Community of practice: converting IT graduate students into specialists via professional knowledge sharing

Abstract

Purpose The paper aims to highlight how an applied learning framework or “community of practice” (CoP) combined with a traditional theoretical course of study enables the identification of teaching-learning processes which facilitate knowledge transfer from practitioners to graduate information technology (IT) students for quicker integration in the labour market. Design/methodology/approach CoPs are identified based on cluster analysis according to Kolb’s Learning Style Inventory (1984), with data obtained through a survey. Empirical research is applied to the CoP developed within a non-formal learning framework, principal new actors being IT specialists linked to graduate IT students and teachers on a traditional university course. Graduate IT students can gain knowledge of the ideal employee and the social and emotional skills needed to integrate with the IT labour market. Findings The K-Means algorithm helps to identify clusters of graduate IT students displaying necessary knowledge acceptance behaviour to convert them into specialists. The results of the cluster analysis show different learning styles of the labour force, providing an overview of candidate selection methods and the knowledge, skills and attitudes expected by users. Research limitations/implications Although the research adds value to the existing literature on learning styles and the knowledge and core skills needed by IT specialists, it was limited to an emerging market. Originality/value The study provides a preliminary overview of graduate IT students’ attitudes from an emerging market to the re-engineering of academic learning contexts to facilitate professional knowledge transfer, converting them into IT practitioners and integrating them in the labour market of an emerging economy.

Artificial Intelligence-Based Decision-Making Algorithms, Internet of Things Sensing Networks, and Deep Learning-Assisted Smart Process Management in Cyber-Physical Production Systems

“…Physical entities on the plant are self-governing intelligent logical units carrying out undertakings directed by distributed control functions. Industrial cyber-physical systems are pivotal in sustainable smart manufacturing, by integrating control engineering with artificial intelligence-based decision-making algorithms [169][170][171] to set up cognitive and self-configuring plants.…”

Knowledge Co-creation and Sustainable Education in the Labor Market-Driven University–Business Environment

“…Compared with education in the Twentieth Century, which was mainly aimed at transmitting skills and consolidating knowledge, education in the Twenty-First Century focuses on developing creativity, supporting student collaboration within the teaching-learning process and, especially, generating "soft skills", key features necessary to improving students' knowledge (Burnard, 2006;Hamidi et al, 2008;Sanina et al, 2020). University courses must facilitate students' professional experience through pedagogical tools based on digital simulations, creating practice communities, or supporting team-teaching courses and/or lectures between specialists and teaching staff (Stanca et al, 2021). These allow knowledge cocreation and a quick and easy anchoring of entrepreneurial skills among students.…”

“…These allow knowledge cocreation and a quick and easy anchoring of entrepreneurial skills among students. Co-creation of business environment-university knowledge facilitates the development of an educational product that students can easily use in the learning and practice process (Wenger, 1988;Han, 2020;Stanca et al, 2021). Resorting to a strategy of knowledge co-creation in the learning process generates a deeper understanding, knowledge, and awareness of a subject, increasing participants' motivation and enthusiasm (Bovill et al, 2011;Bovill, 2014).…”

“…Sustainable education revolves around knowledge co-creation, improving the essential skills of collaborative work (Bovill et al, 2011;Blau and Shamir-Inbal, 2017;De Jans et al, 2017). Students who have acquired such co-created knowledge through business environment-university cooperation tend to identify opportunities in the labor market faster and more efficiently (Magni et al, 2020), have better understanding of what they are working on, and are more aware of the importance of their efforts (Salas Velasco, 2014;Blau and Shamir-Inbal, 2017;Pandey et al, 2017;Stanca et al, 2021).…”

“…The development of a strategic partnership with socio-economic stakeholders becomes increasingly stringent for universities. Through the lectures delivered by representatives of these organizations, workshops and practiced communities, knowledge can be co-created (Kolb, 1984;Rinkus and O'Rourke, 2020;Stanca et al, 2021), and students can develop entrepreneurial dexterity, expanding their knowledge and learning new skills by interacting with brand specialists.…”