D. DeWitt, Norlidah Alias, Saedah Siraj, & Fonny Dameaty Hutagalung

University Malaya Kuala Lumpur

Paper presented at:

The Annual International Conference on Management and Technology in Knowledge, Service, Tourism & Hospitality 2013 (SERVE 2013) Gran Mahakam Hotel Jakarta, Indonesia

14 - 15 December 2013. Published as Chapter in Book by:

CRC/Balkema Taylor & Francis Group Netherland http://www.balkema.nl/

1. Introduction

2. Problem Statement

3. Purpose of the Study

4. Method

5. Results and Discussion

6. Conclusions and Implications

In the digital age, the internet for communication and information (Martin & Madigan, 2006).

Unlimited information is available, so new skills are required for k-workers of the 21st century to manage the knowledge, solve problems, and add value to information (Martin, 2006; Ronen & Pasher, 2011).

Knowledge management (KM) is to realise value of knowledge and to create new knowledge (Chen & Xu, 2010).

However, KM is not taught formally in schools and universities (Cranfield & Taylor, 2008; Biasutti & El-Deghaidy 2012).

In addition, there is lack of emphasis on creation of new knowledge.

ICT tools can enable KM processes.

Wiki have been used for collaboration in problem-solving and can enable generation of new knowledge (Montero-Fleta & Pérez-Sabater,

2011; Zhang, Scardamalia, Lamon, Messina & Reeve, 2007; Zydney, deNoyelles, & Seo, 2012).

Collaborative writing tasks on wikis can make use of the knowledge management (KM) processes to create new knowledge and develop higher level cognitive skills (Biasutti &

El-Deghaidy 2012).

Era of communication and constant change.

Vast amount of information on the internet.

Lack of emphasis in schools and universities on knowledge creation

Lack of use of ICT tools for knowledge creation

Need to design instruction using KM processes for k-workers

Knowledge Management

Wikis can be used for collaboration and generation of knowledge

Research Objectives

In this case study, the knowledge management processes of undergraduates undertaking a problem task is investigated in order to answer the following research questions:

What knowledge management processes occurred during the solution of the task?

What are the participants’ perceptions of the problem-solving task using a wiki?

Design of the Study

Introduction to

Wiki

Selection of

technology tools

to use to create

new applications

for use in

counseling

Implementation:

Individual Tasks

on wiki which

can be viewed by

members of the

class community

(Wikispaces)

3 weeks

Questionnaire

(KMQ and SSQ),

Interviews

Content Analysis

of written

Communications

According to

Kappes &

Thomas (1993)

KM Process Description

Knowledge Acquisition

Selection of accurate and suitable information, from internet search or otherwise, to be included in the documentation

Knowledge Internalization Reference to prior knowledge made; organizing and reorganizing the information

Knowledge Creation

Ideas and ways of using the technology for counseling that is not copied from other sources, but may be innovated from others

Knowledge Sharing The information is not hidden but shared with others freely

Knowledge Application Knowledge of the use of the tool is applied specifically to the counseling consultation and work environment

Context: First-year undergraduates enrolled in a counseling course, Computer Skills for Counselors, in a public university participated in the study. Sample 36 undergraduates The task: To investigate the use of a new technology application for counseling

from a list of technology applications. Requirement: to describe the technology application, its original

purpose, the history of the development of the application and create new information on how the application could be used for counseling-related activities. Suggest a detailed plan for the use of the application in the field of counseling.

Answer the task individually and post on a group wiki Tasks were done online in the computer laboratory during the class

hours, as well as out of class. Data collection Data collected on completion of the tasks through surveys using

questionnaires: Triangulation of data from the interviews and the content analysis of the

written documentation of the tasks

Instrument

The Knowledge Management Questionnaire (KMQ) ◦ Application of KM processes in online wiki collaborative

activities (Biasutti & El-Deghaidy, 2012). ◦ 5-point Likert ◦ Scale KMQ was reliable above the 0.70 standard of reliability,

with a total Cronbach alpha of 0.86.

Student Satisfaction Questionnaire (SSQ). ◦ Assessed the students’ opinions on the use of wikis for

collaborative tasks on use of wiki, didactic material and the instructor (Biasutti & El-Deghaidy, 2012).

◦ 5-point Likert scale ◦ Cronbach’s alpha coefficients above the 0.70 standard of

reliability as follows: Wiki tool alpha: 0.73; Didactic materials: 0.71; and Instructor: 0.85.

Many of the students (digital natives) have never used wikis (77.1%). All had succeeded in using the wiki for their assignment

Background information on participants’ experience with wiki

Use of wiki Percent

Never used before 77.1

Yes, but very rarely, only once

or twice before

11.4

Yes sometimes 10.8

Yes, regularly 2.7

100.00

Table 1: Frequency of use of wikis All participants were ‘digital natives’ who use social media tools (all of them use the microblog, Facebook).

Domain Mean Std. Deviation

Knowledge Acquisition 4.2000 ­.49309

Knowledge Internalization 4.1238 .58904

Knowledge Creation 4.0000 .74973

Knowledge Sharing 4.5333 .44428

Knowledge Application 4.4286 .57492

Table 2: Min and standard deviation on KM domains

RQ 1: What knowledge management processes occurred during the solution of the task?

RQ 1: What knowledge management processes occurred during the solution of the task?

Domain Evidence

Knowledge

Acquisition

“I learnt new things that I had never thought of before.” Observation showed that the students were actively searching for knowledge using search engines such as Google. There was not much related to the technology tools in books and academic journals, hence the internet was referred to for shared knowledge. As the students searched for information, they had to evaluate it. They identified the uses of the technology tool as well as advantages and disadvantages.

RQ 1: What knowledge management processes occurred during the solution of the task?

Domain Evidence

Knowledge Internalization

This knowledge of new technology tools and its application, had to be internalized so that new knowledge could be created in the students field of study, counseling. There does not be to be many applications of technology tools for the use of client-counselor interaction sessions, or even for therapy at present. Students had to use their internalized knowledge to create new uses for the tool for client-counselor interaction, and to use for therapy sessions.

RQ 1: What knowledge management processes occurred during the solution of the task?

Domain Evidence

Knowledge Creation

“I got to develop new ideas.” One new idea suggested was on using an application for interactive storytelling using graphics to make a storybook, Storybird. The counselor can use the storyline and graphics to identify problems, phobias and other obsessions the youth may have. However, most of the new knowledge created was related to the use of new technology tools for communication and collaboration. The community of learners, the first-year counseling students, were also learning new tools and observing how it was applied into their field for interaction and therapy. As one student shared: “I learnt to collaborate and I discovered a lot of new things. I have a deeper knowledge about YouTube, and I can relate on how to apply it in the counseling field. I learnt how to design the wiki page, and how to organise information systematically so that people can read it comfortably.”

RQ 1: What knowledge management processes occurred during the solution of the task?

Domain Evidence

Knowledge Creation

The students had to present their task on the new technology tools on a wiki. This wiki enabled the students to read their friends task and learn new applications of technology. There were collaborative writing platforms such as wiki and GoggleDocs, and social and interactive platforms in video repositories, such as Youtube and Vimeo, being presented. Hence, the wiki enabled the community of student-counselors to acquire new knowledge which can be applied in their field of study.

RQ 1: What knowledge management processes occurred during the solution of the task?

Domain Evidence

Knowledge Sharing

“New ideas were developed when my peers contributed their opinions”.

The sharing gave the learner a responsibility to ensure information posted was accurate and well-organized. “The answers and comments from my peers made me feel responsible in ensuring information was clear and interesting.”

Knowledge Application

The processes led to the internalization and application of knowledge: “I've learnt how to design my own page, to make it more interesting. I learnt how to arrange my points in order when writing. In addition, I gained knowledge on the topics chosen.”

New ICT tool

Knowledge sharing for community on wiki

Interaction and Collaboration on wiki platform

New Knowledge created

New

application in

practice

RQ 2: What are the participants’ perceptions of the problem-solving task using a wiki?

Mean Std. Deviation

Wiki tool 4.3667 .40584

Didactic materials 4.0971 .34427

Instructor 4.5746 .34427

Personal wiki

(%)

Group wiki

(%)

More than 13 times 28.6 5.7

7-12 times 31.4 37.1

3-6 times 31.4 25.7

1-2 times 8.57 28.6

Never 0.0 2.9

Table 4: Frequency of access to the wiki during the study.

Table 3: Min and standard deviation on Student Satisfaction

RQ 2: What are the participants’ perceptions of the problem-solving task using a wiki?

“Learners get to be more open-minded, creative and critical. Learning gets to be more interesting.”

“Wikispaces is a good platform for groups of people to interact and have the opportunity to explore and share information with everyone.”

“The wiki encourages interaction and the members are closer”

“This is applicable and suitable to most of the courses, especially for learning,” and “wikis can be easily accessed by everyone in learning, and doesn’t cost a thing. It is important that other people are introduced to wikis as well.”

KM skills can be developed in a course

Problem solving approach for development of KM processes to generate new knowledge, search, evaluate and share information.

Publishing on the wiki encouraged accuracy and validity of information and creation of new knowledge.

Design of instruction using Wiki is effective for sharing and

creating knowledge

Social interactions for generation of knowledge.

Modeling to improve own work

Encourages creativity and innovation

Combination with other tools and new instructional

strategies needs to be investigated

The end