Web-based Learning Solutions for Communities of Practice

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A Process-Oriented and Technology-Based Model of Virtual Communities of Practices
Table 2. Knowledge domains for the eBMS knowledge base
Knowledge category Knowledge Domain
General Purpose New Competitive Macro-Environment
Business Management
Internet Business Management
Business Innovation Leadership
ICT Management
Specific context e-Tourism
e-Agrifood
Aerospace
Territorial Marketing
Knowledge Management Cycle
The Knowledge Management cycle in the “Virtual
eBMS” Community is divided in: Knowledge
sharing, knowledge creation and Knowledge
organization. The knowledge sharing retrieves
knowledge from the organisational memory and
makes it accessible to the users. Individuals,
teams and laboratories often share ideas, opinions,
knowledge and expertise in meetings held
in face-to-face format or virtually. The knowledge
organisation stage takes the nuggets of knowledge
and classifies them and adds them to the
organisational memory. Much of this knowledge
can be represented in electronic form as expert
systems. This is where even tacit, intangible
knowledge assets are transformed to tangible
one. The “Virtual eBMS” approach to knowledge
creation is based on a self-organizing kind of
learning, derived from direct experience, as it is
exposed in Kolb’s theory of experiential learning,
that is the best learning model framed according
the principles of Constructivism approach. According
to Kolb (1984), the knowledge creation
process are expressed in terms of:
• Concrete Experience: learners are involved
in an active exploration of experience used
to test out ideas and assumptions rather than
to obtain practice passively.
• Reflective Observation: Learners must
selectively reflect on their experience in a
critical way rather than take experience for
granted and assume that the experience on
its own is sufficient.
• Abstract Conceptualization: Learners create
theories to explain one’s observations.
• Active Experimentation: Learners use
theories to solve problems and make decisions.
Governance Structure
The “Virtual eBMS” Governance Structure is a
mid level control from leaders and coordinators.
In the “Virtual eBMS”, community coordinators
are well respected member of the community:
the Director, the Executive Staff and the eBMS
Laboratories’ coordinators. Their role is to keep
the community alive, connecting members with
each other, helping the community to focus on
important issues, and bringing new ideas when
the community start to loose energy. Moreover,
the community coordinators maintain, organize
and distribute the central knowledge to the other
members.