Supporting knowledge elicitation for learning in virtual teams

The growing complexity and dynamics of professional work increasingly require teamwork. Continuous learning while working will be obligatory to meet the performance requirements of the workplace. In this context asynchronous collaboration becomes more common and poses new educational design questions. Many questions regarding these new ways of working and learning are yet to be resolved. One pivotal issue is how to effectively support eliciting and sharing available but not yet articulated knowledge residing in the minds of individual team members. Suggestions derived from literature about knowledge elicitation point in different directions. In order to investigate knowledge elicitation support for professionals in virtual teams, an electronic Delphi study was executed. The objective was to gain insights regarding knowledge elicitation from a group of 16 representative experts. The results reveal the importance of customising multiple aspects to the specific situation. Each context requires a mixture of team, knowledge awareness and task related prompts. Based upon generic know-how with respect to enabling virtual team dynamics and community formation, social and task related knowledge prompts should be dedicated to the constraints and dynamics of the organisational context.