The role of metacognitive skills in learning to solve problems

Appendix A
Solving a problem in KM Quest
A.1 Introduction
Here it is described how solving a problem in KM Quest goes about. It reflects how
students can use the KM model in order to come to a set of appropriate interventions
for a particular event and how they can monitor the effects of these interventions.
The exemplary event is the following:
Underwater coatings traditionally have been used for painting ships and swimming
basins. An employee of Coltec has used some of these coatings for painting
garden chairs and tables and her results show that this is a very effective
way of protecting this furniture in wet climates.
A.2 FOCUS phase
All steps of the FOCUS phase are depicted in figure A.1. In the FOCUS phase the
first step concerns ‘Inspect current BPI values and event’. In this step players receive
an overview of the current values of the business process indicators. The aim of this
step is to discuss relevant indicators for the current event. In this case, a relevant
indicator could be ‘level of sales based on marketing’.
The next step concerns making a choice for following the domain, process or event
path in the KM model. Specifications of these paths are described in chapter 3. It is
up to the players to decide which path fits best with the current event. Any path can
be appropriate. In this case we decide to choose the knowledge processes path which
permits an investigation of which knowledge processes are important. We could also
have chosen to focus on a knowledge department (e.g. Marketing), or we could have
discussed important characteristics of the event (e.g. external opportunity event that
is KM-related).
In the step ‘Obtain information on knowledge process and event’ a list of questions
and answers is given relevant for this event. The answers to these questions could be
relevant for interpreting the event. The questions in this case are:
Question: Is Coltec involved in the production of underwater coatings?
Answer: The production of underwater coatings started in the seventies since then,
we built up a large market share.
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