Ruiz-Calleja Adolfo, Prieto Luis P., Ley Tobias, Rodrıguez-Triana Marıa Jesus, Dennerlein Sebastian
2021
Despite the ubiquity of learning in workplace and professional settings, the learning analytics (LA) community has paid significant attention to such settings only recently. This may be due to the focus on researching formal learning, as workplace learning is often informal, hard to grasp and not unequivocally defined. This paper summarizes the state of the art of Workplace Learning Analytics (WPLA), extracted from a two-iteration systematic literature review. Our in-depth analysis of 52 existing proposals not only provides a descriptive view of the field, but also reflects on researcher conceptions of learning and their influence on the design, analytics and technology choices made in this area. We also discuss the characteristics of workplace learning that make WPLA proposals different from LA in formal education contexts and the challenges resulting from this. We found that WPLA is gaining momentum, especially in some fields, like healthcare and education. The focus on theory is generally a positive feature in WPLA, but we encourage a stronger focus on assessing the impact of WPLA in realistic settings.
Dennerlein Sebastian, Tomberg Vladimir, Treasure-Jones, Tamsin, Theiler Dieter, Lindstaedt Stefanie , Ley Tobias
2020
PurposeIntroducing technology at work presents a special challenge as learning is tightly integrated with workplace practices. Current design-based research (DBR) methods are focused on formal learning context and often questioned for a lack of yielding traceable research insights. This paper aims to propose a method that extends DBR by understanding tools as sociocultural artefacts, co-designing affordances and systematically studying their adoption in practice.Design/methodology/approachThe iterative practice-centred method allows the co-design of cognitive tools in DBR, makes assumptions and design decisions traceable and builds convergent evidence by consistently analysing how affordances are appropriated. This is demonstrated in the context of health-care professionals’ informal learning, and how they make sense of their experiences. The authors report an 18-month DBR case study of using various prototypes and testing the designs with practitioners through various data collection means.FindingsBy considering the cognitive level in the analysis of appropriation, the authors came to an understanding of how professionals cope with pressure in the health-care domain (domain insight); a prototype with concrete design decisions (design insight); and an understanding of how memory and sensemaking processes interact when cognitive tools are used to elaborate representations of informal learning needs (theory insight).Research limitations/implicationsThe method is validated in one long-term and in-depth case study. While this was necessary to gain an understanding of stakeholder concerns, build trust and apply methods over several iterations, it also potentially limits this.Originality/valueBesides generating traceable research insights, the proposed DBR method allows to design technology-enhanced learning support for working domains and practices. The method is applicable in other domains and in formal learning.
Seitlinger Paul, Ley Tobias, Kowald Dominik, Theiler Dieter, Hasani-Mavriqi Ilire, Dennerlein Sebastian, Lex Elisabeth, Albert D.
2017
Creative group work can be supported by collaborative search and annotation of Web resources. In this setting, it is important to help individuals both stay fluent in generating ideas of what to search next (i.e., maintain ideational fluency) and stay consistent in annotating resources (i.e., maintain organization). Based on a model of human memory, we hypothesize that sharing search results with other users, such as through bookmarks and social tags, prompts search processes in memory, which increase ideational fluency, but decrease the consistency of annotations, e.g., the reuse of tags for topically similar resources. To balance this tradeoff, we suggest the tag recommender SoMe, which is designed to simulate search of memory from user-specific tag-topic associations. An experimental field study (N = 18) in a workplace context finds evidence of the expected tradeoff and an advantage of SoMe over a conventional recommender in the collaborative setting. We conclude that sharing search results supports group creativity by increasing the ideational fluency, and that SoMe helps balancing the evidenced fluency-consistency tradeoff.
Dennerlein Sebastian, Treasure-Jones Tamsin, Lex Elisabeth, Ley Tobias
2016
Background: Teamworking, within and acrosshealthcare organisations, is essential to deliverexcellent integrated care. Drawing upon an alternationof collaborative and cooperative phases, we exploredthis teamworking and respective technologicalsupport within UK Primary Care. Participants usedBits&Pieces (B&P), a sensemaking tool for tracedexperiences that allows sharing results and mutuallyelaborating them: i.e. cooperating and/orcollaborating.Summary of Work: We conducted a two month-longcase study involving six healthcare professionals. InB&P, they reviewed organizational processes, whichrequired the involvement of different professions ineither collaborative and/or cooperative manner. Weused system-usage data, interviews and qualitativeanalysis to understand the interplay of teamworkingpracticeand technology.Summary of Results: Within our analysis we mainlyidentified cooperation phases. In a f2f-meeting,professionals collaboratively identified subtasks andassigned individuals leading collaboration on them.However, these subtasks were undertaken asindividual sensemaking efforts and finally combined(i.e. cooperation). We found few examples ofreciprocal interpretation processes (i.e. collaboration):e.g. discussing problems during sensemaking ormonitoring other’s sensemaking-outcomes to makesuggestions.Discussion: These patterns suggest that collaborationin healthcare often helps to construct a minimalshared understanding (SU) of subtasks to engage incooperation, where individuals trust in other’scompetencies and autonomous completion. However,we also found that professionals with positivecollaboration history and deepened SU were willing toundertake subtasks collaboratively. It seems thatacquiring such deepened SU of concepts andmethods, leads to benefits that motivate professionalsto collaborate more.Conclusion: Healthcare is a challenging environmentrequiring interprofessional work across organisations.For effective teamwork, a deepened SU is crucial andboth cooperation and collaboration are required.However, we found a tendency of staff to rely mainlyon cooperation when working in teams and not fullyexplore benefits of collaboration.Take Home Messages: To maximise benefits ofinterprofessional working, tools for teamworkingshould support both cooperation and collaborationprocesses and scaffold the move between them
Trattner Christoph, Kowald Dominik, Seitlinger Paul, Ley Tobias
2016
Several successful tag recommendation mechanisms have been developed, including algorithms built upon Collaborative Filtering, Tensor Factorization, graph-based and simple "most popular tags" approaches. From an economic perspective, the latter approach has been convincing since calculating frequencies is computationally efficient and effective with respect to different recommender evaluation metrics. In this paper, we introduce a tag recommendation algorithm that mimics the way humans draw on items in their long-term memory in order to extend these conventional "most popular tags" approaches. Based on a theory of human memory, the approach estimates a tag's reuse probability as a function of usage frequency and recency in the user's past (base-level activation) as well as of the current semantic context (associative component).Using four real-world folksonomies gathered from bookmarks in BibSonomy, CiteULike, Delicious and Flickr, we show how refining frequency-based estimates by considering recency and semantic context outperforms conventional "most popular tags" approaches and another existing and very effective but less theory-driven, time-dependent recommendation mechanism. By combining our approach with a simple resource-specific frequency analysis, our algorithm outperforms other well-established algorithms, such as Collaborative Filtering, FolkRank and Pairwise Interaction Tensor Factorization with respect to recommender accuracy and runtime. We conclude that our approach provides an accurate and computationally efficient model of a user's temporal tagging behavior. Moreover, we demonstrate how effective principles of recommender systems can be designed and implemented if human memory processes are taken into account.
Beham Günter, Lindstaedt Stefanie , Ley Tobias, Kump Barbara, Seifert C.
2010
When inferring a user’s knowledge state from naturally occurringinteractions in adaptive learning systems, one has to makes complexassumptions that may be hard to understand for users. We suggestMyExperiences, an open learner model designed for these specificrequirements. MyExperiences is based on some of the key design principles ofinformation visualization to help users understand the complex information inthe learner model. It further allows users to edit their learner models in order toimprove the accuracy of the information represented there.
Ley Tobias, Kump Barbara, Albert D.
2010
Ley Tobias, Ulbrich Armin, Lindstaedt Stefanie , Scheir Peter, Kump Barbara, Albert Dietrich
2008
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to suggest a way to support work-integrated learning forknowledge work, which poses a great challenge for current research and practice.Design/methodology/approach – The authors first suggest a workplace learning context model, whichhas been derived by analyzing knowledge work and the knowledge sources used by knowledgeworkers. The authors then focus on the part of the context that specifies competencies by applying thecompetence performance approach, a formal framework developed in cognitive psychology. From theformal framework, a methodology is then derived of how to model competence and performance in theworkplace. The methodology is tested in a case study for the learning domain of requirementsengineering.Findings – The Workplace Learning Context Model specifies an integrative view on knowledge workers’work environment by connecting learning, work and knowledge spaces. The competence performanceapproach suggests that human competencies be formalized with a strong connection to workplaceperformance (i.e. the tasks performed by the knowledge worker). As a result, competency diagnosisand competency gap analysis can be embedded into the normal working tasks and learninginterventions can be offered accordingly. The results of the case study indicate that experts weregenerally in moderate to high agreement when assigning competencies to tasks.Research limitations/implications – The model needs to be evaluated with regard to the learningoutcomes in order to test whether the learning interventions offered benefit the user. Also, the validityand efficiency of competency diagnosis need to be compared to other standard practices incompetency management.Practical implications – Use of competence performance structures within organizational settings hasthe potential to more closely relate the diagnosis of competency needs to actual work tasks, and toembed it into work processes.Originality/value – The paper connects the latest research in cognitive psychology and in thebehavioural sciences with a formal approach that makes it appropriate for integration intotechnology-enhanced learning environments.Keywords Competences, Learning, Workplace learning, Knowledge managementPaper type Research paper
Lindstaedt Stefanie , Ley Tobias, Scheir Peter, Ulbrich Armin
2008
This contribution introduces the concept of work-integrated learning which distinguishes itself from traditional e-Learning in that it provides learning support (i) during work task execution and tightly contextualized to the work context,(ii) within the work environment, and (iii) utilizes knowledge artefacts available within the organizational memory for learning. We argue that in order to achieve this highly flexible learning support we need to turn to" scruffy" methods (such as associative retrieval, genetic algorithms, Bayesian and other probabilistic methods) which can provide good results in the presence of uncertainty and the absence of fine-granular models. Hybrid approaches to user context determination, user profile management, and learning material identification are discussed and first results are reported.
Kooken J., Ley Tobias, de Hoog R.
2007
Any software development project is based on assumptions about the state of the world that probably will hold when it is fielded. Investigating whether they are true can be seen as an important task. This paper describes how an empirical investigation was designed and conducted for the EU funded APOSDLE project. This project aims at supporting informal learning during work. Four basic assumptions are derived from the project plan and subsequently investigated in a two-phase study using several methods, including workplace observations and a survey. The results show that most of the assumptions are valid in the current work context of knowledge workers. In addition more specific suggestions for the design of the prospective APOSDLE application could be derived. Though requiring a substantial effort, carrying out studies like this can be seen as important for longer term software development projects.
Ley Tobias, Albert D.
2003
Ley Tobias, Albert D.
2003
Ley Tobias, Albert D.
2003
We present a formalisation for employee competencies which is based on a psychological framework separating the overt behavioural level from the underlying competence level. On the competence level, employees draw on action potentials (knowledge, skills and abilities) which in a given situation produce performance outcomes on the behavioural level. Our conception is based on the competence performance approach by [Korossy 1997] and [Korossy 1999] which uses mathematical structures to establish prerequisite relations on the competence and the performance level. From this framework, a methodology for assessing competencies in dynamic work domains is developed which utilises documents employees have created to assess the competencies they have been acquiring. By means of a case study, we show how the methodology and the resulting structures can be validated in an organisational setting. From the resulting structures, employee competency profiles can be derived and development planning can be supported. The structures also provide the means for making inferences within the competency assessment process which in turn facilitates continuous updating of competency profiles and maintenance of the structures.
Clancy J.M. , Elliott G., Ley Tobias, Odomei M.M., Wearing A.J., McLennan J., Thorsteinsson E.B.
2003
Dösinger G., Ley Tobias
2002