Blended e-learning in higher education targeting company knowledge needs, can support continuous competence development for practitioners in the manufacturing industry. However, university education is traditionally not designed for workplace knowledge needs that strengthen practitioners’ learning in everyday work, i.e. work-integrated learning. Designing for such learning efforts is even more challenging when the pedagogical strategy is to stimulate practitioners own work experiences as a valuable knowledge source in construction with other peers or teachers. The aim is to explore how engineering practitioners and research teachers mutually co-construct knowledge. In particular, three types of case-based methodologies are examined within a range of industry-targeted e-learning courses. The study is part of a longitudinal joint industry-university project. Eleven courses were analyzed through focus group sessions with 110 practitioners from 15 different companies. Results show that 1) Virtual digital cases stimulate high technology learning, but show low collaboration with peers, 2) On-line collaborative negotiation cases stimulate both web-conferencing and high interactivity, and 3) Real workplace cases do not stimulate e-learning, but motivate strong work-integrated learning and knowledge expansion.
This article departure from the effects that interorganizational collaboration brings for the participating partners, specifically from design-related activities of e-learning courses and co-production. The research focus is on critical factors for interorganizational collaborative e-learning and coproduction between university and industry. We describe the process of a six-year longitudinal collaborative action research project including six cases and three phases, initialization, implementation and dissemination. The analysis is conducted from a multi-stakeholder perspective; managers, teachers, and practitioners. Overall aim is to reach for a sustainable collaborative competence e-learning model (CCeM) that will increase industrial employees' competences. Main contribution is that co-production of knowledge entails three levels of activities among actors; to have insight into the purposes and practices of others, the capacity to transform the problems of a practice and together build common knowledge and finally the capacity of mutually co-produce knowledge acted upon in practice towards transformations in the workplace.
Abstract. Social media is used by the majority of Swedish municipalities. However, the highly interactive features of social media are often not taken advantage of. The study aims to get a better understanding of why social media is not used to its full potential in the municipality. Findings from an interview study with communicators in three Swedish municipalities reveal that the motivation for using social media is often difficult to turn into action. Tensions emerging in the use of social media result in hesitation, uncertainty and a slowing down of work practice. The processes of managing the tensions are characterized by boundary crossing between different communities, such as municipal communicators, elected officials and citizens, with social media itself as an equally important actor. The processes of boundary crossing by the municipal communicators are discussed in terms of learning processes and new emerging competences that might redefine the role of the municipal communicator and hence perhaps the public servant in general.
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