Designing instruction for Knowledge Management Processes using a wiki. The Annual International Conference on Management and Technology in Knowledge, Service, Tourism & Hospitality 2013 (SERVE 2013)

1. D. DeWitt, Norlidah Alias, Saedah Siraj,
& Fonny Dameaty Hutagalung
University Malaya
Kuala Lumpur
Paper presented at:
The Annual International Conference on Management and Technology in
Knowledge, Service, Tourism & Hospitality 2013 (SERVE 2013)
Gran Mahakam Hotel Jakarta, Indonesia
14 - 15 December 2013.
Published as Chapter in Book by:
CRC/Balkema Taylor & Francis Group Netherland
http://www.balkema.nl/

2. 1. Introduction
2. Problem Statement
3. Purpose of the Study
4. Method
5. Results and Discussion
6. Conclusions and Implications

3.  In the digital age, the internet for communication
and information (Martin & Madigan, 2006).
 Unlimited information is available, so new skills
are required for k-workers of the 21st century to
manage the knowledge, solve problems, and add
value to information (Martin, 2006; Ronen & Pasher,
2011).
 Knowledge management (KM) is to realise value
of knowledge and to create new knowledge (Chen
& Xu, 2010).
 However, KM is not taught formally in schools
and universities (Cranfield & Taylor, 2008; Biasutti
& El-Deghaidy 2012).
 In addition, there is lack of emphasis on creation
of new knowledge.

4.  ICT tools can enable KM processes.
 Wiki have been used for collaboration in
problem-solving and can enable generation
of new knowledge (Montero-Fleta & Pérez-Sabater,
2011; Zhang, Scardamalia, Lamon, Messina & Reeve,
2007; Zydney, deNoyelles, & Seo, 2012).
 Collaborative writing tasks on wikis can make
use of the knowledge management (KM)
processes to create new knowledge and
develop higher level cognitive skills (Biasutti &
El-Deghaidy 2012).

5.  Era of
communication and
constant change.
 Vast amount of
information on the
internet.
 Lack of emphasis in schools
and universities on
knowledge creation
 Lack of use of ICT tools for
knowledge creation
 Need to design instruction
using KM processes for k-
workers
Knowledge Management
Wikis can be used for
collaboration and
generation of knowledge

6. Research Objectives
In this case study, the knowledge management
processes of undergraduates undertaking a problem
task is investigated in order to answer the following
research questions:
 What knowledge management processes occurred
during the solution of the task?
 What are the participants’ perceptions of the
problem-solving task using a wiki?

7.  Design of the Study
Introduction to
Wiki
Selection of
technology tools
to use to create
new applications
for use in
counseling
Implementation:
Individual Tasks
on wiki which
can be viewed by
members of the
class community
(Wikispaces)
3 weeks
Questionnaire
(KMQ and SSQ),
Interviews
Content Analysis
of written
Communications
According to
Kappes &
Thomas (1993)

8. KM Process Description
Knowledge Acquisition
Selection of accurate and suitable
information, from internet search or
otherwise, to be included in the
documentation
Knowledge Internalization
Reference to prior knowledge made;
organizing and reorganizing the
information
Knowledge Creation
Ideas and ways of using the technology
for counseling that is not copied from
other sources, but may be innovated from
others
Knowledge Sharing
The information is not hidden but shared
with others freely
Knowledge Application
Knowledge of the use of the tool is
applied specifically to the counseling
consultation and work environment

9. Context: First-year undergraduates enrolled in a counseling course,
Computer Skills for Counselors, in a public university participated in the
study.
Sample
 36 undergraduates
The task:
 To investigate the use of a new technology application for counseling
from a list of technology applications.
 Requirement: to describe the technology application, its original
purpose, the history of the development of the application and create
new information on how the application could be used for counseling-
related activities. Suggest a detailed plan for the use of the application in
the field of counseling.
 Answer the task individually and post on a group wiki
 Tasks were done online in the computer laboratory during the class
hours, as well as out of class.
Data collection
 Data collected on completion of the tasks through surveys using
questionnaires:
 Triangulation of data from the interviews and the content analysis of the
written documentation of the tasks

10. Instrument
 The Knowledge Management Questionnaire (KMQ)
◦ Application of KM processes in online wiki collaborative
activities (Biasutti & El-Deghaidy, 2012).
◦ 5-point Likert
◦ Scale KMQ was reliable above the 0.70 standard of reliability,
with a total Cronbach alpha of 0.86.
 Student Satisfaction Questionnaire (SSQ).
◦ Assessed the students’ opinions on the use of wikis for
collaborative tasks on use of wiki, didactic material and the
instructor (Biasutti & El-Deghaidy, 2012).
◦ 5-point Likert scale
◦ Cronbach’s alpha coefficients above the 0.70 standard of
reliability as follows: Wiki tool alpha: 0.73; Didactic materials:
0.71; and Instructor: 0.85.

11. Many of the students (digital natives) have never used
wikis (77.1%).
All had succeeded in using the wiki
for their assignment
Background information on participants’ experience with wiki
Use of wiki Percent
Never used before 77.1
Yes, but very rarely, only once
or twice before
11.4
Yes sometimes 10.8
Yes, regularly 2.7
100.00
Table 1: Frequency of use of wikis All participants were ‘digital natives’
who use social media tools (all of them
use the microblog, Facebook).

12. Domain Mean Std. Deviation
Knowledge Acquisition 4.2000 -.49309
Knowledge Internalization 4.1238 .58904
Knowledge Creation 4.0000 .74973
Knowledge Sharing 4.5333 .44428
Knowledge Application 4.4286 .57492
Table 2: Min and standard deviation on KM domains
RQ 1: What knowledge management processes occurred during
the solution of the task?

13. RQ 1: What knowledge management processes occurred during
the solution of the task?
Domain Evidence
Knowledge
Acquisition
“I learnt new things that I had never thought
of before.”
Observation showed that the students were
actively searching for knowledge using search
engines such as Google.
There was not much related to the technology
tools in books and academic journals, hence
the internet was referred to for shared
knowledge.
As the students searched for information,
they had to evaluate it. They identified the
uses of the technology tool as well as
advantages and disadvantages.

14. RQ 1: What knowledge management processes occurred during
the solution of the task?
Domain Evidence
Knowledge
Internalization
This knowledge of new technology tools
and its application, had to be internalized
so that new knowledge could be created
in the students field of study, counseling.
There does not be to be many applications
of technology tools for the use of client-
counselor interaction sessions, or even for
therapy at present.
Students had to use their internalized
knowledge to create new uses for the tool
for client-counselor interaction, and to
use for therapy sessions.

15. RQ 1: What knowledge management processes occurred during
the solution of the task?
Domain Evidence
Knowledg
e Creation
“I got to develop new ideas.”
One new idea suggested was on using an application for
interactive storytelling using graphics to make a storybook,
Storybird. The counselor can use the storyline and graphics
to identify problems, phobias and other obsessions the
youth may have.
However, most of the new knowledge created was related to
the use of new technology tools for communication and
collaboration. The community of learners, the first-year
counseling students, were also learning new tools and
observing how it was applied into their field for interaction
and therapy. As one student shared: “I learnt to collaborate
and I discovered a lot of new things. I have a deeper
knowledge about YouTube, and I can relate on how to apply
it in the counseling field. I learnt how to design the wiki
page, and how to organise information systematically so
that people can read it comfortably.”

16. RQ 1: What knowledge management processes occurred during
the solution of the task?
Domain Evidence
Knowled
ge
Creation
The students had to present their task on the new
technology tools on a wiki. This wiki enabled the
students to read their friends task and learn new
applications of technology. There were collaborative
writing platforms such as wiki and GoggleDocs, and
social and interactive platforms in video repositories,
such as Youtube and Vimeo, being presented. Hence,
the wiki enabled the community of student-
counselors to acquire new knowledge which can be
applied in their field of study.

17. RQ 1: What knowledge management processes occurred during
the solution of the task?
Domain Evidence
Knowledge
Sharing
“New ideas were developed when my peers contributed
their opinions”.
The sharing gave the learner a responsibility to ensure
information posted was accurate and well-organized. “The
answers and comments from my peers made me feel
responsible in ensuring information was clear and
interesting.”
Knowledge
Application
The processes led to the internalization and application of
knowledge: “I've learnt how to design my own page, to make
it more interesting. I learnt how to arrange my points in
order when writing. In addition, I gained knowledge on the
topics chosen.”

18. New ICT tool
Knowledge sharing for
community on wiki
Interaction and Collaboration on wiki
platform
New Knowledge created
New
application in
practice

20. RQ 2: What are the participants’ perceptions of the problem-solving task
using a wiki?
Mean Std. Deviation
Wiki tool 4.3667 .40584
Didactic materials 4.0971 .34427
Instructor 4.5746 .34427
Personal wiki
(%)
Group wiki
(%)
More than 13 times 28.6 5.7
7-12 times 31.4 37.1
3-6 times 31.4 25.7
1-2 times 8.57 28.6
Never 0.0 2.9
Table 4: Frequency of access to the wiki during the study.
Table 3: Min and standard deviation on Student Satisfaction

21. RQ 2: What are the participants’ perceptions of the problem-solving task
using a wiki?
“Learners get to be more open-
minded, creative and critical. Learning
gets to be more interesting.”
“Wikispaces is a good platform for
groups of people to interact and have
the opportunity to explore and share
information with everyone.”
“The wiki encourages interaction and
the members are closer”
“This is applicable and suitable to most of the
courses, especially for learning,” and “wikis can be
easily accessed by everyone in learning, and doesn’t
cost a thing. It is important that other people are
introduced to wikis as well.”

22.  KM skills can be developed in a course
 Problem solving approach for development of KM processes to
generate new knowledge, search, evaluate and share
information.
 Publishing on the wiki encouraged accuracy and validity of
information and creation of new knowledge.
Design of instruction using Wiki is effective for sharing and
creating knowledge
Social interactions for generation of knowledge.
Modeling to improve own work
Encourages creativity and innovation
Combination with other tools and new instructional
strategies needs to be investigated

23. The end