Assessing the learning of knowledge work competence in higher education – cross-cultural translation and adaptation of the Collaborative Knowledge Practices Questionnaire

Klas Karlgren,Minna Lakkala,Auli Toom,Liisa Ilomäki,Pekka Lahti-Nuuttila,Hanni Muukkonen

doi:10.1080/02671522.2019.1677752

Klas Karlgren, Minna Lakkala + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1080/02671522.2019.1677752

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Abstract

ABSTRACTThe Collaborative Knowledge Practices Questionnaire (CKP) is an instrument designed to measure the learning of knowledge-work competence in education. The focus is on qualities of knowledge work which can be learned and taught in multiple educational settings and which may be especially important for courses with collaborative assignments. The original instrument was theoretically based on the knowledge-creation metaphor of learning. The instrument has been validated in Finnish based on student responses from a large number of higher education courses. The validation of the instrument resulted in seven scales relating to different aspects of interdisciplinary, collaborative development of knowledge-objects using digital technology. This study aimed to cross-culturally translate and adapt the original instrument into English and perform an exploratory structural equation modelling (ESEM) analysis in order to investigate whether the same factorial solution of the instrument also works in English in higher education courses in international settings. The original instrument was translated according to established guidelines for cross-cultural adaptation of self-report measures. The translated version has been tested in courses in medical education, online teaching and problem solving. The results provided evidence that the latent factor model found in the original instrument provided a good fit also for the adapted questionnaire.

Highlights

There is an increased interest in generic, subject-independent skills in higher education and especially such skills that are important during work life and which could be better addressed already during education (Hyytinen, Toom, and Postareff 2018)
Students will have to tackle jobs that are profoundly different from existing ones involving requirements on developing competence in various practices which are typically not taught in higher education (European Union 2010)
The original instrument was translated into English in line with the guidelines proposed for cross-cultural adaptation of self-report measures (Beaton et al 2000; Borsa, Damásio, and Bandeira 2012)

Summary

Introduction

There is an increased interest in generic, subject-independent skills in higher education and especially such skills that are important during work life and which could be better addressed already during education (Hyytinen, Toom, and Postareff 2018). Outsourcing and entrepreneurship require competencies, which typically are not taught in higher education (European Union 2010) Most such skills – often referred to as ‘21st century skills and competencies’ (Voogt and Roblin 2012) to indicate that they are related to emerging models of economic and social development – can either be supported or enhanced by information technology (Ananiadou and Claro 2009). Formal education is expected to support students in acquiring abilities to use technologies for collaboration and innovation, but research indicates that pedagogical changes have not actualised as expected, and this is a concern for both higher education and upper secondary schools (Clarke and Clarke 2009; Klusek and Bernstein 2006; Tynjälä 2008). Students are reported to leave higher education with underdeveloped abilities to collaborate, manage their work processes, use computers, or solve open-ended problems (Arum and Roksa 2011; The National Commission on Accountability in Higher Education 2005; Tynjälä 2008)

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