Continuing medical education has been characterized as didactic and ineffective. This thesis explores the use of Knowledge Building theory, pedagogy, and technology to test an alternative model for physician engagement—one that emphasizes sustained and creative work with ideas. Several important conceptual changes in continuing medical education are implied by the Knowledge Building model—changes that extend the traditional approach through engagement in (a) collective responsibility for group achievements rather than exclusive focus on individual advancement and (b) work in design-mode, with ideas treated as objects of creation and assemblage into larger wholes and new applications, with extension beyond belief-mode where evidence-based acceptance or rejection of beliefs dominates. The goal is to engage physicians in “cultures of participation” where individual learning and collective knowledge invention or metadesign advance in parallel. This study was conducted in a continuing medical education End-of-Life Care Distance Education course, for family physicians, from 2004 to 2009. A mixed methods case study methodology was used to determine if social-mediated Knowledge Building improved physicians’ knowledge, and if so, what social network structural relationships and sociocognitive dynamics support knowledge improvement, democratization of knowledge, and a metadesign perspective. Traditional pre-/posttest learning measures across 4-years showed significant gains (9% on paired t-test = 5.34, p < 0.001) and large effect size (0.82). Social network analysis of ten 2008/2009 modules showed significant difference in density of build-on notes across groups. Additional results demonstrated a relationship between high knowledge gains and social network measures of centrality/distribution and cohesion. Correlation of posttest scores with centrality variables were all positive. Position/power analyses highlighted core-periphery sociocognitive dynamics between the facilitator and students. Facilitators most often evoked partner/expert relationships. Questions rather than statements dominated the discourse; discourse complexity was elaborated/compiled as opposed to reduced/dispersed. Themes beyond predefined learning objectives emerged and Knowledge Building principles of community responsibility, idea improvability, and democratization of knowledge were evident. Overall, results demonstrate the potential of collective Knowledge Building and design-mode work in continuing medical education, with individual learning representing an important by-product. There were no discernible decrements in performance, suggesting significant advantages rather than tradeoffs from engagement in Knowledge Building.

Continuing medical education has been characterized as didactic and ineffective. This thesis explores the use of Knowledge Building theory, pedagogy, and technology to test an alternative model for physician engagement—one that emphasizes sustained and creative work with ideas. Several important conceptual changes in continuing medical education are implied by the Knowledge Building model—changes that extend the traditional approach through engagement in (a) collective responsibility for group achievements rather than exclusive focus on individual advancement and (b) work in design-mode, with ideas treated as objects of creation and assemblage into larger wholes and new applications, with extension beyond belief-mode where evidence-based acceptance or rejection of beliefs dominates. The goal is to engage physicians in “cultures of participation” where individual learning and collective knowledge invention or metadesign advance in parallel. This study was conducted in a continuing medical education End-of-Life Care Distance Education course, for family physicians, from 2004 to 2009. A mixed methods case study methodology was used to determine if social-mediated Knowledge Building improved physicians’ knowledge, and if so, what social network structural relationships and sociocognitive dynamics support knowledge improvement, democratization of knowledge, and a metadesign perspective. Traditional pre-/posttest learning measures across 4-years showed significant gains (9% on paired t-test = 5.34, p < 0.001) and large effect size (0.82). Social network analysis of ten 2008/2009 modules showed significant difference in density of build-on notes across groups. Additional results demonstrated a relationship between high knowledge gains and social network measures of centrality/distribution and cohesion. Correlation of posttest scores with centrality variables were all positive. Position/power analyses highlighted core-periphery sociocognitive dynamics between the facilitator and students. Facilitators most often evoked partner/expert relationships. Questions rather than statements dominated the discourse; discourse complexity was elaborated/compiled as opposed to reduced/dispersed. Themes beyond predefined learning objectives emerged and Knowledge Building principles of community responsibility, idea improvability, and democratization of knowledge were evident. Overall, results demonstrate the potential of collective Knowledge Building and design-mode work in continuing medical education, with individual learning representing an important by-product. There were no discernible decrements in performance, suggesting significant advantages rather than tradeoffs from engagement in Knowledge Building.

The role of web 2.0 technologies has become windfall for knowledge building in higher education in the entire modern world. Web 2.0 technologies (Podcasts, Wikis, and Blogs) are being explored for collaboration, innovation, and creative purposes in digital literacy. The ICT based system (Learning Management System, Student Portal, Web mail) of Växjö University lacks web 2.0 technologies (Podcasts, Blogs, and Wikis) that are important for classroom learning for knowledge building. This research intends to investigate and describe the educational importance of web 2.0 (Podcasts, Wikis, and Blogs) as a possible source to facilitate class room learning in higher education in Sweden. In this regard, role of web 2.0 in its current usage in the teaching and learning have been identified and, thereby, possible measures for more improvements have been suggested in this research. Keeping in view the potential of web 2.0 as content development and management technologies and incorporating their role in formative evaluation of students, peer assessment, collaborative content creation, and individual as well as group reflection on learning experiences, the researcher conducted a survey by asking very simple and short questions as to how far has this potential been exploited in Sweden. Based on the findings and the empirical evidences thereof a model has been proposed for maximum utility of web 2.0 technologies.

本研究旨在探討基於知識翻新原則之小組問題解決歷程與成效。研究方法採個案研究。研究對象為48名修習「生活科技概論」課程的大學生，以小組為單位進行課程，共分為十組，一組四至五人。教學設計是以知識翻新為原則、以知識論壇（Knowledge Forum）為學習平台（用以提供學生一提出想法、討論想法、並進而培養解決問題能力的線上學習環境）。 資料來源包括：(1)各組創意產品成果、(2)平台討論內容、(3)平台活動紀錄（例如：討論文章之數量）。資料分析兼採質性與量化方法，分析過程如下：首先、針對各組創意成品進行評分；第二、評量各組團體動力表現，並進一步將創意產品分數與團體動力分數進行相關的統計分析；第三、針對平台活動紀錄（例如：貼文數量）進行分析；第四、分析學生於平台上之想法品質，並使用「時間序列分析」探討學生想法演變歷程；第五、探討不同小組間在創意成品與問題解決歷程中表現之差異情形。 研究結果如下：(1)學生歷經14周之知識翻新活動之後，確實能提出創意想法並設計各組創意產品成果。各個小組針對生活中不同之實際問題進行發想、翻新知識，最後產出有別於既有產品之生活科技產品；(2) 團體動力（問題解決歷程的表現面向之一）與創意產品表現具有正向相關─若小組團體動力表現較優，則在該組之創意產品表現也有較佳的表現；(3)各組所經歷的創造性問題解決歷程，並非循序漸進由階段一（搜尋目標、問題）發展至階段六（實踐設計）；(4)知識翻新能幫助學生發展較高層次的認知活動，特別是關於「想法深化與澄清」之活動；(5)問題解決歷程表現較好之組別也較易產出較好之創意產品成果。反之，如果小組探究的主題已存在既有產品，或如果小組成員參與有限、或所探究的主題聚焦時間太晚，或主要參與成員並非良好的領導者時，則較無法產出較佳之創意產品成果。 本研究建議教師在教學上可以融合知識翻新原則。此外，教師應適時了解學生之團體動力與互動之情形；教師應重視學生想法品質的討論，鼓勵學生深入思考、提升想法層次。 / The purpose of this case study was to investigate group problem solving processes and outcomes in an online environment that were supported by knowledge building principles. Participants in this study were 48 undergraduate students who engaged in a course concerning with living technologies. They were divided into ten groups, with each group consisting of four or five students. This course employed Knowledge Forum as a tool to provide a collaborative learning space to help cultivate students’ ability to work creatively with ideas and solve problems. Data sources included: (1) group’s creative product design (in concept); (2) the content of students’ online discussion; (3) students’ online interaction logs (e.g., number of notes discussed). The study adopted both qualitative and quantitative analysis methods. The process of data analysis was as follows: First, group’s creative product design was assessed by a self-developed evaluation form. Second, using another self-developed rubrics, group dynamics was assessed by means of three dimensions. Additionally, the relationships between group’s creative product design and group dynamics were computed. Third, the quantity of students’ online discussion (e.g., number of notes posted) were calculated. Fourth, open coding was performed to assess the quality of students’ ideas posted in the online forum. Moreover, time series analysis was conducted to find out if students’ idea development process followed a certain pattern. Fifth, different groups’ learning outcomes and problem solving performance were compared to understand the performance differences between different groups. The main findings were as follows: (1) students could generate creative ideas and design creative products after fourteen weeks of knowledge building activities. Each group focused on a particular problem that happened in real life, and tried to solve their technology problems by means of knowledge building, in order to finally design a creative product ; (2) group’s product design and their social dynamics were found to be positively co-related, meaning that if a group had better social dynamics, this group would more likely to produce more creative product; (3) each groups’ creative problem solving process was non-linear, meaning that the process did not usually go through the six steps of creative problem solving, that is, starting from stage one (searching goals or problems) and ending with stage six (design); (4) engaging students in knowledge building was able to help them improve their ideas while developing higher-level cognitive thinking skills (e.g., how to elaborate ideas); (5) groups that have better performance in terms of problem-solving process also tended to result in better overall group learning outcomes. In contrary, when a group’s final product is similar to an existing product, or when a group’s members could not fully participate in their group’s discussion, or when a group could not develop a clear theme for design at an early problem-solving stage, or when a group’s major participants could not lead the whole team well, that group was less likely to achieve better learning outcome. Building on the findings, it is suggested that teachers should refer to some knowledge building principles as guidance for their teaching. Moreover, it is important for teachers to help monitor a group’s social dynamics during its problem-solving process. It is also equally important that teachers should pay attention to the quality of ideas discussed in the online forum and accordingly try to encourage students to think deeply, in order to improve their ideas while using higher-level thinking skills.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how Scardamalia’s (2002) socio-cognitive determinants of knowledge building emerge in a computer-supported collaborative writing task, and to understand students’ perceptions of knowledge building experience and the use of tools, including wikis, to support the collaborative writing process. The setting of this study was a graduate level online course on Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL), in which all course activities were conducted collaboratively in an online environment. Data sources included: transcripts of online inputs in the wiki areas; interviews with 15 participants; participants’ reflective journals; transcripts of asynchronous online discussions and synchronous chats. Data were analyzed using content analysis for the transcripts of wiki areas and grounded theory approach (Strauss & Corbin, 1998) was used in the analysis of data from the interviews. Results of the data analysis indicated that the three groups in this study participated in the collaborative knowledge building activity in different ways. The three factors that influenced their participation in the activity included: group dynamics, collaborative writing task, and collaborative writing tools. These factors interacted with each another and impacted their knowledge building discourse in the following ways: improvable ideas, constructive use of authoritative sources, epistemic agency, and embedded and transformative assessment. As a result of their engagement in knowledge building discourse, participants successfully completed the collaborative writing project and shared a strong sense of community and co-ownership of the knowledge product. The findings of this study may shed light on the strategies and environmental factors that encourage knowledge building discourse as well as the synergetic combination of technology tools and knowledge building task. In addition, understanding the process of knowledge building in a computer-supported collaborative writing task and the participants perception of knowledge building and the use of tools may help instructor better prepare learners to become collaborative learners and effective knowledge workers. / text

Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) is one approach that seemingly maps neatly to the notion of equipping learners for emergent knowledge-age work practice currently exemplified by Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) or Virtual Teams. However, the difficulty of achieving peer interaction in Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) environments has proved to be a recurrent problem. Seemingly collaborative settings have been interpreted too narrowly referring only to positive phenomenon. There has been a tendency to focus on technology rather than social scaffolds. Little is known about the influence of students' personalities on online collaborative interaction and knowledge-building activity. Within collaborative team based contexts individuals demonstrate preferences towards certain activities. Such preferences and combinations of preferences may affect team knowledge-building activity both in terms of quality and efficiency. This thesis reports on the findings from a study that investigated if knowledge-building activity can be enhanced in tertiary education CSCL environments through the use of teams balanced by Team Role Preference.

Approximately half of the information systems (IS) projects implemented each year are considered failures. These failed projects cost billions of dollars annually. Failures can be due to projects being delivered late, over-budget, abandoned after significant time and resource investment, or failing to achieve desired results. More often than not, the failure of a project is not due to technical issues, but due to social and business-related problems. These issues can include a communication breakdown and lack of participation by project stakeholders; lack of a business case and success criteria for a project; failure to review project status, delays and revisions; and unrealistic schedules. While educators cannot address the issue of project failure in information systems directly, they can target the need to build collaboration skills and sensitivity to project business and social issues in students. The building of these skills and sensitivities can lead to more effective project team members and managers. Conversely, there is little evidence that higher education prepares students to be collaborators. One goal of this research was to determine to what extent students demonstrated group knowledge construction through online discussion of project issues presented in a real-world business scenarios. The Interaction Analysis Model for Examining Social Construction of Knowledge in Computer Conferencing (IAM) was chosen to measure group knowledge construction through discussions in a series of project problem scenarios. A second goal was to determine to what extent the knowledge construction through group discussion increases students' perceived level of awareness of information systems projects' social and business issues. Both goals of this research were realized to some extent. This study demonstrated that by the use of scenarios to expose students to typical social and business causes of failure in information systems projects, awareness of these issues could be enhanced between the pre-test and post-test groups. This study also demonstrated that through participation in discussion groups, individuals can demonstrate significant growth in collaboration skills. Further research should examine a population that has more balance with regard to gender of the participants, and should consider the influence of "guided reflection" provided by instructors.

This dissertation evaluates the relationship between five team knowledge building processes (i.e., information exchange, knowledge sharing, option generation, evaluation of alternatives, and regulation), the external representations constructed by a team during a performance episode, and performance outcomes in a problem solving task. In a broad range of domains such as the military, and healthcare, team-based work structures used to solve complex problems; however, the bulk of research on teamwork to date has dealt with behavioral coordination in routine tasks. This leaves a gap in the theory available for developing interventions to support collaborative problem solving, or knowledge-based performance, in teams. Sixty nine three person teams participated in a strategic planning simulation using a collaborative map. Content analysis was applied to team communications and the external representations team members created using the collaborative tool. Regression and multi-way frequency analyses were used to test hypotheses about the relationship between the amount and sequence of team process behaviors respectively and team performance outcomes. Additionally, the moderating effects of external representation quality were evaluated. All five team knowledge building processes were significantly related to outcomes, but only one (i.e., knowledge sharing) in the simple, positive, and linear way hypothesized. Information exchange was negatively related to outcomes after controlling for the amount of acknowledgements team members made. Option generation and evaluation interacted to predict outcomes such that higher levels of evaluation were more beneficial to teams with higher levels of option generation. Regulation processes exhibited a negative curvilinear relationship with outcomes such that high and low performing teams engaged in less regulation than did moderately performing teams. External representation quality moderated a composite team knowledge building process variable such that better external representations were more beneficial for teams with poorer quality processes than for teams with high quality process. Additionally, there were significant differences in the sequence of team knowledge building processes between high and low performing teams as well as between groups based on high and low levels of external representation quality. The team knowledge building process framework is useful for understanding complex collaborative problem solving. However, these processes predict performance outcomes in complex and inter-related ways. Further implications for theories of team performance and applications for training, designing performance support tools, and team performance measurement are discussed.

Este trabalho investiga o olhar dos tutores de sede sobre o impacto de suas intervenções sobre a construção de conhecimento das alunas-professoras de um curso de pedagogia a distância. A metodologia de pesquisa foi inspirada no método clínico piagetiano e a fundamentação teórica é a Epistemologia Genética. A coleta de dados foi realizada em dois momentos distintos. No primeiro momento foi realizada uma entrevista através do MSN, tendo um roteiro com sete questionamentos e no segundo momento um questionário composto de três perguntas enviado para os sujeitos através do correio eletrônico. A entrevista aborda questões sobre a construção de conhecimento, sobre a avaliação e a sua função de tutor. O questionário trabalha com a ideia das intervenções e suas relações com a construção de conhecimento das alunas-professoras. A contribuição do tutor nas aprendizagens das alunasprofessoras do PEAD foi analisada a partir de suas noções sobre a construção de conhecimento, da avaliação como um momento de aprendizagem e do impacto de suas intervenções. Foi possível verificar que os tutores compreendem que a sua atuação tem relação direta com a construção de conhecimento das alunas-professoras. / This thesis examines the perspective of headquarters’ tutors on the impact of their interventions on knowledge building of students-teachers in a distance learning course on pedagogy. The research methodology was inspired by Piagetian clinical method and Genetic Epistemology was adopted as theoretical framework. Data collection was developed at two different times. Initially, an interview was conducted through MSN, guided by a script with seven questions. Secondly, a survey containing three questions was sent to participants via email. The interview addresses issues on knowledge building, evaluation and the role of tutor. The survey explores the idea of interventions and the relationship between these and knowledge building of students-teachers. Data collected were analyzed from the following topics: knowledge building, evaluation as a privileged moment of learning and the impact of tutors’ interventions. The tutor contribution in the students-teachers PEAD learning was analyzed based on their construction knowledge notions, the evaluation as a learning moment and the impact of their interventions. It was possible verify that the tutors understand that their performance is directly related to the students-teachers construction knowledge.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:42:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Jade Pena Magave.pdf: 7217758 bytes, checksum: ba7f70c1f369db8325a72e36759c91a5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-12-01 / What is the role of art within the Academy? How can art be conceived as something beyond a contemplative object and become an active base for research? Such questions, which inquire about the potential of art as a way of knowledge, will give the guide lines to this work on Arts-Based Research, allowing us to rethink the role of art in the academic research and, more generally, aiming for a deeper understanding of art as a way of thought. With that in mind, this research addresses questions regarding the relation between art and knowledge and for that it explores the Arts-Based Research field based on the writings of Elliot Eisner and Tom Barone (2012); Joaquin Roldan and Ricardo Marin Viadel (2012). The Arts-Based Research is also analyzed in a case study: six papers presented during the 1st Conference on Arts-based Research and Artistic Research held in Barcelona in 2012. Furthermore, this work includes some visual and verbal narratives, expanding the reflection and analysis of the potential use of art in research, as well as emphasizing the importance of creation processes in the construction of knowledge in academic research. / Qual o papel da arte dentro da Academia? Como a arte pode ser mais do que um objeto contemplativo para se tornar uma base ativa de pesquisa? Perguntas como essas, que questionam o potencial da arte enquanto forma de conhecimento, norteiam este trabalho que busca na Pesquisa Baseada em Arte um meio de repensar o papel da arte na pesquisa acadêmica e, de uma forma mais geral, busca aprofundar o entendimento da arte como forma de pensamento. Assim, essa pesquisa se dirige a questões quanto à relação entre arte e conhecimento e para isso explora a Pesquisa Baseada em Arte tomando por base os escritos de Elliot Eisner e Tom Barone (2012), Joaquin Roldán e Ricardo Marín Viadel (2012). A Pesquisa Baseada em Arte é também analisada em um estudo de caso: seis trabalhos apresentados na 1st Conference on Arts- Based and Artistic Research realizada em Barcelona em 2012. No decorrer do trabalho são apresentadas narrativas visuais e verbais ampliando a reflexão e análise das potencialidades do uso da arte na pesquisa ressaltando a importância dos processos de criação no processo de construção de conhecimento em uma pesquisa acadêmica.