitate a shift from learning as an exclusively individual enterprise, to the creation of a Knowledge Building Community with students assuming levels of responsibility and agency normally assumed by the teacher.

A network structure is becoming an omnipresent determinant in the organization of social and economic life. In a sense, a network outlines, encompasses, structures, and arranges the space of data, information, services, goods, things and people, and how they flow. However, a network is not able (neither is its aim) to organize a given space in the traditional, vertical arrangement. It is not an equivalent of flat structures, either; it is rather an energy and information entity applied in a given space (the territory, the area, the logistics of an enterprise) which, by playing on continuities and non-continuities, accelerates the exchange and commercialization of ideas (innovations, research, cooperation, joint services, projects and ventures). In the era of the multiplication of various network entities, it is more and more difficult to identify them, e.g. according to the criteria of key values. In addition, we more and more often deal with the phenomenon of pullulating overlapping pervasion, a takeover and interference of networks which for an average citizen gives a very blurred picture of reality (e.g. Tesco, IKEA, OBI, Kaufland; and their own-brand products which do not have the name of an individual manufacturer). This paper has the model character and presents a model of a Knowledge-based Opole Tourism Cluster (OKTW) as a network proposal for arranging the “knowledge-based” space of the Opole region in Poland. So far it hasn’t been possible to do empirical researches because OKTW is still in the process of creation.

In the midst of a period of economic transition, community organizers across Appalachia are working towards a just future that privileges community growth over corporate gain. A recent turn towards social justice concerns in Professional and Technical Communication suggests that efforts of community organizers might be of interest to scholars focused on addressing wicked problems in disenfranchised communities. This dissertation draws from results of a participatory photovoice study in which 11 community organizers took photos, wrote narratives, and responded in focus groups, and site visits to several communities. These methods call for deep engagement with community knowledges, producing rich visual and textual portraits of life in Appalachia that challenge stereotypical renderings of the region and its residents. After providing a heuristic for uncovering and re-valuing community knowledges, this dissertation looks at how place, technology, and community factor into the experiences of community organizers. Results from gathered qualitative data suggest that community members are experts on their own experiences, as participants revealed understandings of complex problems that call into question standard development practices lauded by technical experts. Second, participants demonstrated a capacity for embracing the very elements of their communities that had been used to marginalize them, pointing to the power of unexpected and creative tactics. Lastly, their reflections revealed the need for more attention to be placed upon community organizing in rural contexts and what kinds of community knowledges exist beyond expected parameters. By documenting their experiences organizing around public problems, participants confronted monolithic representations of their region, articulated their own nuanced accounts of life in rural areas, and crafted strategies for community-focused development that privileges people. Ultimately this project argues that by inviting community knowledges into the academic sphere, we might craft more effective coalitions to tackle complex public problems.