Micky Kerr

Sharing Knowledge: Contextualising Socio-Technical Thinking and Practice.

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to present the empirical findings from a case study in knowledge sharing with the aim of understanding knowledge sharing in a strategic context through a socio‐technical approach. Design/methodology/approach – Knowledge sharing facilitators and barriers were examined in a UK owned multinational engineering organisation. A total of 20 semi‐structured interviews were conducted and analysed using a combination of matrix and template analysis. Findings – The paper highlights leadership, organisational, and individual factors that are perceived to impact knowledge sharing. Furthermore, three sub‐factors: trust, individual motivation and geographical location, are discussed as double‐edged factors, i.e. their impact on knowledge sharing is complex in that they may act as both barriers and enablers. Research limitations/implications – The main limitation of this study is that it is conducted in a single organisational context. A second case study is currently being analysed to explore knowledge sharing in a different context within the same organisation. Practical implications – A balanced approach to knowledge management practices is emphasised where both technical and social aspects are taken into account. Originality/value – This paper provides important contributions. First, it emphasises the impact of strategic change on knowledge sharing as one aspect of the organisational knowledge management. Second, it frames knowledge sharing within a socio‐technical approach. Third, it provides us with empirical evidence through our use of case study in an organisational setting.

Making Sense of Bits and Pieces: A Sensemaking Tool for Informal Workplace Learning

Sensemaking at the workplace and in educational contexts has been extensively studied for decades. Interestingly, making sense out of the own wealth of learning experiences at the workplace has been widely ignored. To tackle this issue, we have implemented a novel sensemaking interface for healthcare professionals to support learning at the workplace. The proposed prototype supports remembering of informal experiences from episodic memory followed by sensemaking in semantic memory. Results from an initial study conducted as part of an iterative co-design process reveal the prototype is being perceived as useful and supportive for informal sensemaking by study participants from the healthcare domain. Furthermore, we find first evidence that re-evaluation of collected information is a potentially necessary process that needs further exploration to fully understand and support sensemaking of informal learning experiences.

Exploring informal workplace learning in primary healthcare for continuous professional development

Abstract Background and objectives: All health and social care professionals learn on the job through both formal and informal learning processes, which contributes to continuous professional development (CPD). This study explored workplace learning in General Practices, specifically looking at the role of informal learning and the workplace practices that appear to support or restrict that learning, as well as how technology was integrated into these learning processes. Methods: Three focus groups with general practitioners, practice nurses, managerial and administrative staff were conducted followed by twelve individual semi-structured interviews with participants drawn from the focus groups. Three observations of multi-disciplinary team meetings were used to establish potential team-based learning activities. Results: Triggers for informal workplace learning included patients presenting challenging or unusual conditions; exposure to others’ professional practice; and policy driven changes through revised guidance and protocols. By exploring how these triggers were acted upon, we identified mechanisms through which the primary care workplace supports or restricts informal learning through working practices, existing technologies and inter-professional structures. Conclusion: Informal workplace learning was identified as arising from both opportunistic encounters and more planned activities, which are both supported and restricted through a variety of mechanisms. Maximising informal learning opportunities and removing barriers to doing so should be a priority for primary care practitioners, managers and educators.

“Cascades, torrents & drowning” in information: seeking help in the contemporary general practitioner practice in the UK

ABSTRACT This paper responds to the Alpine Rendez-Vous “crisis” in technology-enhanced learning. It takes a contested area of policy as well as a rapid change in the National Health Service, and documents the responses to “information overload” by a group of general practitioners practices in the North of England. Located between the spaces identified by Traxler and Lally as “competitive industrialisation” and web 1.0, and the consumer/ customer focus and ubiquitous ownership enabled by portable and devices and web 2.0, in this work we see the parallels of the responses of publicly funded bodies moving towards privatisation as part of a neo-liberal agenda. Interviews with health professionals (HPs) revealed marginalised spaces for informal learning in their workplaces, and a desire to build a community that would enable them to overcome the time/space barriers to networking. The EU Learning Layers Integrating Project develops mobile and social technologies that unlock and enable peer production within and across traditional workplace boundaries. Through the HP narratives, we capture insights into their daily life, which enable the articulation of their needs for an online “Help-seeking” networking service, underpinned by their desire to consult what Vygotsky calls “the more capable peer.”

Designing Scalable Informal Learning Solutions with Personas: A Pilot Study in the Healthcare Sector

Driven by ever shorter cycles of innovation, organizations and individuals nowadays have to acquire, understand and apply new knowledge in shorter periods of time [1]. Much of this rapid learning appears to be achieved by workers learning on the job and from colleagues --- informal learning rather than learning from traditional, curriculum-based training [2]. Mobile technology could potentially provide support to this informal learning as it can provide scalable and flexible learning tools that can be used at any time across a variety of locations: at home, on different work sites, during travel [3]. However, designing learning technology that can support such unstructured, creative and expertise-driven informal learning is challenging, especially as there are likely to be great variations across employees in terms of their perceptions, experiences and expectations regarding technology [4]. These expectations and experiences may also differ from those of the developers and designers. Yet it is the match between user requirements and functionalities that lies at the heart of a successful learning technology. In Learning Layers we are exploring how creating and using Personas may help to design scalable technology for supporting informal learning in healthcare.