Dominik Siemon

Shared Mental Models in Creative Virtual Teamwork

This paper presents an experiment on the impact of Shared Mental Models (SMM) on creative virtual teamwork. We tested whether the usage of an online whiteboard influences the building of SMM in the initial phase of virtual teamwork. As SMM are the foundation for successful collaboration in teams, we transferred the construct on measuring the team task and team goal in a creative virtual team process. In the first section of the paper a theoretical discussion on SMM, creativity and virtual teamwork will be presented. Subsequently, our experiment on virtual teamwork via the use of a virtual tool and its impact towards SMM will be introduced and the results will be discussed. We identified that specific creative competencies of virtual tools enhance the level of SMM but still lack in perceived efficiency compared to physically present teamwork. The findings recommend further research on the applicability, effectiveness and capabilities of creative virtual tools.

Evaluating Anchored Discussion to Foster Creativity in Online Collaboration

Open innovation and crowdsourcing ideas rely on people to be creative through an online collaboration system. Creativity in online groups depends heavily on the interaction between group members. Anchored discussion was evaluated in a preliminary laboratory experiment as a new mode for creative interaction. In anchored discussion every comment is tied to some aspect of the idea. This first exploration generated novel insights for additional and refined research. Results indicate that anchored discussion leads to a more structured discussion amongst group members. For the same level of creativity, groups using anchored discussion needed less interaction and less discussion than the control groups. In a post session survey, participants made several suggestions on how to improve anchored discussion. We conclude that anchored discussion is promising as a new tool to aid online groups in creative collaboration.

Integration of Information Retrieval in Creativity Support: A Prototype to Support Divergent Thinking

Creativity support has been adressed in various fields of studies and already entered information technology with the development of different tools in order to enable, foster and improve the creative stage. In this paper we outline our approach of supporting the divergent thinking process during the generative stage by using information extraction and information retrieval methods as well as social media for the actual supporting content. A prototype that offers an automated support and that tries to produce a broad benefit for the idea generator was developed and will further be evaluated according to current design science guidelines.

Cooperation Isn’t Just About Doing the Same Thing – Using Personality for a Cooperation-Recommender-System in Online Social Networks

Through Online Social Networks, like Research Gate, Stack Exchange or Facebook, it’s easy to find a partner for cooperation, because Social Networks have the potential to connect thousands of people. To assist finding the right person for cooperation many of these networks have Recommender-Systems, but these systems mostly rely on the matching of keywords for each individual. This article shows on a conceptual level, that current Recommender-Systems for cooperation on Online Social Networks can be improved by additionally using personality for recommendations. Methods like Language Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) can help to achieve this goal by presenting methods for an automated calculation of personality from user-generated content in these networks, without the need of questionnaires. Based on personality different cooperation types can be derived to improve recommendations for cooperation partners, leading to a better cooperation and therefore help to increase cooperation in Online Social Networks.

Tracking Down the Negative Group Creativity Effects with the Help of an Artificial Intelligence-Like Support System

Creativity has been addressed in a variety of research studies, with interest focusing on both individual and group creativity. In our research, we outline current studies analyzing the negative effects, which can arise when working collectively. Based on the design science research method, we developed an artifact, in order to prevent individuals from being negatively influenced by others. Our prototype implements an artificial intelligence-like system, which tries to act in a human manner and aims to support the user when he or she is working independently. In a field experiment, we evaluated the positive influence and negative effects, i.e. Social loafing and free-riding phenomena, during the idea generation stage. The results show that no social loafing effects appear while interacting with our artificial intelligence support system. However, the benefits of a group process were still experienced by the participants.

Digitization of the Design Thinking Process Solving Problems with Geographically Dispersed Teams

In a globalized world, collaboration within geographically dispersed team members is becoming more important due to the possibilities given by information systems and the increase in productivity of knowledge workers. Design Thinking is a creative innovation method that is originally performed to enable participants to collaborate successfully in analog workshops. By referring to this initial situation, we hypothesize that a virtual Design Thinking platform can be at least as effective for generating creative innovations as an analog one, if the platform and the underlying processes are designed in an adequate way that enables collaboration and communication.

Gamification of Teaching in Higher Education

Gamification has become a major aspect in many fields of academia. Motivating people to participate and engage more intensively in order to increase the outcome with the help of game mechanics has already been applied in the field of education. With our approach of gamification of university teaching, we seek to improve the learning efficiency, motivation, fun and participation by constructing GamEducation. We implemented GamEducation in a master’s level course, conducted it twice over two years and conducted several evaluations to validate our hypothesis. We found that GamEducation improves major fields of university teaching such as motivation, fun, participation and learning efficiency. However, GamEducation increases the workload for both students and teaching staff.

Semi-Automated Questions as a Cognitive Stimulus in Idea Generation

Creativity is the source for innovation and is responsible for ongoing and sustainable progress within companies. Over the years, different theories and practices have been established to enhance creativity and to produce innovative ideas. A number of creativity support systems have been designed, implemented and tested to foster and optimize creativity processes. However, the full potential of information technology has not yet been fully exhausted. For this research we have implemented an innovative creativity support system, which stimulates a user during the stage of idea generation. The system semi-automatically generates external stimuli in the form of questions that represent the core issues of a task. The experiment we conducted shows, that individuals, who are exposed to the semi-automated questions produce better and more versatile ideas than individuals that are not exposed to the semi-automated questions. Our findings endorse the use of novel algorithms for creativity support systems.

GamEducation – Spielelemente in der Universitätslehre

ZusammenfassungSpielerisches Erlernen von Fähigkeiten ist während des Heranwachsens eines Menschen, insbesondere im Kleinkindalter, ein wichtiger Bestandteil. Allerdings verändert sich das Verständnis des Lernens im Jugendalter von einem Lernen auf spielerische Art und Weise zu einer Auffassung des Lernens als ernsthafte Angelegenheit. Die Anwendung von Gamification kann dem entgegenwirken. In dem vorliegenden Beitrag berichten wir von dem Projekt „GamEducation“, welches innerhalb der Lehrveranstaltung „Kooperationen im E-Business“ erstmals im Wintersemester 2012/2013 durchgeführt wurde und den Einsatz von Spielelementen zur Unterstützung des Lernens beschreibt. Die Vermittlung von Vorlesungsinhalten wird durch eine Praxisaufgabe (Hintergrundgeschichte) begleitet, um den stetigen Transfer und die Anwendung des Vorlesungswissens zu ermöglichen. Die Studierenden sammeln in mehreren Challenges sowohl als Gruppe als auch einzeln Punkte. Darüber hinaus diskutieren die Studierenden Inhalte auf einem lehrveranstaltungsbegleitenden Blog und sehen die aktuelle Rangliste als Feedback auf die eigene Leistung. Seit der ersten Durchführung von GamEducation wurde regelmäßig evaluiert. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass das Lehrkonzept die Mehrheit der Studierenden dazu motiviert sich in deutlich höherem Maße zu beteiligen und die Anwendung des Vorlesungswissens dabei hilft, die Inhalte besser zu verstehen.AbstractPlayful acquisition of skills is an important part during growing up of a human being, especially in early childhood. However, perception changes in adolescence from learning in a playful manner to the view of learning as a serious matter. This trend can be countered by the use of gamification. The present article reports on the use of game elements to support learning within the project “GamEducation” which was conducted in the lecture “Kooperationen im E-Business” in winter semester 2012/2013 for the first time. The combination with a practical task (background story) enables a constant transfer and application of the imparted lecture content. While faced with several challenges students can collect points as both a group and an individual. Furthermore students are encouraged to discuss the lecture in an accompanying blog and to keep track of a ranking providing continuous feedback on their performance. Regular evaluation of “GamEducation” has shown that the majority of students is motivated to actively participate to a significantly higher extent thanks to the teaching concept and that the steady application of the lecture content helps to better understand it.

Nutzerzentrierte Dienstleistungsinnovation durch digitales Design Thinking – Herausforderung und Potenziale für Wissenschaft und Praxis

In diesem Beitrag wird die systematische Recherche und Analyse des Design-Thinking-Prozesses aufgezeigt und eine Methodendatenbank mit uber 400 identifizierten Methoden prasentiert. Dabei werden die spezifischen Eigenschaften von Methoden, die fur Dienstleistungsinnovationen geeignet sind, dargelegt. So entsteht eine verfeinerte Methoden-Datenbank, die als Handbuch fur Design Thinking fur Dienstleistungen eingesetzt werden kann. Daraufhin werden Anforderungen zur Digitalisierung der Methoden definiert, um im finalen Schritt eine Methodendatenbank fur ein digitales Design Thinking zu entwickeln.