Effective knowledge management in this context is not a question of students ... the knowledge repository and blog entries as the support for students' lessons ...
COLLABORATIVE LEARNING, LESSONS LEARNED SHARING AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT USING A BLOG: A CASE STUDY IN UNIVERSITY EDUCATION WITH PROJECT MANAGEMENT STUDENTS Mikel Niño1, José Miguel Blanco1, Arturo Jaime2, Imanol Usandizaga1 1
Universidad del País Vasco / Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea (SPAIN) 2 Universidad de La Rioja (SPAIN)
Abstract Effective knowledge management is one of the major challenges in all kinds of organizations. Given that it is the people in the organization - and not the organization itself- who acquire and generate knowledge, in the end knowledge management becomes an issue of people management, aiming at making people aware of the benefits in sharing knowledge, and at organizing the methods, tools and roles involved in the necessary processes to encourage and drive their contributions. Educational environments are not different in that matter and students can benefit enormously from collaborative learning and creating a common knowledge base, provided that they are given the required tools and methods that guide their process of reflection, contribution and peer assessment in a structured way. Effective knowledge management in this context is not a question of students summarizing or paraphrasing the theory they learn in the classroom, but reflecting on their first-hand experience after putting that theory into practice via exercises or projects –i.e. their Lessons Learned, in terms of Project Management-, and sharing their reflection with their peers. This paper presents a model for a shared knowledge management system, combining web 2.0 tools, the concept of lessons learned and a set of techniques and role distribution to encourage and drive the contribution process. The key aspect in the information system of this model is the use of a blog as the knowledge repository and blog entries as the support for students’ lessons learned. The paper also describes the application of this model in the context of the Project Management subject taught in a coordinated way between a Computer Science Faculty and a Science Faculty in different towns and universities. This experience resulted in a common knowledge repository with blog entries in three different languages, contributed by students who shared their lessons learned after developing and managing several projects that are part of the subject. Keywords: Collaborative learning, knowledge management, project management, lessons learned, web technologies in education, web 2.0, blog.
1 1.1
CONTEXT AND MOTIVATION Knowledge management and its application in educational contexts
Effective knowledge management is one of the major driving forces for improvement and optimization among all types of organizations –particularly the project-oriented ones-, as the learning gathered from the practical experience in previous projects and the after-action review [1] can be leveraged in order to identify best practices and foresee potential problems and their solutions, thus gaining in efficiency and cost reduction. However, organization must face important challenges in order to develop an effective knowledge management. As it is the people in the organization, and not the organization itself, who acquire and generate knowledge, in the end knowledge management becomes an issue of people management, i.e. it has an important organizational and sociological component, and cannot be mechanized. Nevertheless, if the organization defines and deploys the right methods, tools and roles to drive and encourage contributions, making people aware of the benefits in sharing knowledge, it will have a very solid foundation to build an effective knowledge management system from which all people in organization can learn and be more effective and efficient in the future. Educational contexts can benefit from this approach too, mainly in subjects applying a Project-Based Learning approach. In a subject following such an approach, its learning goals are organized around practical exercises or projects where students put into practice the theory and concepts explained in
Proceedings of INTED2015 Conference 2nd-4th March 2015, Madrid, Spain
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ISBN: 978-84-606-5763-7
the classroom. Therefore, effective knowledge management in this context is not a question of students summarizing or paraphrasing the theory they learn in the classroom, but more of a constructivist approach where learning is facilitated but each person builds their own knowledge, reflecting on their first-hand experience after putting the theory into practice and sharing their reflection with their peers, thus creating a shared knowledge base. The concept that best resembles this idea of practice–reflect–formalize–share as the core for knowledge management is the notion of Lessons Learned present in Project Management theory, which we discuss in the following section.
1.2
Project Management and the concept of Lessons Learned
The Project Management Institute and its publication A Guide to the Project Management Book of Knowledge (the PMBOK® Guide) [2] have established an industry standard dealing with all relevant notions regarding Project Management theory and practice, with a very detailed framework covering a total of 47 project management processes that can be mapped into five Process Groups (Initiating – Planning – Executing – Monitoring and Controlling – Closing) and ten Knowledge Areas (Integration, Scope, Time, Costs, Quality, Human Resources, Communications, Risks, Procurement and Stakeholders). Among the different concepts defined in the PMBOK® Guide, there are two notions that are specifically interesting for the purposes of our work: Lessons Learned and the idea of a Lessons Learned Knowledge Base. The PMBOK® Guide defines both terms in its Glossary as follows: • Lessons Learned. The knowledge gained during a project which shows how project events were addressed or should be addressed in the future with the purpose of improving future performance. • Lessons Learned Knowledge Base. A store of historical information and lessons learned about both the outcomes of previous project selection decisions and previous project performance. These notions are intensively used and referenced along the PMBOK® Guide, throughout all Process Groups and Knowledge Areas, as one of the most important Organizational Process Asset to be updated during different phases of the project. In order to implement a Lessons Learned Knowledge Base, different approaches may be followed, using different templates for Lessons Learned and different types of infrastructure for their storage and dissemination [3]. Our proposal for a model for shared knowledge management system leverages this notion of Lessons Learned Knowledge Base and bases its implementation in a blog with certain features that make it specifically useful for that purpose.
1.3
Use of blogs and related web 2.0 tools in educational contexts
Several references have analyzed the use of blogs [4] [5] or other web 2.0 tools [6] [7] [8] and their potential benefits for collaborative learning and competence development in educational contexts. Our proposed model shares a common ground with those references and case studies, but includes the following main differential points: • The purpose of using a blog in our model is not the development of digital competences and web 2.0 skills. Rather than that, the blog in our model plays the role of an efficient means to accomplish an end –to serve as a Knowledge Base-, and the model focuses on creating the appropriate context to encourage reflection, contribution, sharing and peer-evaluation. • The goal of the content to be shared in the blog –i.e. the Lessons Learned- is not to summarize or paraphrase the theory that students learn in the classroom, or to store the results and deliverables of their essays, but to share their personal reflection on their first-hand experience after putting that theory into practice via exercises or projects. Thus, the theory-practicereflection cycle generates new knowledge than can be added in a next iteration to the body of knowledge that serves as theory for future courses (see Fig. 1). This has the side benefit of enabling students to appreciate management –in this case, knowledge management- as a useful tool, given that a future read of those Lessons Learned might save hours of work to their readers and make it easier to understand some theory concepts.
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Fig. 1: Generation of new knowledge via theory-practice-reflection cycles (source: [9])
2
MODEL FOR A SHARED KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM USING A BLOG
Combining the previously discussed concepts, we propose a model for a shared knowledge management system using a blog as the Lessons Learned Knowledge Base, requiring some roles that assume some responsibilities regarding information system management and participation encouragement. Next, we detail the main principles and elements of this model.
2.1
Design principles for the information system
The basic information pieces are Lessons Learned -as explained before-, which in this model are turned into blog entries. Thus, a blog entry encapsulates a lesson learned –with some introduction, development, and some tags that contextualize it in the knowledge framework- and shares it among the members of the community/organization. From the concept of lesson learned derives another key piece which is the “guided visit”, a set of blog entries grouped together according to a common topic or targeted audience, with a recommended reading order regardless of their publication time. The idea of these guided visits is closely linked to the constructivist approach of the model, as the person learning from the knowledge base can build their own “views” on it, i.e. their own guided visit connecting some of the blog entries according to their own criteria, as these don’t have to be the same that the person creating the original blog entries had. Fig. 2 represents the relationship among all these elements of the information system:
Fig. 2: Information system for the proposed model (source: [9])
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2.2
Design principles for participation encouragement
If the core of the information system is composed of contributions to the knowledge base in the shape of lessons learned and guided visits grouping them, the proposed model is completed with some principles to manage the community around the knowledge base and encourage their participation. These principles must be established in such a way that they “encourage without influencing” and avoid over-managing [10], i.e. they must achieve the right balance between being too bureaucratized and being too loose. In terms of the process required to put these principles into practice, we use the idea of knowledge incorporation cycles that are activated and deactivated following this sequence of steps: cycle opening – participation encouragement – contribution revision – validation – publication of new knowledge – cycle closing. This concept of activating and deactivating cycles implies that, in this model, contribution is not a continuously open process for whoever that can add new knowledge, but it is only open during certain periods of time and accompanied with some revision/moderation processes. This approach also generates the opportunity for a certain work between cycles, in order to filter and restructure the newly generated knowledge, create new guided visits, select top new entries and encourages recognition, plan new actions for the next cycle, etc. (see Fig. 3). The new contents resulting from a cycle can also serve as a better context to encourage and align participation in the next cycle, providing contributors with examples of style and knowledge concepts to be covered.
Fig. 3: Schema of Knowledge Incorporation Cycles and work between cycles (source: [9]) In terms of the roles required to put this process into practice, we can distinguish: • Master(s) of Knowledge/Learning (Knowledge Managers): Person(s) in charge of managing and 1 boosting the process of contributing to the knowledge base . They ensure an operating infrastructure for the knowledge base, establish the community around it, encourage or select those among the community who will take part as contributors and filter their contributions to guarantee some standard of quality. They also manage and rearrange the knowledge base between contribution cycles and plan future cycles according to the results obtained in the previous ones. • Contributors: Community members who, after the launching of the knowledge base and the participation encouragement, contribute with new lessons learned for the knowledge base. • Community: Global role grouping all community members, being contributors or not, who have access to the knowledge base and can read and comment the lessons learned contained in it.
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Although there is some community management involved, this role is significantly different from the idea of a “community manager” in social media, as it also involves having expert knowledge on the domain in order to deal correctly with their responsibilities.
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2.3
Process for model deployment and operation
This process is composed of the following seven steps (steps 1-3 cover the initial setup and deployment, whereas steps 4-6 correspond to a knowledge incorporation cycle and step 7 covers the work after closing a cycle and before starting a new one): 1.- Creation of basic infrastructure. The first step consists of setting up the infrastructure and defining the main layout and sections for the blog that will serve as Lessons Learned Knowledge Base and the appropriate access rights to manage user accounts for masters of knowledge, contributors and community in general. 2.- Definition of basic information. The blog is filled in with basic starting information regarding the body of knowledge that we aim at capturing –e.g. a first version of concept/tag cloud, or recommended links of interest-, as well as global sections containing aspects such as contribution guidelines or the license terms for contents. 3.- Definition of the community. The Masters of Knowledge define the “universe” of people that will form the community around the knowledge base. Depending on the definition for the basic infrastructure, specific access rights will be defined for contributors and community in general. 4.- Contribution encouragement. The Masters of Knowledge establish the requisites and deadlines for a new contribution cycle, encouraging members among the community to contribute and providing them with the necessary guidelines for them to prepare their contributions accordingly. 5.- Contribution submission, revision and publication. The Masters of Knowledge supervise the submission process, filtering and requesting corrections to contributors so that a minimum quality is guaranteed, and finally approve the publication of new contributions. 6.- Use and revision encouragement. As the last step in the contribution cycle, once all the new Lessons Learned have been published, a “call for use and revision” is made for all community members, so that they can read and comment the new contributions, or creating new “guided visits, thus consolidating the learning by the whole community. 7.- Post-cycle reflection. The Masters of Knowledge reflect on the results of the contribution cycle and extract conclusions in order to adjust the model for the next cycle (infrastructure, guidelines, contribution deadlines, etc.) or to define global “guided visits” than can be useful for future cycles.
3 3.1
CASE STUDY: APPLICATION OF THE PROPOSED MODEL IN UNIVERSITY EDUCATION WITH PROJECT MANAGEMENT STUDENTS Context
In order to apply the previously explained model in an educational context and to gauge its results, a case study was designed around the Project Management subject in the context of a Computer 2 Engineering Degree, and involving the University of the Basque Country and the University of La 3 Rioja , in Spain. The teaching staff from both universities has been collaborating since 2010/11 in order to coordinate a common syllabus and methodology for the Project Management subject [11]. The case study was developed during the first semester of 2014, where a total of 51 students in the 4 5 Computer Science Faculty of San Sebastián and 19 students in the Science Faculty of Logroño were studying the Project Management subject at the same time -two groups in San Sebastián, one group in Logroño-, as part of their curricula in their Computer Engineering Degree. The goal of the application of the model in this context was to create a shared knowledge base with the Lessons Learned by students after developing some of the projects that serve as a practical exercise. These projects are defined and evaluated co-ordinately by both Faculties, where students are grouped in teams and must practice with project management techniques in order to complete real projects dealing with the creation of basic web sites with multimedia content – a total of four projects are developed during the course, with an increasing scope in terms of Project Management concepts 2
http://www.ehu.es
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http://www.unirioja.es
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http://www.ehu.es/web/informatika-fakultatea
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http://www.unirioja.es/facultades_escuelas/fceai
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to put into practice, as well as team size and coordination-. Therefore, the body of knowledge around which students will contribute with Lessons Learned will have two main branches of concepts: those regarding Project management theory and its application, and those regarding website building and related tools and processes.
3.2
Methodology: instantiation of the model for the case study
Using the same seven-step process depicted in section 3.3, the model for the case study was instantiated and operated as follows: 1.- Creation of basic infrastructure. A publicly available blog was created on Blogger platform, with author permissions for the lecturers of the different groups (acting as Masters of Knowledge). There was no distinction between contributors and community in general in terms of access rights (only read permissions were set for them, as for any public visitor), as in this case study it was decided that students didn’t load directly their Lessons Learned on the platform. Instead, lecturers would load them after reviewing contributions sent by students. The blog layout was designed to contain the following sections: • Main section with all Lessons Learned, with separate sections filtering them by the language they were written in (Spanish, Basque or English). • Two general sections: Contribution Guidelines, with the criteria to be followed by students to submit a contribution, and License & Quoting Guidelines, describing the license for the contents in the blog and some recommendations to quote them accordingly. • Tag Cloud, containing all conceptual tags assigned to Lessons Learned • Links of Interest, containing web references dealing with topics related to the body of knowledge. 2.- Definition of basic information. The lecturers defined the contents for the general sections of Contribution Guidelines, License & Quoting Guidelines (CC BY-NC-SA) and Links of Interest, as well as defining a first version of the Tag Cloud to serve as a reference for future contributors. 3.- Definition of the community. The community was defined as all students in the three groups studying Project Management simultaneously in both Universities. Lecturers sent an e-mail communication to all these students describing the initiative –along with some examples to assimilate the notion of Lessons Learned- and inviting them to confirm their interest in taking part in it as contributors. Those confirming their interest were selected as potential contributors. 4.- Contribution encouragement. Lecturers sent an e-mail communication to those who confirmed their interest in being contributors, detailing: • Opening and closing dates for the contribution cycle. • Web address of the blog serving as knowledge base, for students to check the instructions and references contained in Contribution Guidelines and License & Quoting Guidelines sections, as well as the first version of the Tag Cloud (represented as a tree of concepts). • Some additional details and advice for them to contribute with better Lessons Learned. 5.- Contribution submission, revision and publication. Students sent their contributions following a twostep process: first they sent a short version –a contribution proposal- to be evaluated by their lecturer, who accepts or declines the proposal. If it is accepted, students sent an improved and definite version, using the feedback and advice given by their lecturer. This final version of the contribution was tagged with the concepts addressed in the Lesson Learned –from the initial set or some new that extended the tag cloud- and finally published in the blog, with a reference to their corresponding author –the student- for attribution purposes. 6.- Use and revision encouragement. An optional task was suggested by lecturers to all contributors, where they could: • Create a hyperlinked document with some schema or script several Lessons Learned that they considered as related and most relevant –i.e- a “guided visit”. • Add comments, valuations and suggestions in the Comments sections of some Lessons Learned.
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• Recommend some Lessons Learned via social platforms (Google+, LinkedIn, Twitter). 7.- Post-cycle reflection. After closing a contribution cycle and analyzing its results, lecturers adjusted the content of the global sections in the blog –mainly contribution guidelines- and improved some details in the generation process. They also generated a new version of the tag cloud to serve as a reference for future contributors -as a concept tree- as well as for any reader who could navigate through the Lessons Learned.
3.3
Results
After completing the steps 1-3 depicted before, two different contribution cycles with their post-cycle reflection (steps 4-7) were executed: • First cycle: four weeks in April-May, corresponding with the end of the third project and the beginning of the fourth project developed by students. During this first cycle a total of 16 students took part as contributors, submitting a total of 20 Lessons Learned. • Second cycle: four weeks in May-June, corresponding with the development and end of the fourth project developed by students. During this second cycle an additional set of 30 Lessons Learned was submitted. All 16 students that had contributed during the first cycle took part again as contributors during this second cycle, as well as 13 additional students who submitted their first contribution. At the end of the initiative, the blog contained a total of 50 Lessons Learned written in three languages -Spanish, Basque and English-, submitted by 29 students from the two Universities involved in the case study. The concepts contained in the Lessons Learned resulted in a concept tree with 61 conceptual tags (see Fig. 4) corresponding to a body of knowledge related to Project management theory and its application, as well as website building and related tools and processes.
Fig. 4: Concept tree (Body of Knowledge) resulting from the case study (source: http://projectknowledge14.blogspot.com)
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The blog serving as Lessons Learned Knowledge Base for the Project Management students is publicly available at the following web address: http://projectknowledge14.blogspot.com (see Fig. 5).
Fig. 5: Lessons Learned Knowledge Base resulting from the case study (source: http://projectknowledge14.blogspot.com)
4
CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK
The results of this case study have been valuated as very positive by the promoters of the initiative – lecturers in both Universities-, in terms of engagement of students and the body of knowledge created for future Project Management courses. The case study has also served as an important validation of the role of Master of Knowledge and its associated knowledge management model based on Knowledge Incorporation Cycles and revision/planning work between cycles. This guiding process strengthens the role so that the desired balance between being too bureaucratized and being too loose is successfully accomplished. It is already planned to execute a second phase of the initiative during 2015 with the new students in the Project Management subject in both Faculties. This second phase will allow us to facilitate learning in a different way, as students can leverage an already existing knowledge base, create their own guided visits and generate new Lessons Learned that can benefit from the previous ones and improve them. This will also allow us to prepare new tests in order to gauge e.g. how many Lessons Learned in the Knowledge Base have been checked and considered useful during the projects developed by new students. The spirit of this model for a shared knowledge management system using a blog is to be modular and applicable to different contexts. In order to evaluate this potential, further experiments and case studies should be developed both in educational [12] and business contexts. These further case
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studies will allow us to test different approaches for the model deployment and operation: different blog platforms, different access rights for contributors to directly publish their Lessons Learned, different approaches for peer-recognition of good and useful Lessons Learned, etc.
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