Search results

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of collaborative cultures and knowledge sharing on organization learning.

This research used a sample of 288 non-profit state-owned organization employees, which was taken using the simple random sampling technique. The hypotheses were tested using the partial least square approach.

This research provides insights that organizational learning is influenced significantly by knowledge sharing and collaborative cultures existing within the organization. The successfully built theoretical implication provides evidence that knowledge sharing and collaborative cultures within an organization can provide support for the real organizational learning to take place. Knowledge sharing and collaborative cultures prove to be among the determinants for the occurrence of organizational learning. The right culture can promote good organizational learning.

The right culture can promote organizational learning. This research investigates the effects of collaborative cultures and knowledge sharing on organizational learning in a non-profit state-owned organization. Future research can further expand the scope of various types of organizations, both for-profit and non-profit ones.

This research reveals the effects of collaborative cultures and knowledge sharing on organizational learning.

This research provides insights into the factors supporting organizational learning.

In a collaborative learning environment there will be many learners with diverse cultures. These learners should be supported to communicate and collaborate among themselves. The variety of the communication and collaboration tools and modes available to each learner would depend on his/her personal cultural background. The purpose of this paper is to suggest the adaptation of the collaborative learning environment to the learner's cultural profile. So, first it aims to present learner's models with respect to his/her cultural characteristics. It also aims to present the various communication and collaboration tools and modes that would be available to the learners. Then, each learner has at his/her disposal the appropriate communication and collaboration tools and modes according to his/her cultural characteristics.

The cultural models of Trompenaars and Hampden‐Turner, as well Hofsted are modified relaxing the dualism of their dimensions. The modified models are used in a collaborative learning environment. The various attributes and types of communication and collaboration among learners and teachers in a collaborative learning environment are also identified.

This paper presents learner's cultural models across several cultural dimensions. Each cultural dimension weights differently. Also, a learner may not belong strictly to a cultural extreme of a dimension, but he/she may have characteristics from both cultural extremes of each dimension. Based on a learner's cultural profile, different communication and collaboration tools would be available to the learner.

Based on the learner's profile, either the adaptation engine, or the teacher, or the learner him/herself may select the appropriate communication and collaboration tools and modes for the particular learner. Designers, developers and evaluators of collaborative learning systems may benefit from these learners' cultural models and the communication and collaboration attributes. For example, they may create collaborative learning systems with flexible communication and collaboration attributes that provide to each learner personalized communication and collaboration tools according to his cultural profile.

This paper proposes the adaptation of the collaborative learning environment to the cultural characteristics of the learner. Future research may assign the specific communication and collaboration tools to each particular learner's cultural profile.

This paper proposes the adaptation of the communication and collaboration tools and modes that are used by a learner in a collaborative learning environment to the learner's cultural characteristics. First, the paper presents new cultural models of a learner. Then, it presents the communication and collaboration attributes and types that would be used by the learners in a collaborative learning environment. A learner would have at disposal the appropriate personalized communication and collaboration tools.

The purpose of this paper is to present a model to assist school leaders in managing the professional development activities of teachers. The model illustrates the important role of principals in promoting continuing professional development (CPD), chiefly by cultivating a collaborative learning culture and formulating policy.

This study tested a framework based on the input of 103 CPD coordinators in Hong Kong, who participated in a quasi-experimental design questionnaire survey. Factor analysis and reliability tests were applied to verify the constructed validity and reliability of a self-developed instrument. A Structural Equation Model (SEM) was then applied to confirm the model.

The result of the SEM shows that principal support has a predictive effect on CPD policy and a collaborative learning culture, while the effectiveness of a CPD plan is predicted by collaborative culture and management strategy.

This study contributes theoretically to existing literature and practically to school leaders, by supplying a model for managing teacher CPD.

Chapter 6 focuses on cultures of collaboration and explains how collaborative cultures are essential to developing networked intelligence in any organization. The authors explain how collaborative cultures relate to three critical business processes: trust, risk, and critical thinking. The chapter addresses how important collaborative cultures are to developing these capabilities in knowledge organizations and the knowledge economy. How collaborative cultures help organizations to become more resilient and adaptable to the hyperdynamic change at the core of the knowledge economy is also explained. And how collaborative cultures help organizations to maintain and sustain their business performance in chaotic environments is also addressed.

The purpose of this paper is to explore educator collaborative inquiry in the shared workspace in professional learning communities (PLCs). Specifically, this investigation was part of an ongoing investigation of well-established PLC collaborative interactions and self-directed learning of educators as part of the shared workspace as a component of school improvement.

A qualitative design was used for this investigation. Participants were purposefully selected to provide qualitative data on existent, well-established PLCs and their practice as educators in the shared workspace. Qualitative data were collected about participant perception. Data were collected from each participant by conducting semi-structured interviews, observations, and the collection of document and artifacts.

Findings from this ongoing investigation point to positive collaborative physical interactions and intellectual discourse that lead to educator learning through the collaborative inquiry process.

Theories on PLCs and educator job-embedded professional learning are unique in this paper. The concepts of PLCs and the collaborative inquiry process have been well developed but not in the context of the shared workspace. Recent literature on effective collaborative inquiry educators undergo in PLCs as a continuing professional development model provides a foundation for the work done in this ongoing case study. Sustained collaboration and continued professional development of teaching innovations as a product of the collaborative inquiry process in the shared workspace are underdeveloped as yet but further developed in this paper.

The study aims to determine how the acceptance of mistakes is related to adaptability to change in a broad organizational context. Therefore, it explores how knowledge, collaboration and learning cultures (including “acceptance of mistakes”) might help organizations overcome their resistance to change.

The study used two sample groups: students aged 18–24 years (330 cases) and employees aged >24 years (326 cases), who worked in knowledge-driven organizations. Structural equation models were developed, assessed and compared.

The effect of the “learning climate” on “adaptability to change” mediated by “acceptance of mistakes” has been detected for young students aged 18–24 years; however, this relationship is not significant for business employees aged >24 years. This result indicates that organizations, unlike universities, do not use mistakes as a tool to support learning that is to lead to change.

Both samples used in the study were obtained from Poland. The business sample was in the majority represented by small and medium-sized enterprises. Therefore, the presented findings may only be applicable to Poland.

Acceptance of mistakes is vital for developing a learning culture. Mistakes help employees adapt to change. Hence, a learning culture that excludes the acceptance of mistakes is somehow artificial and may be unproductive. Paradoxically, the findings reveal that the fact that employees’ intelligence (adaptability to change) improves via mistakes does not mean that organizational intelligence will also increase. Thus, organizations that do not develop mechanisms of learning from mistakes lose the learning potential of their employees.

This study proposes a constant learning culture scale that includes the “acceptance of mistakes” and “learning climate” dimensions. Further, it empirically proves the value of mistakes for adaptability to change. Moreover, it also contributes to the existing literature by demonstrating the mechanism of the relationship between knowledge, collaboration and learning cultures in the context of adaptability to change. This study breaks with the convention of “exaggerated excellence” and promotes the acceptance of mistakes in organizations to develop organizational intelligence.

International students, specifically students who study English for Academic Purposes (EAP), are an increasingly important and large part of the makeup of Canadian post-secondary institutions. As these students have diverse learning needs and goals, institutions need to properly support these learners to be successful in academic settings. A review of the literature explores the increasing need to support this particular student population; approaches to the teaching, learning, and programming of EAP courses and programs; and strategies in and beyond the classroom to support these learners. This chapter offers design considerations and suggests that EAP curricula be integrative in nature. This can be achieved through choosing relevant topics, incorporating experiential learning opportunities, designing collaborative learning tasks, discussing issues of culture, and planning purposeful community connections. Approaching the development of EAP curricula through an integrative lens will ensure learners who are ready for post-secondary studies in academic fields. Classroom examples from the author’s professional experience are offered. Discussion of how to achieve integrative EAP curricula in virtual learning environments is also included.

Systems educational reform in developing countries through effective principal capacity- building programs is essential for improving student learning, with the purpose of this paper being to use case studies to identify key success factors in the implementation of an instructional leadership program in the developing country of Kiribati.

A case study approach involving mixed methods including semi-structured interviews and document analysis was used within three purposively sampled schools to examine implementation success factors relevant to instructional leadership literature

The case studies reveal the overall value of the Kiribati instructional leadership program involving school leader workshops and ongoing coaching support, with instructional leadership reflecting directive and collaborative, as well as transformative theoretical aspects. Key implementation success factors within researched schools were leaders undertaking regular observations in classrooms, systematic tracking of student achievement and nurturing a positive culture for learning, as well as establishment of various collaborative processes involving community and teacher peer learning groups.

The study provides in-depth information through teacher and school leader interviews and examining relevant school documentation artefacts. A limitation is that the study involved only three schools and was undertaken less than a year into program implementation. Future research involving more schools and several years after implementation would be beneficial to investigate sustainability across the school system and longer-term program impacts.

The data provides practical tips for school leaders regarding effective teacher capacity-building approaches, as well as providing information for policy makers, especially in developing countries, about effective professional development programs for school leaders and teachers. 10; 10;

The study examines a system-wide workshop series and coaching approach to school leader and teacher capacity-building in a developing country from a theoretical and practical perspective relevant to instructional leadership and also transformational leadership, which is an under-researched area. 10; 10; 10;

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of a commissioned research study that analyzed a schooling initiative with the ambitious goal of transforming learning environments across the district by advancing innovative, inquiry-driven pedagogical practices combined with 1:1 iPad distribution. The paper explores impacts of the initiative on pedagogical innovation, twenty-first century learning, and related impacts on professional learning, collaboration, and culture change in the pilot schools analyzed in the study.

A multi-dimensional case study approach was used to analyze how the initiative was implemented, and to what extent teaching, learning, and professional cultures were transformed, based on action plan inputs and “change drivers”. Research methods included structured, open-ended interviews conducted with randomly selected teachers and key informants in leadership roles, focus groups held with students, as well as analysis of policy documents, student work samples, and other data sources.

The authors found evidence of a synergistic relationship between innovations in inquiry-driven pedagogy and professional learning cultures, with evidence of increased collaboration, deepened engagement and persistence, and a climate of collegiality and risk-taking at both classroom and organizational levels. Based on initiative inputs, the authors found that innovations in collaborative technology/pedagogy practices in classrooms paralleled similar innovations and transformations in professional learning cultures and capacity-building networks.

This initiative analyzed in this paper provides a case study in large-scale system change, offering a compelling model for transformative policies and initiatives where interwoven innovations in pedagogy and technology mobilization are supported by multiple drivers for formal and informal professional learning/development and networked collaboration. Challenges and recommendations are highlighted in the concluding discussion.

The transformative initiative analyzed in this paper provides a very timely case-model for innovations in twenty-first century learning and, specifically, for enacting and sustaining large-scale system change where inquiry-driven learning and technology tools are being mobilized to support “deep learning”, “new learning partnerships”, and multilevel transformations in professional learning (Fullan and Donnelly, 2013). This research advances scholarly work in the areas of twenty-first century learning, identifying relationships between technology/pedagogy innovation and professional capital building (Hargreaves and Fullan, 2012).

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of leaders on knowledge creation and mobilization.

This mixed methods study included three high-performing districts based on provincial assessment results and socio-economic factors. Interviews and questionnaires were used to gather data from 53 participants including: 11 principals, 11 teacher leaders, 26 teachers, and five system leaders.

The findings of the study emphasized the importance of leaders supporting knowledge creation and mobilization processes through practices such as engaging school-based knowledge influencers and fostering cultures of trust and risk taking. The author defined knowledge influencers as leaders, formal or informal, who have access to knowledge creating groups at the local and system level. These leaders influenced knowledge mobilization at different levels of the district.

A research limitation of this study was present based on the sole use of high-performing districts and schools. Participation was determined via comparisons of provincial assessment results (Ontario, Canada) and socio-economic status (SES) factors. Although causal effects are cautioned, districts and schools from various SES communities (high, medium, low) were chosen to support broad generalizations and associations.

This study provided pragmatic considerations and recommendations for system and school leaders, those charged with increasing student achievement (e.g. use of knowledge influencers and an expanded array of data use while creating knowledge).

A knowledge creation model was developed by the author based on a synthesis of the findings. The model and study will be of interest to those wishing to further implement or study the creation and mobilization of knowledge within organizations.