Supporting knowledge transformation with Teams-mediated networked learning

Abstract

Transfer between school and education - and more generally between persons' life practices - is a recurring issue within educational research. On the one hand, very generally speaking, the possibility of transfer is a prime rationale of the educational system - students are supposed to learn within education "something" which they can then use later in other contexts. On the other hand, theoretical and empirical research combine to question transfer both as a concept and as an empirically occurring phenomenon. This short paper reports on an ongoing Design-Based Research project with educators at The Business School. The outset for the project is the combination of a practice problem, experienced at The Business School, and the present authors' research interest in developing theoretically sound, operationalizable design principles to support students in learning to perform transfer and knowledge transformation. The practice problem at The Business School concerned the limited degree to which students (in their educators' experience) make use of their learning at school in their internship practice. The Design-Based Research project concerns the development and evaluation of design principles focusing on networked learning in mediator activities to facilitate students in performing transfer between school and internship. Microsoft Teams has been chosen by The Business School as the ICT platform to support the networked learning activities. We are inspired by a moderate situated learning approach to transfer which emphasizes the role of framing, the sense-making of the individual, the significance of anchorage of activities in primary contexts and of developed patterns of participation, as well as the thesis that context-dependency is itself context-dependent. Informed by this approach in combination with insights from networked learning research, we have formulated three design principles together with the educators at The Business School. The design principles address the practice problem identified by The Business School educators and take into account the aims of the educators as well as results from a pilot study. Through the Design-Based Research study the following research question and sub-questions are investigated: How can Teams-mediated networked learning support students at The Business School in transfer and transforming knowledge between school and internship? What are design principles for Teams-mediated networked learning to support knowledge transformation? What knowledge transfers and how does it transform in Teams-mediated networked learning for The Business School students traversing between school and internship?