Publikationen

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

In order to support work-integrated learning scenarios task- andcompetency-aware knowledge services are needed. In this paper we introducethree key knowledge services of the APOSDLE system and illustrate how theyinteract. The context determination daemon observes user interactions andinfers the current work task of the user. The user profile service uses theidentified work tasks to determine the competences of the user. And finally, theassociative retrieval service utilizes both the current work task and the inferredcompetences to identify relevant (learning) content. All of these knowledgeservices improve through user feedback.

The paper suggests a way to support work-integrated learning for knowledge workwhich poses a great challenge for current research and practice. We first present a WorkplaceLearning Context Model which has been derived by analyzing knowledge work and the knowledgesources used by knowledge workers. The model specifies an integrative view on knowledgeworkers’ work environment by connecting learning, work and knowledge spaces. We then focuson the part of the context which specifies learning goals and their interrelations to task and domainmodels. Our purpose is to support learning needs analysis which is based on a comparison of tasksperformed in the past to those tasks to be tackled in the future. A first implementation in theAPOSDLE project is presented including the models generated for five real world applications andthe software prototype. We close with an outlook on future work.