Category Archives: Intelligent Assistance for Self-Directed and Organizational Learning

Learner-Generated Annotation of Learning Resources – Lessons from Experiments on Tagging

Reply

The importance of comprehensive annotations for learning resources is widely recognized. However, it is often unclear how these annotations should be created. A promising solution might be that learners annotate learning resources during execution of learning processes. This paper examines tagging as a learner-driven approach that can be used to get annotations on a collaborative level. The characteristics of learner-generated annotations in learning scenarios and the applicability of these annotations to describe learning resources are investigated. As empirical grounding, the results of three independent experiments are presented in order to inform decisions concerning the establishment of stitutionalized settings deploying tagging approaches.

Story Management Technologies for Organizational Learning

Reply

The stories told among members of an organization are an effective instrument for knowledge socialization, the sharing of experiences through social mechanisms. However, the utility of stories for organizational learning is limited due to the difficulties in acquiring stories that are relevant to the practices of an organization, identifying the learning goals that these stories serve, and delivering these stories to the right people and the right time in a manner that best facilitates learning. In this paper we outline a vision for story-based organizational learning in the future, and describe three areas where intelligent technologies can be applied to automate story management practices in support of organizational learning. First, we describe automated story capture technologies that identify narratives of people’s experiences within the context of a larger discourse. Second, we describe automated retrieval technologies that identify stories that are relevant to specific educational needs. Third, we describe how stories can be transformed into effective story-based learning environments with minimal development costs.

Visualisation Tools for Supporting Self-Regulated Learning through Exploiting Competence Structures

Reply

In this paper an approach is presented how self-regulated learning can be supported and stimulated by visualising knowledge and competence structures in order to provide visual guidance in the learning process. In the field of adaptive systems and related research techniques of intelligent guidance have been developed, which, however, may have the disadvantage of limiting the learner. On the other hand, self-regulated learning gives greater control and responsibility to the learner, however, especially weak learner may have difficulties without provision of guidance. The presented approach combines both offering guidance and granting control over the own learning process. A set of learning tools have been developed which implement and demonstrate the proposed approach. Since knowledge structuring and knowledge visualisation are well established in the field of knowledge management, this approach can be exploited to bridge the research fields of e-learning and knowledge
management.

Management of Situated E-learning in Organizations

Reply

Complex products and services require both the sophisticated knowledge of individuals on the one hand and collective collaboration between various disciplines and teams on the other. Work-related individual and organizational learning processes in organizations appear to provide the foundations for such individual and organizational knowledge and capabilities. These interconnected learning processes would also seem to be situated in both a social and a physical environment. This paper proposes a methodology for managing situated individual and organizational learning. Empirical results from a questionnaire and two test bed organizations are presented and conclusions drawn from the assessment results on recommended measures for the use of e-learning.