Participatory Design Methods for Learning and Knowledge Sharing Activities in Networked Organizations

Abstract —Engagement in collaborative knowledge sharing and knowledge building activities is still a big challenge for many workplace learning designers and researchers. Especially in highly competitive environments people might be reluctant to give away too much of their tacit knowledge. Ownership and involvement of the individual in the planning of the learning activities are important motivational factors. In an international research project called Intelleo – Intelligent Learning Extended Organization we intend to follow a participatory design approach involving individual workers from the very beginning of the development process, from the first conceptual design through the different development stages until the final validation of the system in order to increase their motivation for collaborative learning and knowledge building activities. Index Terms —participatory design, collaborative learning, extended organization, self-direction.