Abstract:

"Knowledge depends on information. We are all familiar with the ways in which the information and communication technology revolution has affected the global spread of images, symbols, sounds, ideologies, repertoires and even ideas. But when we speak of knowledge, we imply a superior sort of understanding. It is more refined, rigorous, and reflexive. Knowledge can't flow so easily as other virtual expressions because it must be sifted, reassembled, and assessed. And that means that its nodes of accumulation and transformation matter even in a world of information flows." (Globalizing Knowledge by Michael D. Kennedy, 2015, Stanford University Press.)

We are presenting the interaction and communication in a digital environment among undergraduates who are building knowledge structures in BUS448: International Dimensions of Business, at the University of Rhode Island in the U.S.

In this abstract, we're giving an example of our learning strategy and 'reflexive' process (Anthony Giddens, Consequences of Modernity, 1991, Polity Press, Cambridge, U.K.). We're learning and creating knowledge structures interactively among ourselves. Our intention is to raise the reader's interest sufficiently for them to visit our poster session and see the full length paper.

Step 1: From the opening quote by Michael D. Kennedy, we 'select' concepts and restructure/re-write our understanding of the quote:
a. We will show our process of sifting, reassembling and assessing information flow to create knowledge and knowing structures among ourselves.
b. We will show our endeavors at having "a superior sort of understanding" of information.
c. We will identify the nodes (or meeting points) of different information flows, where they "accumulate and transform" themselves.
Step 2: We focus on the following concepts from Step 1: sift, reassemble, assess, information, create, knowledge, structure, node, accumulate, transform.
Step 3: From the dictionary, we focus on 'explanation and nuance' of each concept's meaning. We used the American Heritage and Oxford English Dictionaries along with global search engines. The use of dictionaries created the information flows.
Step 4: From our self-generated information flows we 'select' new concepts and restructure a sentence to represent our new understanding. We create the syntax. The syntax incorporates the nodes where new concepts meet the information flows. The new syntax is where 'accumulation and transformation' takes place.
Step 5: Finally, reassembling and assessing are done by sharing our felt-experiences and by sharing our perceptual categories.

Our full length paper will show the process of developing knowledge structures, specifically, regarding the characteristics of global businesses. In their book Managing Across Borders, Christopher Bartlett of Harvard Business School and Sumantra Ghoshal of INSEAD argue that to cope with the complex global environment, we must have equally complex and multi-faceted learning strategies.

In our learning process, instead of adopting a text-book learning strategy, we actively shaped, reflected upon, and monitored our selves, crafting our individual and group's biographical narrative as we developed our own learning strategy.

Keywords:

Knowledge structures, self-reflexivity, learning strategy, globalization.