forschungsberichte

Video-conferencing is expected to become increasingly important for tele-learning environments. In contrast to asynchronous, text-based computer-mediated communication, video-conferencing facilitates cooperation tasks that require highly frequent and continuous coordination. Typical kinds of such cooperation tasks are found in peer teaching settings. Despite the growing application of video-conferencing, only little is known about possibilities of enhancing collaboration in video-conferencing settings. This study investigates the effects of different types of support for cooperation on the learning outcomes of peer dyads in a video-conferencing scenario. The main research question is how cooperation scripts and content schemes enhance the students' cognitive activities and foster the outcomes of cooperative learning. Two factors were varied experimentally: The content scheme (with/without) and the cooperation script (with/without). 86 university students of educational psychology participated in the study. Each student of a dyad received a text dealing with a psychological theory in the field of the nature-nurture-debate. The students' tasks were (1) to teach their partners the relevant contents of their text and (2) to reflect ideas that went beyond the scope of the text. Results indicate that in particular the cooperation script en-hances learning outcomes of collaborative knowledge construction

Starting from problems of knowledge acquisition and transfer in the domain of empirical research methods, an example-based instructional approach to foster domain-specific action competence was developed. The heart of the approach are two worked-out examples which include most contents of a two-semester-lecture on empirical research methods. The examples were presented in an incomplete form and had to be completed by the students. The instructional approach was implemented in the context of a virtual tutorial which accompanied the regular lectures. It was evaluated in the context of a field study in which the feedback-condition was varied experimentally. 25 students were given special questions to guide feedback-processing (experimental group 1), 25 students were given no guidance (experimental group 2). 30 students who attended the lectures but did not participate in the virtual tutorial were used as control group. The feedback-condition did not influence the acquisition of action competence. Even though the learners did not use the examples in an optimal manner, the experimental group was more successful than the control group both in an exercise test and in the regular written exam. In order to further increase the effectiveness of the instructional approach, the students´ competence of self-regulated learning should be fostered.

Starting from problems of knowledge acquisition and transfer in subdomains of economics various experimental studies were carried out in which the effectiveness of an example-based instructional approach was investigated. On the basis of these studies, instructional consequences were drawn. In the context of a field study in which example-based learning and teaching was implemented at vocational schools, these consequences were applied and evaluated. Compared to a control group which was taught in a traditional way, the experimental group with example-based instruction acquired more applicable knowledge. The differences between the two groups were statistically significant and of practical relevance. With respect to motivation, the experimental group also showed positive results. Further consequences for the implementation of example-based learning and teaching in practice are drawn.

Up to this point, university education has largely remained unaffected by the developments of novel approaches to web-based learning. The paper presents a principled approach to the design of problem-oriented, web-based learning at the university level. The principles include providing authentic contexts with multimedia, supporting collaborative knowledge construction, making thinking visible with dynamic visualisation, quick access to content resources via Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), and flexible support by tele-tutoring. These principles are used in the Munich Net-based Learning In Computer Science (MUNICS) learning environment, which is designed to support students of computer science to apply their factual knowledge from the lectures to complex real-world problems. For example, students can model the knowledge management in an educational organisation with a graphical simulation tool. Some more general findings from a formative evaluation study with the MUNICS prototype are reported and discussed. E.g., the students' ignorance of the additional content resources is discussed in the light of the well-known finding of insufficient use of help systems in software applications

Life-long learning is an important topic not only in current political debates but also in educational-psychological theory building. Theoretical assumptions regarding life-long learning are based on research on life-span-development and research on skill acquisition. Descriptions of the concept associate life-long learning with forms of self-directed and cooperative learning. Consequently, motivational, cognitive, and social-communicative competencies of the learner play a major role. Regarding their importance for life-long learning, it is a major educational goal to foster these competencies. Here, problem-based learning environments are an important measure to foster self-directed and cooperative learning strategies

If new theoretical approaches emerge from criticism of established theories, they have to prove reasonable in the framework of empirical research projects. This is also true for approaches of situated learning. In this contribution, characteristic features of situated learning approaches will be described. In addition, the most important research surveys and their designs will be discussed. Following the first predominantly ethno-methodological phase, current research focuses on the investigation of the collaborative culture of learning, analysing both the shared and the individual knowledge. At this stage, research is mainly based on the principle of ecological validity, implemented by means of complex designs and field experiments. The presented surveys of five research groups show a change in methodology that is called interactive or integrative methodology. Finally, this contribution refers to possible consequences for educational philosophy and technology

This study investigated how two types of graphical representation tools influence the way in which learners use shared and unshared knowledge resources in two different collaboration scenarios, and how learners represent and transfer shared knowledge under these different conditions. Moreover, the relation between the use of knowledge resources, representation, and the transfer of shared knowledge was analyzed. The type of graphical representation (content-specific vs. content-unspecific) and the collaboration scenario (video conferencing vs. face-to-face) were varied. 64 university students participated. Results show that the learning partners converged in their profiles of resource use. With the content-specific graphical representation, learners used more appropriate knowledge resources. Learners in the computer-mediated scenarios showed a greater bandwidth in their profiles of resource use. A relation between discourse and outcomes could be shown for the transfer but not for the knowledge representation aspect

The Munich Knowledge Management Model is based on learning goals as well as a conception of knowledge as a variable state between information and acting. Know-ledge management in the Munich model paraphrases the attempt to organize movements of knowledge between information and acting, so that specific problems and situations can be solved purposefully. It embodies a new position towards know-ledge and its carriers as well as a new culture of how to deal with knowledge. It offers the possibility to integrate technical oriented infor-mation management and human resource orientated competence manage-ment. Based on results of meta-cognitive research the Munich Management Model wants to combine theoretically psycholo-gical, organisational and technical tasks of knowledge management. Communities are the germ-cells of knowledge ma-nagement and enforce the inclusive function of the model.

In an experimental study in the domain of bookkeeping it was investigated to what extent the problem of knowledge acquisition can be overcome by variations of an example-based instructional approach which differed with respect to some instruc-tional means. In order to investigate the influence these means have on learning outcomes and learning behaviour, the factors "provision of instructional explana-tions" (with vs. without explanations) and "variability of perspectives during lear-ning" (uniform vs. multiple perspectives) were varied experimentally in a 2?2-factorial design. Sixty students of a vocational school were randomly assigned to the resulting four learning conditions. By inducing multiple perspectives, acqui-sition of applicable knowledge could be fostered; against our expectations, instruc-tional explanations had no effect on the learning outcomes. Neither instructional expla-nations nor multiple perspectives had a measurable influence on the lear-ning behaviour. Further evidence concerning the mechanisms underlying the in-struc-tional means implemented in this study could be provided by an analysis of various qualitative data.

This research report is concerned with integrative evaluation as a means to enhance the accep-tance of evaluations at universities. If evaluations are initiated from outside, e.g. from administrative institutions, the problem of reduced acceptance frequently arises. This means that teachers and students tend to dislike the evaluation, because the possibilities for those directly affected persons to actively influence the evaluation are rather low. With respect to this problem, it is shown how teachers, students and administration can be integrated in the evaluation process by providing possibilities for active participation. The three groups are integrated in the clarification of the evaluation goals and the evaluation design. This process is supported by using the evaluation cube. When the questionnaires are developed, these groups participate by generating the evaluation criteria. Based on these criteria, the expectancies of students regarding course quality, the expectancy confirmation and the satisfaction with the course are assessed. The feedback of the evaluation results aims at motivating teachers to enhance the quality of the course. Finally, intervention steps are elaborated by cooperation of the three groups. At the end of the report, research questions are outlined which are considered to be important with regard to integrative evaluation.

This article on the one hand wants to survey action research in the area of management in these aspects that are relevant to knowledge management research. It also gives an overview of qualitative evaluation research in the area of education. On the other hand the article tries to point out how these two research trends relate to the model of qualitative social research. In addition to that the article introduces the relatively unknown mode 2 research; its basic idea of integrating different understandings of research can sometimes be already found in educational psychology. By this way the article highlights possibilities of an integrated understanding of research in scientific knowledge management projects and encourages to discuss a scenario for knowledge management driven by Mode 2 research.

Most trainings of communicative behavior focus on fostering the observable speech productive behavior (i.e. speaking). The individual cognitive processes underlying speech receptive behavior (hearing and understanding utterances) thus are often neglected. This is due to the fact that speech receptive behavior cannot be accessed in the midst of a conversation and that its training is very time-consuming. Computer-supported learning environments employed as cognitive tools can help to foster speech receptive behavior. This article discusses the fostering of speech receptive behavior and the possibilities of using software for this purpose. The computer-supported learning environment CaiMan© which is based on these ideas is presented. Finally, seven factors of success for the integration of software into the training of soft skills are derived from empirical research.

Rapid communication and marked-oriented inventions belong to New Economy as do the "jockey to the horse". Nevertheless, such key notions only get meaningful by finding common structure between well-known and unknown entities, between old and new. Analogies represent exactly these common structure in a narrative, descriptive and plausible way. Keeping this in mind, it can be expected that the explicit encouragement of analogous thinking and speaking will have lasting effects on knowledge-intensive processes in companies, especially concerning heterogeneous teams. This report present an modular analogy-training which is based on an integrated teaching-learning approach including the Munich knowledge-management model. Additionally, the scientific concept of the training is presented which will be implemented and evaluated in a company environment. A sketch of the planned project phases gives an idea of the concrete implementation of the analogy project.

The idea of communities is very popular in the current discussion on knowledge management in practice: Positive and emotional associations as well as high expectations, especially regarding communication and innovation, have resulted in the foundation of communities as informal groups of shared interests in many organizations. Compared to the community-euphoria, the empirical foundation of the concept can be characterized as unsatisfactory. It is not yet clear if communities content the proposed potential of creativity and innovation. It is also an open question to what extent such communities can develop and exist on the basis of self-organization claimed by the theoretical community-concept. This article tries to analyze the attractive power and chances of communities in detail and points to the critical aspects which can be understood as scientific tasks.

The article introduces into the method of "Story Telling" that will be embedded in a holistic knowledge management model. A project of the authors, where Story Telling is applied will be described. Story Telling is a method for the construction of stories about one's experiences within an organizational setting. It is applied for filtering out and documenting the background of significant events and the implicit knowledge of the participants. Story Telling is considered as sustainable and effective when being used for starting organizational changes within knowledge management and for fostering the development towards learning organizations. Besides a detailed description of the method and its connections to the Munich Knowledge Management model the article describes the planned application of Story Telling within a cooperation between three institutes of the LMU Munich and industry about knowledge management in further education.