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Workshop Learning Networks for Lifelong Competence Development 2006 - Sofia, Bulgaria
II
International Workshop
Learning Networks for Lifelong Competence Development
PROCEEDINGS
Sofia, Bulgaria
30-31 March 2006
ISBN 954-90906-8-X
Designed and Printed by INCOMA Ltd.
Shoumen, BULGARIA
Workshop Learning Networks for Lifelong Competence Development 2006 - Sofia, Bulgaria
I
PROGRAMME COMMITTEE
Heidrun Allert, Austria, heidrun.allert@fh-hagenberg.at
Terry Anderson, Canada, terrya@athabascau.ca
Albert Angehrn, France, Albert.Angehrn@insead.edu
Miguel Arjona Villanueva, Spain, marjona@altransdb.com
Sue Bennett, Australia, sbennett@uow.edu.au
Fabrizio Cardinali, Italy, f.cardinali@giuntilabs.com
Juan Manuel Dodero, Spain, jmdodero@gmail.com
Peter Goodyear, Australia, P.Goodyear@edfac.usyd.edu.au
Dai Griffith, Spain, dai.griffiths@iua.upf.edu
Barry Harper, Australia, bharper@uow.edu.au
Roger Hartley, UK, J.R.Hartley@education.leeds.ac.uk
Kinshuk, New Zealand, kinshuk@ieee.org
Ralf Klamma, Germany, klamma@informatik.rwth-aachen.de
Ruud Lemmers, The Netherlands, ruud.lemmers@logicacmg.com
Oleg Liber, UK, o.liber@bolton.ac.uk
David Merrill, USA, mdavid.merrill@gmail.com
Patrick McAndrew, UK, p.mcandrew@open.ac.uk
Ambjörn Naeve, Sweden, amb@nada.kth.se
Wolfgang Nejdl, Germany, nejdl@l3s.de
Gilbert Pacquette, Canada, gpaquett@licef.teluq.uquebec.ca
Griff Richards, Canada, griff@sfu.ca
Demetrios Sampson, Greece, sampson@iti.gr
Judith Schoonenboom, The Netherlands, J.I.Schoonenboom@uva.nl
Bernard Scott, UK, b.c.e.scott@cranfield.ac.uk
Peter Scott, UK, peter.scott@open.ac.uk
Marcus Specht, The Netherlands, Marcus.Specht@ou.nl
Mike Spector, USA, mspector@lsi.fsu.edu
Colin Tattersall, The Netherlands, Colin.Tattersall@ou.nl
Luk Vervenne, Belgium, luk@synergetics.be
Martin Weller, UK, M.J.Weller@open.ac.uk
Martin Wolpers, DE, wolpers@l3s.de
David Wiley, USA, david.wiley@gmail.com
Workshop Learning Networks for Lifelong Competence Development 2006 - Sofia, Bulgaria
II
Workshop “Learning Networks for Lifelong Competence Development”
Introduction
The first open workshop of the TENCompetence project took place in Sofia, Bulgaria, from 30
th
to 31
st
March 2006. These proceedings contain the papers presented in this workshop and accepted for the
publication from the International Program Committee. In this introduction we initiate you to the
TENCompetence project, the objectives of the workshop, and the papers that are included in the
proceedings.
The TENCompetence project
The EU 6
th
Framework Integrated Project TENCompetence aims to develop an European, open-source
infrastructure that will support the lifelong development of competences. The infrastructure will enable
individuals, teams and organisations to:
1. Create formal and informal Learning Networks in different professions and domains of
knowledge.
2. Assess and manage the competences that are acquired at any stage in life by the participants of
the Learning Network, taking into account that people have learned from many different
formals and informal learning sources.
3. Stimulate the reflection on the current competences to support the formulation of new learning
goals.
4. Search for adequate formal and informal learning resources to build new competences or to
update existing competences in a profession or domain of knowledge.
5. Provide the actual learning environment that is needed to perform the learning activities.
6. Provide effective and efficient support to learners.
7. Support the sharing of learning resources.
To this end TENCompetence is conducting RTD activities to further develop and integrate models and
tools in four specific areas for the creation, storage and exchange of:
o knowledge resources,
o learning activities and units of learning,
o competence development programmes, and
o networks for lifelong competence development
The consortium, that consists of 13 partners from 9 countries, will conduct various large scale pilots; it
will disseminate its products widely and for free; it will develop new business models for companies
active in publishing, training provision, education, Human Resources Management (HRM) and
technology support; it will train associated partners, and especially SMEs, to deliver these services.
The TENCompetence infrastructure can provide a tremendous push towards further integration and
collaboration in support of the European knowledge society. It can be used at all levels of learning:
primary, secondary and tertiary education; continuing education, adult and company training and all
forms of informal learning.
The objective of the workshop
The objective of the workshop was to identify and analyse current research and technologies in the
Workshop Learning Networks for Lifelong Competence Development 2006 - Sofia, Bulgaria
III
fields that provide the building blocks for the development of an open source infrastructure that
contains all the services needed to support individuals, teams and organisations to (further) develop
their competences, using all the distributed knowledge resources, learning activities, units of learning
and learning routes/programmes that are available online. This includes open, usable and accessible
services for:
� The creation, sharing, discovery and use of knowledge resources, learning activities and
learning paths by any individual, team or organisation.
� The development, use, monitoring and maintenance of competence frameworks for the different
professions or domains of knowledge.
� The assessment of competences.
� The registration, use and sharing of personal data (profiles, portfolios, certificates).
� The discovery of suitable learning resources adapted to the users needs and profile.
� The support of users to navigate through all the possible learning resources to build specific
competences.
� The support for users to learn in new fields and the support for the people who provide the
support (e.g. by providing monitoring services, help by email handling).
The papers
The papers were all reviewed by three reviewers from the programme committee. The best papers were
also invited to deliver an elaborated version of the paper for a special issue of the journal Interactive
Learning Environments (planned for 2007) on this same topic.
When we organise the papers of these proceedings into the categories of research we are performing in
the TENCompetence project, we get the following organisation:
1. Knowledge resource sharing & management
-
A note on organizational learning and knowledge sharing in the context of communities of practice
- Knowledge Resources Management and Sharing in the TENCompetence Project
- Selection and use of domain ontologies in Learning Networks for Lifelong Competence Development
-
Learning Design Repositories – Structure Ontology and Processes
- PlanetDR, a scalable architecture for federated repositories supporting IMS Learning Design
- The OpenDock project: putting in place the infrastructure for sharing learning activities
2. Learning activities and units of learning
- Using IMS Learning Design to Model Curricula
- Integrating IMS Learning Design and IMS Question and Test Interoperability using CopperCore
Service Integration
- The 8 Learning Events Model: a Pedagogic Conceptual Tool Supporting Diversification of Learning
Methods
-
Representing adaptive eLearning strategies in IMS Learning Design
- Seamless production of interoperable e-Learning units: stakes and pitfalls
- From collaborative virtual research environment SOA to teaching and learning environment SOA
- Learning Design Tool Implementation in ATutor
3. Competence development programmes
- Positioning of Learners in Learning Networks with Content Analysis, Metadata and Ontologies
- Navigational support in lifelong learning: enhancing effectiveness through indirect social navigation
- European Lifelong Competence Development: Requirements and Technologies for its Realisation
Workshop Learning Networks for Lifelong Competence Development 2006 - Sofia, Bulgaria
IV
4. Networks for lifelong competence development
- Matchmaking in Learning Networks: A System to Support Knowledge Sharing
- Sharing personal knowlege over the Semantic Web
- Campus Canada Records of Learning: Secure validation of competence assertions
- Frameworks of competence: common or specific?
- Enhancing Social Navigation and Knowledge Exchange within Lifelong Competence Development
and Management Systems
: A Proposal of Methods and Tools
Although some sections have more papers than others, this will provide an adequate first input to all
categories of work.
In conclusion
We think that the papers in this proceedings provide a valuable input for the TENCompetence project:
they are a good representation of (parts of ) the state-of-the-art in the fields related to lifelong
competence development. We are just at the beginning of our challenging process and we see this as a
valuable result of our first open meeting.
As chairs of the programme committee and editors of these proceedings we want to thank everybody
involved in the process, especially the members of the local organisation committee from the Sofia
University "St. Kliment Ohridski", the authors and presenters and the members of the programme
committee.
The editors:
Rob Koper
Krassen Stefanov
PROGRAMME COMMITTEE
Heidrun Allert, Austria,
heidrun.allert@fh-hagenberg.at
Terry Anderson, Canada,
terrya@athabascau.ca
Albert Angehrn, France,
Albert.Angehrn@insead.edu
Miguel Arjona Villanueva, Spain,
marjona@altransdb.com
Sue Bennett, Australia,
sbennett@uow.edu.au
Fabrizio Cardinali, Italy,
f.cardinali@giuntilabs.com
Juan Manuel Dodero, Spain,
jmdodero@gmail.com
Peter Goodyear, Australia,
P.Goodyear@edfac.usyd.edu.au
Dai Griffith, Spain,
dai.griffiths@iua.upf.edu
Barry Harper, Australia,
bharper@uow.edu.au
Roger Hartley, UK,
J.R.Hartley@education.leeds.ac.uk
Kinshuk, New Zealand,
kinshuk@ieee.org
Ralf Klamma, Germany,
klamma@informatik.rwth-aachen.de
Ruud Lemmers, The Netherlands,
ruud.lemmers@logicacmg.com
Oleg Liber, UK,
o.liber@bolton.ac.uk
David Merrill, USA,
mdavid.merrill@gmail.com
Patrick McAndrew, UK,
p.mcandrew@open.ac.uk
Workshop Learning Networks for Lifelong Competence Development 2006 - Sofia, Bulgaria
V
Table of Contents
Knowledge resource sharing & management
A note on organizational learning and knowledge sharing in the context
of communities of practice
Antonova, Albena and Gourova Elissaveta, Ph.D. 1
Knowledge Resources Management and Sharing in the TENCompetence Project
G. Bo, M.A. Luccini and M. Dicerto 6
Selection and use of domain ontologies in Learning Networks
for Lifelong Competence Development
Cornelia Todorova and Krassen Stefanov 11
Learning Design Repositories – Structure Ontology and Processes
Gilbert Paquette, Olga Marino, Karin Lundgren-Cayrol, Michel Léonard
and Ileana de la Teja 18
PlanetDR, a scalable architecture for federated repositories supporting
IMS Learning Design
Josep Blat, David Griffiths, Toni Navarrete, José Luis Santos, Pedro García and Jordi Pujol 23
The OpenDock project: putting in place the infrastructure for sharing learning activities
Elferink Raymond, Griffiths, David and Veenendaa Edwin 31
Learning activities and units of learning
Using IMS Learning Design to Model Curricula
Colin Tattersall, José Janssen, Bert van den Berg and Rob Koper 37
Integrating IMS Learning Design and IMS Question and
Test Interoperability using CopperCore Service Integration
Hubert Vogten, Harrie Martens, Rob Nadolski, Colin Tattersall,
Peter van Rosmalen and Rob Koper 43
The 8 Learning Events Model: a Pedagogic Conceptual Tool Supporting
Diversification of Learning Methods
D. Verpoorten, M. Poumay and D. Leclercq 48
Representing adaptive eLearning strategies in IMS Learning Design
Daniel Burgos, Colin Tattersall and Rob Koper 54
Seamless production of interoperable e-Learning units: stakes and pitfalls
Nadia Spang Bovey and Nicolas Dunand 61
From collaborative virtual research environment SOA to teaching
and learning environment SOA
Lester Gilbert, Onjira Sitthisak, Yee Wai Sim, Chu Wang and Gary Wills 67
Workshop Learning Networks for Lifelong Competence Development 2006 - Sofia, Bulgaria
9
Learning Design Tool Implementation in ATutor
Elena Shoikova and Malinka Ivanova 72
Competence development programmes
Positioning of Learners in Learning Networks with Content Analysis,
Metadata and Ontologies
Marco Kalz, Jan van Bruggen, Ellen Rusmann, Bas Giesbers, Rob Koper 77
Navigational support in lifelong learning: enhancing effectiveness through
indirect social navigation
José Janssen, Colin Tattersall, Bert van den Berg and Rob Koper 82
European Lifelong Competence Development:
Requirements and Technologies for Its Realisation
Eelco Herder, Arne Koesling, Daniel Olmedilla, Hans Hummel, Judith Schoonenboom,
Ayman Moghnieh and Luk Vervenne 88
Networks for lifelong competence development
Matchmaking in Learning Networks: A System to Support Knowledge Sharing
Liesbeth Kester, Peter van Rosmalen, Peter Sloep, Francis Brouns,
Maurice Brouwers and Rob Koper 93
Sharing personal knowlege over the Semantic Web
Zlatko Kostadinov 101
Campus Canada Records of Learning: Secure validation of competence assertions
Griff Richards, Marek Hatala and Peter Donkers 106
Frameworks of competence: common or specific?
Simon Grant 111
Enhancing the Social Network Dimension of Lifelong Competence Development
and Management Systems: A Proposal of Methods and Tools
Alicia M. Cheak, Albert A. Angehrn and Peter Sloep 117
Workshop Learning Networks for Lifelong Competence Development 2006 - Sofia, Bulgaria
1
A note on organizational learning and knowledge
sharing in the context of communities of practice*
Antonova, Albena; Gourova, Elissaveta
CIST, Sofia University, 125,Tzarigradsko Shausse Blvd. bl.2, Sofia 1113, Bulgaria
a_antonova@fmi.uni-sofia.bg; elis@fmi.uni-sofia.bg
Abstract: The knowledge management (KM) literature emphasizes the impact of human factors for
successful implementation of KM within the organization. Isolated initiatives for promoting learning
organization and team collaboration, without taking consideration of the knowledge sharing limitations
and constraints can defeat further development of KM culture. As an effective instrument for knowledge
sharing, communities of practice (CoP) are appearing to overcome these constraints and to foster human
collaboration.
Keywords: knowledge sharing, learning organization, communities of practice, knowledge management
1. Introduction
During the emergence of the Knowledge
management (KM) theory, the initial focus was
mainly on technologies, information tools, KM
methodologies and roadmaps. The main emphasis
has now shifted to human factors, or human-
centered KM, as it was realized that human
beings are the primary source of tacit knowledge
in organizations. Presently, the third generation of
KM is in place according to the classification
cited in [5], and the focus is put on people as
unique holders of knowledge, and the exchanges
between people. The knowledge networks and
working groups are considered as support for
collaboration, and ideas, people and projects are
primary generators of new knowledge and
innovations.
The main goal of this article is to summarize
some of the recent views about knowledge
management as an enabler of learning
organization, prioritizing the human aspects, and
putting the focus on knowledge sharing and
knowledge dissemination practices. In order to
provide a deep understanding of the emergent
practices, the characteristics of communities of
practice (CoP) will be discussed in more details.
2. Organizational learning and
knowledge sharing
The growing intensity and dynamism of
competition has forced firms to focus their long-
term strategies on resources and capabilities.
Intellectual capital has emerged as one of the firm
critical resources, and the ability to build and
exploit intellectual capital has become their most
strategically significant capability. Many theorists
consider it as a combination of customer capital,
organizational capital and human capital. Here,
human capital serves as a collective term for an
organization’s core competences, the skills and
knowledge that the enterprise draws on to create
and innovate in order to remain competitive.
Therefore, any attempt to exploit intellectual
capital for competitive advantage must be based
Workshop Learning Networks for Lifelong Competence Development 2006 - Sofia, Bulgaria
2
on a sound understanding of an organization's
current approach to acquiring, sharing and
utilizing knowledge. As suggested in [11],
knowledge management should begin with a
focus on organizational learning, and by building
and facilitating communities of practice.
2.1 Organizational learning
Organizational learning is a key dimension to
KM, which involves a continuous assessment of
organizational experience, including that of CoP,
and converting that experience into knowledge
and making it accessible to the organization as a
whole.
Two different kinds of organizational
learning processes are identified: learning how
(organizational members engaging in processes to
transfer and improve existing skills or routines
and learning) and learning why (organizational
members diagnosing causality).
Organizational learning requires
organizations to have “a shared memory” where
individual employees’ discoveries, inventions,
and evaluations are embedded. Subsequently,
under organizational or collective knowledge is
understood knowledge in rules, procedures,
strategies, activities, technologies, conditions,
paradigms, or frames of references around which
organizations are constructed and through which
they operate [1].
Collective (team and organizational) learning
requires skills for sharing information and
knowledge, particularly implicit knowledge,
assumptions and beliefs that are traditionally
"beneath the surface". The main skills are:
communication (especially across organizational
boundaries), listening and observing
, mentoring
and supporting colleagues, holistic perspective
(seeing the organization as a whole), coping with
challenge and uncertainty [3]. Learning provides
the opportunity to create and recreate, change
one's external perception of the world and
relationship with it, and extends individual ability
to be creative. Further, there are two aspects to
this: "adaptive learning," which is about survival;
and "generative learning," which enhances one's
ability to create [8].
Organizations, by their very nature as social
systems, are the environments in which learning
takes place. As such, the organization design
plays a critical role in creating an environment
that fosters knowledge creation and the
development of human capital.
2.2 Knowledge Sharing
Knowledge management is not about
managing technology alone, but is about
managing how human beings can share their
knowledge effectively [6]. The ‘real’ information
system is built upon organizational culture and
interpersonal communication and contains rich
and dynamic tacit knowledge, which, if it is
harnessed and managed effectively, can give
organizations competitive advantage. Sharing
expertise requires building a culture of trust, and
any organizational practice or action that destroys
trust adversely affects the motivation to share
information with others [1].
At the heart of knowledge sharing lie two
types of individuals: knowledge seekers—those
who are looking for knowledge, and knowledge
sources—those who either have the knowledge
the seeker needs or who can point the seeker to
another knowledge source. Effective knowledge
sharing occurs when appropriate connections are
built between these parties. However, there are
four important barriers to knowledge sharing that
CoP help to overcome [4]:
� Awareness: Making seekers and sources
aware of their respective knowledge
� Access: Providing the time and space for
seekers and sources to connect with one another
� Application: Ensuring that the knowledge
seeker and source have a common content and
understanding necessary to share their insights
� Perception: Creating an atmosphere
where knowledge sharing behaviors between
seekers and sources are respected and valued
Expertise sharing focuses on the human
components – cognitive, social, cultural, and
organizational aspects of knowledge work – in
addition to information storage and retrieval.
Compared to traditional approaches, which
emphasize the role of management in organizing
knowledge exchange, this perspective focuses on
self-organized activities of the organizations’
members. In enabling sharing, organizations try
to connect people to one another so as to bolster
communication, learning, and organizational
Workshop Learning Networks for Lifelong Competence Development 2006 - Sofia, Bulgaria
3
knowledge. Expertise management includes
communities of practice and knowledge
communities, which attempt to increase
communities’, professions’, and groups’ overall
expertise.
In [1] are considered the following three types
of knowledge sharing within organizations:
� Knowledge retrieval: Knowledge sharing
from the organization to the individual has the
purpose of retrieving existing organizational
knowledge.
� Knowledge exchange: Knowledge
sharing from an individual to other individuals
has the purpose of exchanging existing individual
knowledge.
� Knowledge creation: Knowledge sharing
among individuals has the purpose of generating
new knowledge, resulting from new combinations
of existing individual, shared, or organizational
knowledge.
2.3 Barriers and limitations of knowledge
sharing
Cultural factors are considered in [11] to
essentially inhibit knowledge transfers. They
include lack of trust, different cultures and
vocabularies, lack of time and meeting places,
lack of absorptive capacities in recipients, belief
that knowledge is prerogative of particular
groups, etc.
In [1] are considered deep-rooted cognitive
and motivational limitations that interfere with
people’s ability to share and transfer their
expertise:
� Cognitive limitations are related to the
way experts store and process information,
impeding them to share that expertise with others
regardless of whether or not they are motivated to
do so. The cognitive limitations faced by experts
come partly from the way that they mentally
represent the task, as expertise increases, mental
representations become more abstract and
simplified.
� Motivational limitations are related to the
appraisal and reward systems of most companies,
as well the internal competition between
individuals, teams and units. Knowledge transfer
requires resources of time and energy and the lack
of company understanding and policy disturb the
process as personnel need to be compensated for
the invested time in knowledge sharing and
conversations.
Motivational barriers to sharing expertise are
more easily addressed through changes in
organizational practices. The motivational issues
can be addressed by reducing competition
between groups, allowing communities of
practice to evolve, deemphasizing status
hierarchies, and increasing incentives to share
expertise with others.
3. Communities of Practice
As successful example of sharing and
transferring knowledge practice will be presented
the Communities of Practice. The definition of a
community of practice is "a group of people who
share a concern, a set of problems, or a passion
about a topic, and who deepen their knowledge
and expertise in an area by interacting on an
ongoing basis" [10]. These groups tend to interact
regularly by meeting face-to-face or relying on
technology to facilitate discussion and due to
theirs members’ desire to exchange knowledge.
3.1. The CoP concept and attributes
Although the term "Community of Practice"
is new, the CoPs are not. The concept of a
community of practice is an extension or a
variation of the concept of special interest groups,
clubs, medieval guilds, and even regions for
certain industries [3]. In [11], for example, is
considered a ‘community of knowers’ brought
together by a common interests, including people
who exchange knowledge and expertise by face-
to-face communications, on the telephone, via e-
mail or groupware, in ‘talk rooms’, etc.
CoPs are described as differing from
traditional team-working approaches in that they
are most likely to be cross-functional and multi-
skilled, where functional position is irrelevant and
the topic knowledge or interest is all that is
necessary to join a CoP [7]. The diversity of a
CoP's population may encourage creativity and