Developing a Web assisted knowledge construction system based on the approach of constructivist knowledge analysis of tasks

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to develop a Web assisted knowledge construction (WAKC) system as an individual knowledge construction tool for Internet users. The system is based on the theory of constructivist knowledge analysis of tasks (CKAT). The CKAT integrates constructivist reflection cycle and knowledge analysis of tasks. The conceptual model of CKAT includes four different stages: knowledge objective, knowledge gathering, knowledge analysis, and task knowledge structure. In order to match these four stages, this research designs an assisted knowledge construction system that includes four systematic sub-functions: the keyword function, the URL resource function, the analysis function, and the construction function. After understanding users' perceptions toward the WAKC system, users have highly positive behavioral intention to use the system as a Web-based assisted knowledge construction tool.

Introduction

The idea that knowledge is the most valuable source of competitive advantage has been widely considered for years. Although no clear consensus has yet emerged on the most appropriate definition of knowledge, it can be seen as the capacity, embodied in the brains of people and embedded in social practice, which interprets and transforms information (Davenport & Prusak, 1998). In other words, knowledge is not only context-specific and relational, but also connected to human action as it interprets, transfers, and constructs information into knowledge (Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995). Kang and Byun (2001) stated that knowledge is the product of a learning activity in which a learner, based on experience acquired through cognitive activities (such as perception, interpretation, and analysis), assimilates and accommodates information into his/her cognitive structure in accordance with the environment as he/she understands it and in collaboration with other people. Under the cognitive perspective, knowledge is the advanced stage of information. It means that information represents the fundamental basis of knowledge and is directly associated with the facts of the real world. Information needs to be interpreted, processed, and constructed to form human's knowledge. Nonaka (1994) divides knowledge into two parts: explicit knowledge that can be easily expressed in words and numbers; and tacit knowledge, such as bodily skills and mental models, that is not articulated.

Although Web applications are popular today, the primary use of the Internet, other than e-mail, is to use Web search engines as a knowledge retrieval tool. Various search engines have been developed for helping users to look for online information, but there is just too much information on the Web. From the Google (http://www.google.com/) search engine, there are over three billion Web pages on the Internet. Though it is fair to say that Web information retrieval would collapse if search engines were not available on the Internet, the issues of helping users to find their needed information and assisting them to construct their knowledge from the Internet remain critical.

Based on the approach of constructivist knowledge analysis of tasks (CKAT), the current study is to develop a Web assisted knowledge construction (WAKC) system to help individual Internet users when they search for knowledge with search engines. In this paper, the types of search engines will be introduced first. Then the approach of CKAT will be modulated. The third section presents a WAKC model that is based on CKAT. And the last section analyzes users' attitudes toward the WAKC system.