Abstract
Background: Knowledge-creation is a field of study that has gained popularity in recent times.Knowledge-creation is the creation of new ideas or new innovations. In computing, software development is regarded as knowledge-creation. This is because software-development involves the creation of a new innovation (software). Knowledge-creation studies in this field tend to focus mainly on knowledge-creation activities in business organisations. They use experienced, professional software-development teams as subjects, largely ignoring novice student development teams. This has denied the field of computing valuable knowledge about how novice teams create knowledge.Objectives: The study addressed this gap in the literature by investigating knowledge-creation in student software teams.Method: An ethnographic study was conducted on six student teams developing software in a management-information systems (MIS) course. They were conducting a systems development project at a university during a term of study. Data were collected over a period of four months through participant observation and interviews.Results: The results reveal knowledge-creation activities such as problem definition,brainstorming, programming and system documentation. Students use the Internet, books,class notes, class presentations, senior students and professional software developers as sources of information. Mobile phones and BlackBerry devices facilitate knowledge-creation.Challenges to knowledge-creation are the lack of material and financial resources,a lack of technical skills, a lack of time, students staying off-campus and ambivalent team members.Conclusion: The conclusion drawn from this study is that student teams are capable of creating knowledge (a working system) just like professional teams, but the knowledge-creation process is slightly different.
Highlights
Knowledge-creation is a field of study that has gained popularity in recent times (Mitchell & Boyle 2010)
This section answers the following question: What knowledgecreation activities do student teams undertake? The results reveal a number of activities which are undertaken at individual and team level
The results indicate that individual team members performed a number of activities during the knowledgecreation process
Summary
Knowledge-creation is a field of study that has gained popularity in recent times (Mitchell & Boyle 2010). Software-development is regarded as knowledge-creation (Bailin 1997). Bailin further states that knowledge is generated by building, operating and maintaining the system during the softwaredevelopment process. Software-development is regarded as knowledge-creation because it is an innovative process which leads to the generation of new ideas and the creation of new software products. This is because software-development involves the creation of a new innovation (software). Knowledge-creation studies in this field tend to focus mainly on knowledge-creation activities in business organisations They use experienced, professional software-development teams as subjects, largely ignoring novice student development teams. This has denied the field of computing valuable knowledge about how novice teams create knowledge
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